# Redundantly named places **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623 "2022-01-12T01:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/1 "2022-01-12T01:41:23Z")
In the webcomic Order of the Stick, there’s a number of redundantly named places. These are jokes, of course. Examples are Wooden Forest, Wet Sea, Cove Bay, Avenue Street, Fluvial River. You can find more of them in the [Gazeteer of the Stick](https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?416070-Gazetteer-of-the-Stick). Anyway, I very occasionally run across actual places with such names. Two of them are: - [Boulevard Road](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Boulevard+Rd+SE,+Washington+98501/@47.0247772,-122.8673233,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x54917495b9f2197d:0x7ab53b6fb93b0ee9!8m2!3d47.0247772!4d-122.8651346) in Olympia WA - [Wet Creek](https://www.google.com/maps/place/51%C2%B012'46.1%22N+114%C2%B001'29.8%22W/@51.2125357,-114.0250089,490m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xd9d00b1db70d17ac!8m2!3d51.2128171!4d-114.0249354) near Balzac AB I know I’ve run across others involving redundantly named streets, but I can’t remember details. Anyone else know of more? ETA: Found one: [Street Rd](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Street+Rd,+Bensalem+Township,+PA/@40.1084291,-74.9545197,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c14ce1e85e307f:0xb8116835c94316a0!8m2!3d40.1084291!4d-74.952331) in Bensalem PA ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/2 "2022-01-12T01:48:16Z")
Scottsdale, Arizona, has Pinnacle Peak. On the way south to Tucson, you’ll pass Picacho Peak, which translates to Peak Peak. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/3 "2022-01-12T01:50:01Z")
“Mississippi River” would translate to something like Big River River. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/4 "2022-01-12T01:51:42Z")
Table Mesa, NM can be translated to Table Table. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/5 "2022-01-12T02:01:24Z")
OK, I forgot about the ones from two different languages. I know about quite a few of those, but am really interested in ones where they are redundant in English. Pinnacle Peak is a good one. Table Mesa is real close. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/6 "2022-01-12T02:06:27Z")
South Korea has one administrative level of government known as _metroplitan city_. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/7 "2022-01-12T03:01:58Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > South Korea has one administrative level of government known as _metroplitan city_ . Nah, that’s fair enough. Not every city is a metropolis. There are quite a number rivers in several different countries called either _Avon River_ or _River Avon_; “Avon” comes from a Celtic word for “river”. The tautology is most notable in the Avon River in Wales, whose name in Welsh is _Afon Afan_. “Knockmountain”, a hill west of Glasgow in Scotland, means “hill mountain”. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/8 "2022-01-12T03:05:04Z")
I know it spoils the fun a bit, but there’s a wiki for everything: > **[List of tautological place names](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > A place name is tautological if two differently sounding parts of it are synonymous. This often occurs when a name from one language is imported into another and a standard descriptor is added on from the second language. Thus, for example, New Zealand's Mount Maunganui is tautological since "maunganui" is Māori for "great mountain". The following is a list of place names often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English nam... ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/9 "2022-01-12T03:23:39Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > South Korea has one administrative level of government known as _metroplitan city_ . I know the OP isn’t looking for fictional places, but that just made me remember that there was some cartoon I watched as a kid that took place in Metro City. From Googling it looks like I was probably thinking of Inspector Gadget. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/10 "2022-01-12T03:23:46Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Avenue Street There’s an Avenue Road in Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/11 "2022-01-12T03:43:03Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I know it spoils the fun a bit, but there’s a wiki for everything: > > [List of tautological place names - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names) Yes, but virtually all those are billingual (or multi-lingual). As I said in post #5, I’m looking for those redundant purely in English. Or those where the name is an adjective that applies to all things of the generic name. Names like Wet Sea and Wooden Forest (which I listed in the OP). I didn’t examine every entry in that list, but the only ones I saw were a couple Avenue Road’s, including the one in Toronto, two Street Road’s, and a Boulder Rock. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/12 "2022-01-12T04:04:31Z")
I suppose the rules of the op eliminate Boise Nat’l Forest from consideration, but we do have a Parkway Lane locally. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/13 "2022-01-12T04:22:40Z")
Mount Monadnock NH Monadnock is derived from the Abenaki word meaning isolated mountain, and has now been adopted by American geologists as a term to mean that. So while it didn’t originate as an English word, it now is one. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/14 "2022-01-12T04:44:25Z")
I’m sorry, but this thread is clearly mislabelled. It should be “Redundantly named place names.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/15 "2022-01-12T04:56:49Z")
I have parked in a laneway but I can’t recall ever having lain in a parkway. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/16 "2022-01-12T05:01:10Z")
I know the OP said English, but I’ve always liked Baden-Baden, which means Bath-Bath. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/17 "2022-01-12T05:23:04Z")
High Street Road is a fairly major Melbourne thoroughfare ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/18 "2022-01-12T05:30:02Z")
And conversely, there are oxymoronic names, a common one being Dry Creek. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/19 "2022-01-12T06:02:39Z")
The Potomac River. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623/20 "2022-01-12T06:19:16Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > “Knockmountain”, a hill west of Glasgow in Scotland, means “hill mountain”. Not in my Travellogue… More of an event than destination. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/redundantly-named-places/957623.md?page=2)