I’ve been to Seldom Seen, Ontario.
It’s a hamlet at the end of a road that had to stop because it wasn’t worth it to bridge the ravine where the road ends. It’s mostly residential. There may be a corner store; I don’t know, because it’s been years since I looked.
But the hamlet got its name because few need to go there, so the place really is Seldom Seen.
I have been to Liberal, Kansas a few times. It may have been liberal at one time, but not in the 1990s when I was there.
Happy, Texas. My mom was born there.
In aviation, radio navigation beacons are scattered around the country every couple hundred miles. Sometimes at airports but often not. And usually named for a nearby town.
Which led to this standard US pilot joke:
Q: What are the four great lies of Kansas?
A: Hill City, Garden City, Goodland, and Liberal.
All 4 towns hosting radio beacon namesakes.
The name of the state of Colorado effectively means “reddish colored,” which is pretty conceptual.
Looking around Europe, I see a handful of cities with similar sort of conceptual names, but they’re somewhat harder to discern.
For example: the city of Nice, France, takes its name from the Greek goddess of victory, but the Greek word nikē can also mean the concept of victory itself. Given the distance from the Greek origin and the drift into French pronunciation, I suspect most residents aren’t even aware why their city is called what it is.
Also, the largest public square in Paris is called Place de la Concorde, in the sense of friendship, harmony, agreement — basically a gesture towards “let’s stop killing each other and try to get along.” About as high-minded a concept as one could hope for.
In Germany, I’m not aware of any places that carry an adjective or abstract noun by itself as the name. However, there are a bunch of towns that start with a person’s name and end in “-ruhe,” which basically means “(so-and-so’s) rest.” This are often some traditional getaway town or village, frequently planned and built for that specific purpose, a place where the noble patron can retreat from the pressures of, um, being noble, I guess. So the places themselves are tied to people, but the name is, strictly speaking, a concept.
not exactly a concept, but this place in France is worth noting, and the name is actually a big part of the appeal to tourists:
Fortuna, California refers to Good Luck; it is a bit south of Eureka, California. There are other towns named Fortuna and Eureka out there.
How could you leave out Humptulips?
Hope seems to be fairly popular. In Texas there are Hope and New Hope, as well as Nada - not the Spanish word for ‘nothing’, but (Anglicized) Czech for ‘Hope’.
Other Texas towns:
Welfare
Refugio (Refuge)
Uncertain
Friendship
Hoop and Holler
Humble, Loving, and Goodnight are named for people, but still fit the category.
New York has a town called Amity, and also a totally separate Long Island village hundreds of miles away, called Amityville, which became famous in a series of books called the Amityville Horrors.
Also Harmony, another Hope, Independence, Stark, and Worth. Is Rush a concept or a plant?
Some people might think of Eden as a place, but it’s really a concept.
Probably because it is in Pennsylvania. Haven’t found Two in Bush anywhere.
Also in Pennsylvania. Not far from Intercourse and Bird in Hand. Those Pennsylvania Dutch are a riot.
Liberal was named for the actions of an early settler who dug a deep well and provided free water to people passing through the area.
I lived there for a summer about 50 years ago and I can attest that the people there were friendly enough but certainly not very liberal in their politics. And they’ve remained very red since then, as you noted.
I have lived in Kansas all my life and I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one! (I’m not a pilot.) Thanks for sharing.
Justice, Illinois
Paradise, CA and a number of other places
Halfway, TX and a number of other places
But it’s a long way to Climax.
Here’s a good one from France:
Philadelphia is not called “the City of Brotherly Love” for nothing. Its name is from the Greek word for brotherly love, φιλάδελφος.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, is not named for St. Faith of Agen, but rather for the holy faith [of Francis of Assisi].
Surprise, Arizona (population 140,000), may not count since it is probably named for Surprise, Nebraska (population 37). But the latter seems to fit, since it was named for the founder being pleasantly surprised by the amount of waterpower available on a local river.
There are several towns and cities in the U.S. named Concord, notably in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and California.
There’s a popular bicycle ride called To Hell and Back. There is/was a real ice cream parlor/maker in Hell
A coworker and I visited Barksdale AFB in 2019. On one of our days off we looked at a map and decided to drive to a nearby lake. It was called Caddo Lake. When we drove around to the west side of the lake I saw a sign that said, “Church of Uncertain.” I had to take a photo.
Cool, California.
At our church, we say, “have a little faith”. But just a little.