Newport, Wales name "Novus Burgus", meaning new borough or new town. The city can sometimes be found labelled as "Newport-on-Usk" on old maps. The original Welsh language name for the city, "Casnewydd-ar-Wysg" (pronounced ) means 'New castle-on-Usk' (this is a shortened version of "Castell Newydd ar Wysg") and this refers to the twelfth-century castle ruins near Newport city centre. The original Newport Castle was a small motte-and-bailey castle in the park opposite Newport Cathedral. It was buried in rubble excavated from the Hillfield railway tunnels that were dug under Stow Hill in the 1840s and no part of it is currently visible.
Newport City F.C. their name to Llanwern AFC to reflect the change of name of the steelworks on whose ground they played. This change coincided with a change in the clubs fortunes and they gained promotion to the top division in 1992-3. They spent a number of years between the top two divisions and in 2002 they won the Welsh Football League Cup. In 2003, they re-located to the Newport Stadium, where they have played ever since. League re-organisation led to Newport City dropping to Division Three in 2010-11 spending two seasons there before promotion back to Division Two for the 2014-5 season.