# Boringly ordinary town names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2021, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091 "2021-04-30T07:38:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/21 "2021-04-30T15:24:32Z")
There is a place near me named Townville. (They hope to someday grow into Cityberg.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/22 "2021-04-30T15:27:21Z")
Hungary has a town named Hatvan, which translates to “sixty.” The legend is that it’s sixty km from the capital Budapest, but its name predates the kilometer, and it’s actually more like 50 kn away. At any rate, I always got a chuckle out of a number as a place name. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/23 "2021-04-30T15:34:24Z")
Another town in PA is named Wayne. It’s a well known stop on the Main Line, named after Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne as I’m sure plenty of other places and things are, but out of context in the simplest form of the name it is quite dull and ordinary. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/24 "2021-04-30T15:44:23Z")
There is an area in Canada called [Hull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull,_Quebec). It’s not really a city or town but it’s a real place that I’ve been to and people there call it by that name like it is a separate city. This is how the wiki describes it: " **Hull** is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada." Nice enough place to visit. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/25 "2021-04-30T17:13:59Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > There is an area in Canada called [Hull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull,_Quebec). It’s not really a city or town but it’s a real place that I’ve been to and people there call it by that name like it is a separate city. This is how the wiki describes it: > " **Hull** is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada." It was probably named after [Hull, England.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull) (whose official name is Kingston upon Hull, a fact I just learned from the wiki article) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/26 "2021-04-30T17:17:54Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > It was probably named after [Hull, England.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull) Probably, though it would have been cooler if it’d been named for [Bobby Hull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Hull). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/27 "2021-04-30T17:17:59Z")
I live between **Orange** and **Green** in Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/28 "2021-04-30T17:21:18Z")
Singer Roy Orbison lived in Wink, Texas as a child. Wikipedia says that the town was originally meant to be named Winkler (as it is in Winkler County), but when the town sought to get a post office, they were told that there was already a Winkler, Texas, and thus, they shortened it to the very prosaic Wink. > **[Wink, Texas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink,_Texas)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Wink is a city in Winkler County, Texas, United States. The population was 940 at the 2010 census. Wink was a temporary childhood home to singer and songwriter Roy Orbison, although he was born in Vernon, Texas. Orbison later described the major components of life in Wink as "football, oil fields, oil, grease and sand", and in later years expressed relief that he was able to leave the desolate town.\[note 1\] > Wink began in 1926, when oil was disc... ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/29 "2021-04-30T17:39:41Z")
Both Boring and Oregon City are on Route 212 which leads you to this sign: [File:Boring and Oregon City sign (2367875622).jpg - Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boring_and_Oregon_City_sign_(2367875622).jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/30 "2021-04-30T17:49:57Z")
Bland, Virginia. Never been there. Unlikely to ever go. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/31 "2021-04-30T18:02:27Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > “Thetford Mines” (there’s been no mining there for years). > [@enipla](#): > > Normal Illinois. Head up I-55 from Normal and you’ll come to a trio of carbon-related towns: Diamond, Coal City, and Carbon Hill. They now house power plant workers rather than coal miners. To the southeast of the former coal mining area are former limestone quarries; I don’t recall if [Limestone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone,_Illinois) ever had a quarry but [Bonfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfield,_Illinois) did. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/32 "2021-04-30T18:09:27Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > There is an area in Canada called [Hull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull,_Quebec). It’s not really a city or town but it’s a real place that I’ve been to and people there call it by that name like it is a separate city. This is how the wiki describes it: > > > > > " **Hull** is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada." > > It was probably named after [Hull, England.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull) (whose official name is Kingston upon Hull, a fact I just learned from the wiki article) Hull, Massachusetts, definitely was named after the English one. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/33 "2021-04-30T18:44:31Z")
There’s a town in Barbados named “A mile and a quarter”. I think that is the distance to the coastal Speightstown (pronounced Spikestown). Since they have gone metric they should change it to " Two Kilometers". Another town there is called Holetown. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/34 "2021-04-30T19:07:22Z")
On St Martin, there’s a town called Middle Region that is as you might expect on the interior of the island. No beaches, just a neighborhood. Oh, and @Hari_Seldon did you know Barbados honors Bajans who celebrate their 100th birthday by issuing a stamp with their picture? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/35 "2021-04-30T19:26:34Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Few places here were planned with names. There are some in more modern times like Milton Keynes but most seem to have just happened… > > … we don’t really get many ‘boring’ names. I don’t disagree, but I think I can offer a couple of UK entries: **Coalville**. Exactly what it says on the tin. [Wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalville#Pre-industrial_period) > Coalville is a product of the [Industrial Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution). As its name indicates, it is a former coal mining town and was a centre of the coal-mining district of north Leicestershire. **Port Sunlight**. Uh - forget the image that the name evokes. [Wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sunlight) > **Port Sunlight** is a [model village](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village) and [suburb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suburb) in the [Metropolitan Borough of Wirral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Borough_of_Wirral), [Merseyside](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merseyside). It is located between Lower [Bebington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebington) and [New Ferry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ferry), on the [Wirral Peninsula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirral_Peninsula). Port Sunlight was built by [Lever Brothers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_Brothers) to accommodate workers in its soap factory (now part of [Unilever](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever)); work commenced in 1888. The name is derived from Lever Brothers’ most popular brand of cleaning agent, [Sunlight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight_(cleaning_product)). j ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/36 "2021-04-30T19:27:00Z")
I’ve always though it was kind of boring when a town name is simply a direction plus the name of another nearby city, i.e. West Sacramento or South San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/37 "2021-04-30T21:10:58Z")
There’s an area of Staten Island N.Y. called Port Ivory, located near the confluence of the Kill van Kull and Arthur Kill\*. Port Ivory got its name from the nearby Proctor & Gamble plant. \*"Kill is an old Dutch word for body of water, apt in this case because both waterways are so heavily polluted that it’s doubtful any life survives in them. \*\*not to be confused with the iconic Fresh Kills landfill, which has been turned into an idyllic city park. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/38 "2021-04-30T21:48:05Z")
The famous city of Bath, England, is named because it was a spa town with lots of baths. And spa towns are named after Spa, Belgium. There are at least 2 places in England called Littletown that live up to their name. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/39 "2021-04-30T21:56:52Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > The famous city of Bath, England, is named because it was a spa town with lots of baths. > > And spa towns are named after Spa, Belgium. The winner in this regard is Baden-Baden, “Bath-Bath”. > **[Baden-Baden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-Baden)** > > Baden-Baden (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}German pronunciation: \[ˈbaːdn̩ ˈbaːdn̩\] ⓘ) is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with France, and forty kilometr... ---
**Author:** ![Olfatbut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a183cd/32.png) [@Olfatbut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olfatbut)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091/40 "2021-05-01T02:31:39Z")
Spray, OR, home of the town’s largest chicken-fried steak Weed, CA, home of oh don’t bother it’s not what you think [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boringly-ordinary-town-names/941091.md?page=3)