# Unusual and/or unlikely town name origins **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051 "2014-05-09T14:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/21 "2014-05-09T20:16:40Z")
[Devil’s Lake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Lake_(Oregon)), OR is a lake named based on an native legend. This gave rise to the the town that sprung up along it. The locals were uncomfortable about about having a town named “Devils Lake”. It got informally called “D Lake” and later officially changed to “Delake”. There is a famously short [river](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_River) from the lake to the ocean and it was later called “D River”. (Short name, short river. Get it?) But Delake got absorbed into Lincoln City and is no more. Lot of place names got morphed due to prudishness. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/22 "2014-05-09T20:20:09Z")
The town of Forty Fort, near Wilkes-Barre, was named for the 40 defenders of the fort during the Pennemite-Yankee War in the Wyoming Valley of what is now Pennsylvania. The war was fought by local Pennsylvanians (the “Pennemites”) and settlers from Connecticut (the “Yankees”, duh). A total of three people were killed. The state of Wyoming was named for this region. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/23 "2014-05-09T21:00:41Z")
[Tarzana, California](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzana,_CA) was named after the nearby ranch owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/24 "2014-05-09T21:02:50Z")
I pretty much grew up in a small town that had originally been named after the brothers who first lived there in 1883. The local short line railroad opened a depot in the town around 1900; the depot was named after a lawyer for the railroad and his name also got applied to the town. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/25 "2014-05-09T21:10:15Z")
Hey **Czarcasm** , my home town’s name isn’t unusual and/or unlikely, but until this thread, it never occurred to me to look into it! Turns out the Village I grew up in ([Palos Park](http://www.palospark.org/history.htm)) was named by our postmaster who had a relative that sailed with Christopher Columbus. Who knew? 🙂 Thanks for the thread - it’s really, really interesting - especially as I look up the history of other family member’s hometowns! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/26 "2014-05-09T21:23:46Z")
Czarcasm, I hate to tell you, but Spirit Lake, Idaho obviously stole its origin from [Creve Coeur, Missouri.](http://www.villageprofile.com/missouri/crevecoeur/07/topic.html) > [@](#): > > One tale suggests that the name originated with an Indian princess named Memetonwish, who is said to have fallen in unrequited love with a French trapper. Heartbroken, the Indian princess threw herself from a ledge overlooking Creve Coeur Lake, which then reshaped itself in the form of a broken heart. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/27 "2014-05-09T21:29:09Z")
The town and county I work in were named after a guy who only set foot in the area twice and, by all accounts, didn’t like it. They were apparently trying to impress him for some odd reason. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/28 "2014-05-09T21:43:22Z")
I grew up in Wheeling, WV. There’s some argument over where the name Wheeling came from, but one of the more likely suspects is that it comes from the Lenape Indian phrase “wih link”, which means “place of the head”. The story associated with it is that the Lenape Indians killed a white settler who had invaded their land, then scalped him and put what was left of his head on a stake to warn other settlers to stay out of their land. It didn’t work. The white folks settled there anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/29 "2014-05-09T21:57:43Z")
Panama is variously supposed to mean “an abundance of fish,” or “an abundance of butterflies.” There is also a common tree called “panama.” So maybe it was just a word for “common.” Another story is that it derives from another Indian word meaning “far away.” The city of Panama also has the distinction of being evidently the only place where the name of the city, province, and country are all the same. I’m originally from The Bronx, one of only a few English places names to include the article. That’s probably because it originally referred to the lands of the first settler Jonas Bronck, and is derived from the possessive “the Bronck’s.” ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/30 "2014-05-09T23:31:56Z")
Nintety Six, South Carolina. Apparently nobody can agree on where the name came from. Gallipolis, Ohio took its name from the original inhabitants, French aristocrats fleeing the French Revolution. They were defrauded by a land speculation company that sold them land which the speculators never owned. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/31 "2014-05-10T00:19:48Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Nintety Six, South Carolina. Apparently nobody can agree on where the name came from. [Looks good on a uniform, though.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cff6s3CGiLk/UQoADSOtWsI/AAAAAAAAF7w/0Kl7ihZOf94/s1600/2005+UD+Classics+Voiselle.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/32 "2014-05-10T00:25:10Z")
