Yes, but that confuses the EB script. For some unfathomable reason the R:TW scripting engine uses the external rather than internal names and therefore won't recognize the new towns. If an A.I. faction then conquers the towns, it won't get the correct government placed and its construction and recruitment will be crippled. Hence it's recommend not to change city names while playing EB. I am not sure if this is still the case in M2:TW engine has the same limitation, though.
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