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List of interesting or unusual place names
The following international geographical names are either interesting or unusual. This list is provided chiefly for its entertainment value.
Exactly what is "interesting or unusual" is of course open to debate, but most of the names fall into recognisable categories:
- Names suggesting matters sexual or scatological or insulting, usually unintentionally. For example Intercourse, Shitlington Crags , or Silly.
- Names of unorthodox spelling or sound. For example Å or Woolloomooloo.
- Names that describe something that is in no apparent sense a geographical location. For example, Why, Old Harry , Mutters , Pity Me, and Die.
- Some calendar-related names are marked 4
- Some numerical names are marked 5
- Some names that are interrogative pronouns are marked 6
- Some living organisms' names are marked 7
- Some names relating to food or drink are marked 8
- Names that match or resemble the name of another place many orders of magnitude more well-known, giving opportunity for confusion. For example New York, Lincolnshire, England
- Some names of this kind are marked 9.
Many place names that appear odd to English-speakers are from other languages. Often they are either meaningless or innocuous in their own tongue. The arguably best-known example of this is Fucking, Austria.
A
- Å, Norway2
- Å, Sweden 2
- Ål, Buskerud, Norway 2
- Abbess Roding , Essex, England
- Accident, Maryland, USA
- Adios, Navarre , Spain ("Goodbye" in Spanish)
- Advance, Indiana, USA
- Ae, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland 2
- Agenda, Kansas, USA
- Agenda, Ashland County, Wisconsin, USA
- Aha, Okinawa Island
- Ah Cut, Pitcairn Island
- Alaska, Michigan, USA 9
- Alert, Indiana , USA
- Almarosa Avenue, Torrance, California, Spanish for "rosy soul." Once named by the Los Angeles Times as one of California's most unusual street names
- Alphabet City, New York, USA
- Amarillo, Texas, USA, Spanish for "yellow"
- America, Netherlands
- America, Cambridgeshire, England 9
- Ameriikka , Pori, Finland (a dump yard)
- Amerika, Germany 9
- Ameryka, Hrubieszow County , Poland 9
- Ameryka, Opole Voivodship , Poland 9
- Amsterdam, New York, USA 9
- Anaheim, California, USA, named by German settlers as the home or heim of the Santa Ana River; unusual portmanteau of Spanish and German
- Anting, China 7
- Apples, Vaud, Switzerland 8
- Arab, Alabama, USA (Pronounced "ay-RAB," Arab is down the road from a town called Boaz, which is a Biblical Hebrew name)
- Arabia, a district in Helsinki, Finland 9
- Arabia, California , USA; abandoned and empty townsite in the Coachella Valley9
- Arm, Mississippi
- Arrowbear, California , USA, midway between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear City
- Arsenic Tubs , New Mexico, USA
- Arsoli , Lazio, Italy
- Arsy , Oise, France
- Asbestos, Quebec, Canada
- Assawoman, Virginia , USA 1
- Assens, Island of Fyn, Denmark
- Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä , a swamp in Lapland, Finland
- Athens, Alabama, USA 9
- Athens, Georgia, USA 9
- Athens, Texas, USA 9
- Atlanta, Michigan, USA 9
- Atlantic City, Wyoming, USA 9
- Atomic City, Idaho, USA
- Au, several towns in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland 2
- Avenue Road, a main street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- (and in other cities – there are six in London)
B
- Bachelor's Bump, East Sussex, England
- Bad Axe, Michigan, USA
- Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, Germany
- Bagdad, Arizona, USA 9
- Bagdad, California, USA; location of the book and subsequent movie, Bagdad Cafe 9
- Bagdad, Florida, USA 9
- Bagdad, Tasmania , Australia 9
- Bald Knob, Arkansas, USA
- Banana, Australia 7 & 8
- Bang Bang Jump Up, a rock formation in Australia
- Barrow, Alaska (northernmost city in the USA)
- Barrow-in-Furness, England
- Bastardo, Italy
- Bat and Ball, a railway station in Sevenoaks, Kent, England
- Batman, Batman Province and Batman River, Turkey
- Beauty, Kentucky , USA
- Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA 1 & 7
