In Northern Virginia there is a Pope’s Head Creek and a Pope’s Head Road. Makes me think of a decapitated Pontiff when I pass by. Indian Head, Maryland, near DC also can draw up similar imagery.
There was a joke about a former governor that he was the only one to have four towns in the state named for him: Endicott, Peabody, Marblehead, and Athol.
At least it’s not in Hicksville, NY
Another one from Texas, White Settlement.
Puyallup, WA…sounds like someone retching when said aloud.
I LIKE to say, “Walla Walla!” It’s fun!
I’m submitting Beloit. My dad used to say it sounds like breaking wind in the bathtub.
I was told it was the sound a rock makes when someone throws it in the river - the Rock River that runs through Beloit, I presume.
That reminds of the famous marriage headline involving two Illinois towns: Oblong Man Marries Normal Woman.
My nominee would be Borger, Texas.
To me, 's Gravenhage in Dutch pronunciation is the harshest sounding place name in the world. Actually kind of terrifying. It sounds like something a movie monster would growl while jumping on you with fangs out. The pronunciation is [ˈsχraˑvə(n)ˌɦaˑɣə], which is enough to send most Americans running for the door. Think I’ll stick with “the Hague,” thank you. Even though that’s ugly too, might as well say “The Plague.”
My Italian teacher said he was disturbed by the sound of “La Spezia.” It just sounds wrong. And it’s damn hard for Italian not to sound good. But it means, literally, ‘The Spice’. Makes you expect a Shai Hulud to burst out of the ground.
In the US, Scranton has got to be the worst.
I don’t think Cucamonga sounds ugly. Funny, maybe, on the level of “Papa Oom Mow Mow.” It’s got rhythm. The Grateful Dead found it quite a musical sort of name and wrote the song “Pride of Cucamonga” just to sing those syllables. The song has nothing else notable about it and is one of their less distinguished efforts.
Grubville, MO.
It looks just like you can imagine it.
I used to live on Stinchcomb Avenue and hated it. But at least I’m not from Big Ugly, West Virginia.
Has nobody mentioned Boner Knob, Montana?!
There’s this trashy town north of Toronto called Angus and the joke is that if you remove the ‘g’ from the name you will have an accurate description of the town.
I have heard a story, possibly apocryphal, about a Thai restaurant wanting to open in NYC under the name Phuket, and the local board of whatever governing body issues licences rejecting it due to a, heh, mistaken perception in pronunciation.
Chisholm (pronounced chizz-im), Ontario. Not far from Restoule.
Two people picked Cheesequake? Really? I’m going to have to respectfully disagree here. Silliest name, yes. I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Monty-Python, yes. But not particularly cacophonous to my ears.
Its crazy that no one has mentioned Mianus, CT yet.
The Bronx
Atlanta has some suburbs that I wouldn’t want to live in because of the name. Smyrna (sounds like “Sperma”), Snellville (sounds like “Smellville”), and Cumming (sounds like “Cumming”).
There is a Bald Knob, Arkansas and Bald Knob, West Virginia