Oh yes, yes! And 美國 actually means “beautiful country” and 法國 actually means “Buddhist country”, and 德國 actually means “virtuous (ethical) country”. 
[quote=“Chris”]
Taichung was Taichu
Taitung was Taito
… and so on…[/quote]
… which was/is really simple: that’s how the hànzì are pronounced in Japanese: Taihoku, Taichuu, Taitou, and so on…
So you could say that most those places were not renamed at all. I mean, when we say “Rome” or “Athens”, nobody would say that we renamed “Roma” and “Atene”. 