I heard Great Neck, New York mentioned on the radio yesterday, and it got me to thinking about unusual place names. I’m familiar with some of these from Arizona: Snowflake, (The name honors the community’s two founders, a Mr. Snow and a Mr. Flake), Christmas, Tombstone (been there), Two Guns, Double Adobe, Carefree (Hugh Downs used to live there), and Show Low. Hawai’i has many names which look odd to the Mainlander but not to the resident; I’m not familiar with any that would strike anyone from here as peculiar, but I’m willing to be corrected.
Got any funky names in your neighborhood?
nowatta, ok.
All from the same general area in PA: Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball, Intercourse and Paradise.
Let the joking commence.
Nah, it just makes me wonder what the story is behind the names. My street means “Tangent of a Circle.” The Polynesians were great navigators, but I’m not sure geometry was one of their strong points. I suspect that the developer had to conform to state law saying all streets needed Hawai’ian names, so he had an “expert” make one up.
Truth or Consequences, NM got its name because the old radio show ran a contest where any town which named itself after the show got a prize of some sort.
Newfouldland has a tonne of “odd names” like: Heart’s Content, Joe Bat’s Arm, Come-by-Chance or Cape Race … to name a few … 🙂
I can’t believe I made that spelling error! : NEWFOUNDLAND !!
I grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Lots of people think that’s hilarious.