# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/61 "2014-05-13T11:02:50Z")
Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, Canada, was a popular Cree Indian buffalo hunt location, marked by a massive pile of buffalo bones, and the original name of the settlement was [Pile-of-Bones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina,_Saskatchewan#Founding), a translation of the Cree name. It was renamed Regina in honour of Queen Victoria after being selected as the site of the territorial capital. ---
**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 13, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/62 "2014-05-13T13:11:30Z")
that I found in a history of New York City – the Flatbush section of Brooklyn does not get its name from bushes that are flat. It’s a corruption of _'t vlack bos_, meaning “a wooded plain”. Wikipedia renders this differently, without the idiosyncratic _'t_: > [@](#): > > The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos (vlacke = vlak = flat; “flat woodland” or “wooded plain”),[1][2] so named from woods that grew on the flat country.[3] > **[Flatbush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatbush,_Brooklyn)** > > Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park to the north, East Flatbush to the east, Midwood to the south, and Kensington and Parkville to the west. The modern neighborhood includes or borders several institutions of note, including Brooklyn College. > The area was home to the Canarsee people before contact with Europeans; many of the tribe's paths would become... ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/63 "2014-05-13T13:24:21Z")
There are a few towns hereabouts that appear to be named after husband-and-wife settlers. “Floydada” after Floyd and Ada, “Idalou” after Ida and Lou… ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/64 "2014-05-14T19:51:55Z")
My town is named after a journalist, Fanny Wood, who probably didn’t exist. The fact that she doesn’t exist doesn’t stop us from having a town fair every year named after her. > [@](#): > > “The rest of us have been searching for many years for anything she ever wrote, for any of her DNA or anything else,” said George Weiss, who runs the borough’s TV station and fashions himself a local historian. “So, it is the legend of Fanny Wood.” > > It’s a fascinating story whose origins are obscure and versions plentiful. It seems some imaginative local worked up this yarn a long time ago and, through a game of telephone and decades of passing, it took on a life of its own. [The legend of Fanny Wood: Union County town isn’t quite sure where its name came from](http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2012/09/the_legend_of_fanny_wood_union.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/65 "2014-05-14T21:21:42Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Lancaster County, Pennsylvania’s delightfully double-entendred place names have mostly mundane origins. Blue Ball is named after an inn whose logo was, guess what, a blue sphere. One theory of the origin of the name of Intercourse is that it was named that because the town is at the crossroads of two major highways (i.e. “courses”), namely an east-west highway from Philly to Pittsburgh and a north-south highway from Erie, Pennsylvania to Wilmington, Delaware. I used to work out there at various car dealerships. Sometimes I wouldn’t get a chance to go to Intercourse but I would end up in Blue Ball or Bird in Hand. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/66 "2014-05-15T03:42:40Z")
An area of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, was known as Mount Pisgah, and there is still a road of that name. Mount Pisgah was the height from which Moses looked down at what would become the Holy Land and Sheffield’s Mount Pisgah looked down upon land owned by a family called Holy. ---
**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 15, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/67 "2014-05-15T06:49:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > that I found in a history of New York City – the Flatbush section of Brooklyn does not get its name from bushes that are flat. It’s a corruption of _'t vlack bos_, meaning “a wooded plain”. > > Wikipedia renders this differently, without the idiosyncratic _'t_: > > [Flatbush - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatbush,_Brooklyn) Well, both the English words are cognates (ultimately) of the Dutch ones, so it’s not too farfetched a “translation.” It would be like saying “Bloomfield” for some place originally called the German “Blaumenfeld,” even though the German word really means “field of flowers.” There’s been some semantic shift since the common ancestor of the words, but not enough to make an “eye translation” completely implausible. ---
**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 15, 2014, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/68 "2014-05-15T11:49:11Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Well, both the English words are cognates (ultimately) of the Dutch ones, so it’s not too farfetched a “translation.” It would be like saying “Bloomfield” for some place originally called the German “Blaumenfeld,” even though the German word really means “field of flowers.” There’s been some semantic shift since the common ancestor of the words, but not enough to make an “eye translation” completely implausible. Misleading comparison – it’s hard to miss the similarity of “Bloomfield” and “Blaumerfeld”, but it’s pushing it to say “bos” is the same as “bushj”, when it means “woods” or “fgrest”. Yeah, you can see where the similarity lies, but it ain’t like saying “field” is “feld” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/69 "2014-05-17T05:00:02Z")
Joliet, IL was named for French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet. That’s not unusual or weird. Neighboring community Romeoville, on the other hand, was named as such because it made for a good pun with neighboring Joliet :smack: ---