- Beaver, Kentucky
- Beer, Devon, England 8
- Belcher, Louisiana, USA
- Belcher, Kentucky , USA
- Belchertown, Massachusetts, USA
- Bendery, Moldova
- Ben Hur, Texas , USA
- Best, Texas , USA
- Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire , Wales 9
- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA 9
- Beverly Hills, New South Wales, Australia 9
- Bidon 5, Sahara Desert, Africa 5
- Big Bear City, California, USA 7
- Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, USA
- Big Ugly Wilderness Area , West Virginia, USA
- Bischofsloch , Germany ("Bishop's Hole")
- Bishop's Itchington , Warwickshire, England
- Bitey Bitey , Pitcairn Island
- Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, USA
- Blackjack, Texas , USA
- Bland, Missouri, USA
- Blewett, Texas , USA
- Blow Me Down, Newfoundland , Canada
- Blowing Rock, North Carolina, USA
- Blubberhouses, Yorkshire, England
- Blue Ball, Pennsylvania , USA 1
- Blunts, Cornwall , England (a number of miles southeast of Big Willy )
- Bø, in Telemark and Nordland, Norway 2
- Boaz, Alabama, USA (Boaz, which is a Biblical Hebrew name, is down the road from a town called Arab)
- Boca Chica, Florida , USA ("little mouth" in Spanish)
- Boca Grande, Florida, USA ("big mouth" in Spanish)
- Boca Raton, Florida, USA ("Mouth of the mouse" in Spanish)
- Bombay, New Zealand 9
- Bong Bong , New South Wales, Australia
- Bong County , Liberia
- Bong Recreational Area, Wisconsin, USA
- Booger Mountain , North Carolina, USA
- Boom, Belgium
- Boring, Oregon, USA
- Boron, California, USA
- Bottom, North Carolina , USA
- Boulevard Street , a dead-end street in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA (I guess they couldn't decide)
- Bra, Italy
- Braintree, a place name in the United Kingdom as well as both Massachusetts and Vermont, USA
- Brasilien , Germany
- Brazil, Indiana, USA 9
- Breaky Bottom, East Sussex, England
- Bright, Indiana, USA
- Broadstairs, Kent, England
- Broadway, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Somerset, Suffolk, & Worcestershire, United Kingdom 9
- Broadway Street , a main road in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA (again, I guess they couldn't decide)
- Broadway, Virginia, Broadway, North Carolina, and several other places in the USA. You'd think Broadway was a street, not a town. 9
- Broken Hill, Australia
- Brown Willy, a tor in Cornwall, England
- Bryndwr , Christchurch, New Zealand (which is as flat as a pancake. "Bryndwr" is Welsh for "steep hill")
- Buckatunna , Mississippi, USA
- Bucksnort, Tennessee , USA
- Buddha, Indiana, USA
- Bullhead City, Arizona, USA; named for a nearby rock formation shaped like a bull's head; submerged soon after the completion of nearby Davis Dam
- Bulls, New Zealand 7
- Bunny, Nottinghamshire , England 7
- Burrumbuttock , New South Wales, Australia
- Bush, Kentucky , USA
- Butt of Lewis , northernmost point of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland
C
- Cabra, Andalusia, Spain (means goat in Spanish) 7
- Caesar, Mississippi , USA
- Cairo, Illinois, Cairo, New York , and several other places in the USA 9
- Calabasas, California, USA; Spanish for "pumpkins"
- Calexico, California, USA; portmanteau of "California" and "Mexico" given its proximity to the international border
- Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada, USA; portmanteau of California, Nevada and Arizona
- California, Birmingham , England 9
- California, Buckinghamshire, England 9
- California, Falkirk , Scotland 9
- California, Maryland, USA 9
- California, Norfolk , England 9
- California, Pennsylvania, USA 9
- Camel Hump, Wyoming , USA
- Canada, Hampshire , England 9
- Cape Catastrophe , South Australia
- Cape Circumcision, Bouvet Island
- Cape Disappointment , Oregon and Washington, USA
- Cape Flattery, Queensland, Australia
- Carne Asada , Portugal (meaning "roasted meat") 8
- Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, USA
- Catbrain Hill, Gloucestershire, England
- Cathedral City, California USA; named not for the house of worship but for a rock formation. There are no cathedrals in Cathedral City.
