I disagree Mike.
The info about the cities is the first thing that appears in the map, way before the images (just hover you mouse on the emptiness why it's loading and you'll see). It's light information. I don't think will delay loading the game.
Try to vizualize the full map mode. You'll see several and several islands and because of the limited number of models for the islands, it gets repetitive, so you'll find yourself eventually lost. But if you hover your mouse on the Islands, you'll be able to see their names, making them easier to be identified.
About the names that could come up, since this will be done by an alliance, it will probably take a survey, using the greek democracy to the members suggest their names and then, after voting, the winning one being placed on the Island.
About a player that named an island leaving the game, I'm sticking with Empirerbuilder idea for the alliances naming the islands. If one alliance take over an island named (wich infers possession) by another, they obviously will rename that island, marking as their territory.
I don't see why some people prefer coordinates rather than names.
I'll point some benefits I see, if somebody else can't see or just doesn't care:
*Easier to navigate the map;
*Helps Alliances to organize their territory and members;
*Take conquest to another level: alliances won't rely on only in conquering cities, but a whole island to show power and domain
*Subsequently might bring the attention to less active players to the matters of the alliance