“Devil” this and that, all over the middle and western US, are white-eyes deprecations of Native American sacred spots. It’s hilarious that later Good White Christians are uncomfortable living next to these places… ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/33 "2014-05-10T01:17:52Z")
I’ve always thought Cincinnati has the most interesting origin of any major American city. It comes from the Roman statesman Cincinnatus, via the revolutionary Society of the Cincinnati, which is his name pluralized. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/34 "2014-05-10T02:10:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The city of Panama also has the distinction of being evidently the only place where the name of the city, province, and country are all the same. There’s Mexico City. The borders of the city extend out past the federal district into the adjoining state of Mexico, which is of course part of the country of Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/35 "2014-05-10T03:25:17Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Czarcasm, I hate to tell you, but Spirit Lake, Idaho obviously stole its origin from [Creve Coeur, Missouri.](http://www.villageprofile.com/missouri/crevecoeur/07/topic.html) > [@](#): > > One tale suggests that the name originated with an Indian princess named Memetonwish, who is said to have fallen in unrequited love with a French trapper. Heartbroken, the Indian princess threw herself from a ledge overlooking Creve Coeur Lake, which then reshaped itself in the form of a broken heart. Hmmm, sounds kind of like the legend of Noccalula in Alabama. 😉 [http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Noccalula](http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Noccalula) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/36 "2014-05-10T03:31:59Z")
Tuscaloosa, Alabama is named after Chief Tuskaloosa. > **[Tuskaloosa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Tuskaloosa)** > > Tuskaloosa (Tuskalusa, Tastaluca, Tuskaluza) (died 1540) was a paramount chief of a Mississippian chiefdom in what is now the U.S. state of Alabama. His people were possibly ancestors to the several southern Native American confederacies (the Choctaw and Creek peoples) who later emerged in the region. The modern city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is named for him. > Tuskaloosa is notable for leading the Battle of Mabila at his fortified village against the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto. After be... ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/37 "2014-05-10T03:43:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s Mexico City. The borders of the city extend out past the federal district into the adjoining state of Mexico, which is of course part of the country of Mexico. Guatemala is also a city, departamento (“state”), and country. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/38 "2014-05-10T03:43:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s Mexico City. The borders of the city extend out past the federal district into the adjoining state of Mexico, which is of course part of the country of Mexico. Mexico City, however, is officially _Ciudad de Mexico_, not _Mexico_, and the parts that extend into the state of Mexico are officially different municipalities. The official name of the city of Panama is simply _Panama_, rather than _Ciudad de Panama._ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/39 "2014-05-10T04:24:06Z")
**Oronogo, MO** has an improbable legend connect5ed with its naming: > [@](#): > > The name, according to local tradition, came about when it was found that the previous name, “Minersville” was already taken. At a public meeting to change the name, after considering many possibilities, a man in the back blurted out “its Ore or no go”, referring to the mining operations. Elaborating on that, Colonel J. M. Young, suggested substituting the Spanish word “Oro” for ore, and the dropping the “or” to make the word euphonius. He pronounced it “Oronogo” and the audience accepted the name.[7] > **[Oronogo, Missouri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oronogo%2C_Missouri)** > > Oronogo is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,558 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. > Oronogo was platted in 1856. > The name, according to local tradition, came about when it was found that the previous name, "Minersville" was already taken. At a public meeting to change the name, after considering many possibilities, a man in the back blurted out "its Ore or no go", referring to the mining operations. Elabor... Actually, the version I heard was even less believable (and more scurrilous). The sc rip the miners were paid with was so worthless that the local prostitutes wouldn’t accept it in payment. They worked on the barter system – “It’s Ore or no go,” they’d tell their potential clients. I don’t recall where I heard or read that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/40 "2014-05-10T04:24:41Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Guatemala is also a city, departamento (“state”), and country. Likewise, the official name of Guatemala City is _La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción_, rather than simply Guatemala. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051.md?page=3)