On dit « Paris la belle » mais « le Vieux-Québec » (et encore « C'est si beau, Paris », mais je comprends que l'emploi du démonstratif pourrait expliquer ce dernier).
Do city names:
- All have the same default gender? If so, which of the above is an exception?
- Have an inherent gender that differs from city to city?
- A more likely variant: Have an inherent gender if an expression like the above has appeared and become fixed, a status presumably only a few of the most famous cities enjoy?
- Take a gender at the time of utterance, as determined by whether a butterfly has flapped its wings in China?
- Obey some combination of the above or any other pattern you might suggest?