- Cattewater, Devon, England
- Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA, built on property that was once the backlot of Twentieth Century Fox
- Chaldon Herring, Dorset, England
- Chalk, Texas , USA
- Chard, Somerset, England
- Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Massachusetts, USA 2
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
- Cheesequake, New Jersey , USA 8
- Chicken, Alaska, USA 7 & 8
- Chinaman's Knob , Australia
- Christmas Island, Australia 4
- Christmaspie , Surrey, England 4 & 8
- Chlebowo , Poland (meaning "bread"; renamed from Niemaschchleba meaning "no one has bread") 8
- Chunky, Mississippi, USA
- Climax, Colorado, USA 1
- Climax, Michigan, USA 1
- Climax, Minnesota, USA 1
- Climax, Saskatchewan , Canada 1
- Climax Springs, Missouri, USA 1
- Clit , Arad, Romania 1
- Clitherall, Minnesota, USA 1
- Coachella, California and the corresponding Coachella Valley, USA; etymology uncertain, but generally attributed to a misspelling of the Spanish word conchella, or seashell.
- Coalinga, California, USA; attributed to a Standard Oil installation in the area called "Coaling Station A," used as a fueling point for steam locomotives.
- Coca Cola, Colón , Panama
- Cockburn, Western Australia (pronounced "Co-burn")
- Cockermouth, Cumbria, England
- Cold Christmas , Hertfordshire, England
- Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador , Canada
- Come-by-Chance, New South Wales, Australia
- Competition, Missouri , USA
- Conception Junction, Missouri, USA 1
- Concepcion, Texas, USA
- Condom, Gers, France 1
- Cool, California , USA
- Coolville, Ohio, USA
- Cow Head, Newfoundland and Labrador , Canada 7
- Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
- Cowes , Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
- Coxsackie, New York, USA
- Crap, Albania
- Crap Sogn Gion , Graubünden, Switzerland
- Crapolla , Italy
- Crawley, West Sussex, England
- Crowborough, East Sussex, England (Yes, there are a lot of crows there.) 7
- Cumming, Georgia, USA
- Cumming Street , Suva, Fiji 1
- Cunt, Turkey
- Cunter, Graubünden, Switzerland 1
- Cuntis, Pontevedra , Spain 1
- Cut n' Shoot, Texas, USA
- Cut Off, Louisiana, USA
D
- Day, Kentucky , USA
- Deaf Smith County, New Mexico , USA
- Death Valley, California, USA
- Decoy, Kentucky , USA
- Deer Lick, Pennsylvania , USA
- Delaware, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Delaware, Ohio, and several other places in the USA 9
- Delhi, Minnesota, USA 9
- Delhi, Ontario, Canada 9
- Dial Post , Sussex, England
- Dice, Kentucky , USA
- Die, Drôme, France
- Dildo Island, South Dildo, and Dildo, Newfoundland, Canada 1
- Ding Dong, Texas , USA 1 8
- Dismal, Tennessee , USA
- Disappointment Islands
- Dix Hills, New York, USA 1
- Dondangadale , Victoria, Australia
- Doo Town , Tasmania, Australia (All houses are called something to do with "doo", eg. Doo Little, Doo Drop In, Didgeri-doo, etc.)
- Double Trouble, New Jersey, USA (Also name of a state park)
- Drain, Oregon, USA
- Draw, Texas , USA
- Dresden, Staffordshire , England
- Dry Prong, Louisiana, USA
- Duel, Michigan, USA
- Dublin, California, USA 9
- Dummer, New Hampshire, USA
- Dwarf, Kentucky , USA
E
- Eagle, Lincolnshire, England
- Earth, Texas, USA 9
- Eastabuchie, Mississippi , USA
- East Fishkill, New York, USA
- East Northport, New York, USA
- Easter Island, Chile 4
- Ecce Homo , Schwyz, Switzerland 1
- Economy, Indiana, USA
- Economy, Pennsylvania, USA
- Ed, Austria 2
- Ed, Sweden 2
- Eel Pie Island, London, England
- Effort, