# Shelbyvilles, i.e. places that look like they have a generic place name in them but don't **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667 "2026-02-14T17:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2026, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/121 "2026-03-15T11:32:35Z")
> [@robby](#): > > They were always used as the butt of jokes when I was a kid growing up in Texas. People from Indiana tell jokes about people from Kentucky, and they tell the exact jokes about us, ie: “How do you know Jesus wasn’t born in Kentucky/[Indiana]?” A: You can’t find three wise men and a virgin. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/122 "2026-03-21T14:56:08Z")
The island Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, now part of Papua New Guinea, is famous as the site of a WWII battle. It is named for the French mathematician, explorer, and naval officer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who is the first European known to have visited the island. The genus of flowering plants Bougainvillea was also named for him, by the botanist who discovered it during the same expedition. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/123 "2026-03-28T21:48:15Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I’m sure almost everyone knows this, but Chicago’s Midway Airport isn’t midway between any two landmarks. It’s named for the Battle of Midway in WWII. I wonder if there are any other airports named after a battle. I didn’t know that until reading this thread, and had it been anywhere other than Chicago, I would have assumed that it was named because it was midway between landmarks. Instead, I assumed that it was named after the world’s first carnival midway which was in Chicago. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2026, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/124 "2026-03-28T21:57:32Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I didn’t know that until reading this thread, and had it been anywhere other than Chicago, I would have assumed that it was named because it was midway between landmarks. Instead, I assumed that it was named after the world’s first carnival midway which was in Chicago. And, in fact, the term “midway,” related to carnivals, does come from Chicago, and the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The [Midway Plaisance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Plaisance), a public park on the south side of Chicago, was on the grounds of the Exposition, and was where the world’s first Ferris Wheel was located. Midway Plaisance got its name because it was located in between, and connects, two other park areas (now known as Jackson Park and Washington Park). Also, the Chicago Bears’ nickname “The Monsters of the Midway” comes from Midway Plaisance: the University of Chicago borders on Midway Plaisance, and the nickname was originally applied to the school’s football team. After U of C ended their football program, the nickname wound up being affixed to the Bears. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/125 "2026-04-01T12:54:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > the grounds of the Exposition, and was where the world’s first Ferris Wheel was located. Anybody who isn’t familiar with it should look it up. That thing was impossibly huge. I would have thought Ferris Wheels would start out small, like at neighborhood carnivals, and scale up, getting bigger and bigger. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/126 "2026-04-02T23:46:45Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > That would be “an baile ar an mbealach go dtí an móinéar.” I can see baile (bahl-ya) and móinéar (moyn-yeer) maybe slightly fitting into this narrative. But it’s a stretch. I didn’t present the actual Irish words I had in mind, because I didn’t think it would be meaningful to most people reading the thread. Specifically: - _bealach_ (meaning “way”) in its modified form _bhealaigh_, anglicised as “valley” - _móinteach_ (meaning “moor”) in its modified form _móintigh_ [or alternatively _móinte_ (meaning moors)], anglicised as “mount” Together comprising a plausible English language placename Valleymount but in origin having nothing to do with either valleys or mountains. cf. Moyvalley (Magh an bhealaigh); Mountmellick (Móinteach Mílic) as other examples of both elements being anglicised in this way. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/127 "2026-05-04T13:54:51Z")
A portion of McLennan County, Texas was temporarily renamed “Crush” as part of a publicity stunt where the railroad staged a collision between two trains. You’d think the name might have something to do with the expected physical impact of the trains on each other, but the “town” was actually named for railroad agent William George Crush. > **[Crash at Crush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_at_Crush)** > > The Crash at Crush was a one-day publicity stunt in the U.S. state of Texas that took place on September 15, 1896, in which two uncrewed locomotives were crashed into each other head-on at high speed. William George Crush, general passenger agent of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, conceived the idea in order to demonstrate a staged train wreck as a public spectacle. No admission was charged, and train fares to the crash site – called Crush, set up as a temporary destination for the event – we... ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/128 "2026-05-04T14:58:46Z")
There’s a small kibbutz in southern Israel called Mash’abei Sadeh, which can be translated to English as “Field Resources”. Except that that’s not it’s actual name. The group that founded the kibbutz was, in fact, called “Mashabim” (“Resources”), and that was the town’s original name, but soon after it’s founding it was renamed to honor General [Yitzhak Sadeh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Sadeh), one of the founders of the Israeli army. tl:dr: a farming community called “Field Resources” is named after General Field. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/129 "2026-05-04T16:23:20Z")
Similarly, the Italian city of Vittorio Veneto was renamed to that name in honor of the victory in the Veneto region at the end of World War 1. You’d think that the city was named Veneto originally and had the Vittorio added on later, since Vittorio is so closely correlated with “victory”. But it was originally named Vittorio when it formed from a conglomeration of other cities in the 19th century, after King Vittorio. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/130 "2026-10-08T23:17:05Z")
I learned of another one today despite living in Florida for 40 years. Plant City near Tampa is named after early developer Henry Plant, not because the area is well known for its agriculture, which it is. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667/131 "2026-10-09T03:25:31Z")
On the campus of Case Western Reserve University stands Amasa Stone Chapel - is it built of stone? Yep, it sure is. But its name came from a guy named Amasa Stone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelbyvilles-i-e-places-that-look-like-they-have-a-generic-place-name-in-them-but-dont/1027667.md?page=6)