**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 17, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/70 "2014-05-17T05:05:10Z")
Remlap, AL > [@](#): > > Remlap is named for the area’s Palmer family; the community’s name is “Palmer” spelled backwards. > **[Remlap, Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remlap%2C_Alabama)** > > Remlap is a census-designated place in Blount County, Alabama, United States, located along Alabama State Route 75, 11.7 miles (18.8 km) southwest of Oneonta. Remlap has a post office with ZIP code 35133. > Remlap is named for the area's Palmer family; the community's name is "Palmer" spelled backwards. > Remlap is home to a notorious criminal Mark Breeden who fled Virginia after committing several crimes. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/71 "2014-05-17T05:08:15Z")
There’s a small town in northern Queensland (Aus) called **1770** , in commemoration of a landing there by Captain James Cook in…wait for it, you’ll never guess…1770! Though technically the town name is spelled out (as in Seventeen Seventy), on most maps, directories and through local lore, it’s 1770. ---
**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 17, 2014, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/72 "2014-05-17T11:03:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Misleading comparison – it’s hard to miss the similarity of “Bloomfield” and “Blaumerfeld”, but it’s pushing it to say “bos” is the same as “bushj”, when it means “woods” or “fgrest”. Yeah, you can see where the similarity lies, but it ain’t like saying “field” is “feld” I hear you, but my mileage varies. Maybe because I’ve been interested in etymologies for a long time, I see the “bush/bos” connection as likely (though not definitive, before looking it up). I can see why I’d be in the minority on this, so your point is well taken. ---
**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 17, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/73 "2014-05-17T12:58:57Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I hear you, but my mileage varies. Maybe because I’ve been interested in etymologies for a long time, I see the “bush/bos” connection as likely (though not definitive, before looking it up). I can see why I’d be in the minority on this, so your point is well taken. I respect that, but for me this falls into the “it’s obvious when you already know the answer” category. Most people, presented with “Flatbush” and “'t vlacke bos” and its translation as “wooded plain”, would not say they were the same. I’m not saying they aren’t related, but the equivalence isn’t there, and is certainly not obvious. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/74 "2014-06-04T05:34:32Z")
There’s the “[Alphabet Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grand_Trunk_Pacific_Railway_stations)” of towns in the Canadian Prairie provinces. The Grand Trunk Pacific established stations at a regular basis, and gave them names in alphabetical order, starting from the east and going west. They repeated the alphabet roughly three times crossing what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The towns that grew up at the railway stations normally took the same name. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/75 "2014-06-04T11:51:26Z")
I remember a P.J. O’Rourke thing where he defined the Mississippi as the border between sensible and weird names. I’m not American, so I might be in the dark here a bit, but from what little I know, it seems to follow. East of the river, you get classical names like Athens, GA, and west of it, I think the example he used was something like “Where Did I Leave My Hat, AZ”. Was he on the money? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/76 "2014-06-04T13:08:05Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > There’s the “[Alphabet Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grand_Trunk_Pacific_Railway_stations)” of towns in the Canadian Prairie provinces. The Grand Trunk Pacific established stations at a regular basis, and gave them names in alphabetical order, starting from the east and going west. They repeated the alphabet roughly three times crossing what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Heh, I see Q only got 2 stations, and X only got one. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/77 "2014-06-04T13:29:46Z")
Little Rock, Arkansas, is named after the unusually small rock that is a local landmark. :D:p (But seriously, why? If it was called Big Rock, it would make some sense.) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/78 "2014-06-04T13:35:13Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Joliet, IL was named for French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet. That’s not unusual or weird. > > Neighboring community Romeoville, on the other hand, was named as such because it made for a good pun with neighboring Joliet :smack: Until 1845 Joliet was spelled “Juliet.” Or so says wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/79 "2014-06-04T13:46:23Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > There’s a small town in northern Queensland (Aus) called **1770**. In the US, there’s 84, Pennsylvania, which gave its name to a chain of lumberyards. And 96, South Carolina, home of baseball pitcher Bill Voiselle, the only major leaguer to wear the name of his hometown on his jersey. Both were named for railroad mile markers. Novi, Michigan, home of a Ford engine plant, grew up around a railroad water tower, the sixth in a line of them, duly marked with Roman numerals as “No. VI”. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051/80 "2014-06-04T13:53:50Z")
I’ve often wondered about the name of my hometown, Lore City, Ohio. (Pop. 325 in 2012) It was originally named Campbell’s Station. After Morgan’s Raiders came through and wreaked their worst havoc ever on the little village, this ensued: “There happened to be two Campbell’s Stations at that time and the larger one kept the name. When deciding what to rename the smaller town, the Irish Catholics had a big hand in it. Their church were attempting to educate the people in this small community; therefore devised the new name as The City of Learning or Lore City… lore meaning knowledge or learning.” Kind of hilarious if you’ve ever lived in those parts, but I’m glad to know. I’d never found anything about it until I looked it up for this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-and-or-unlikely-town-name-origins/688051.md?page=5)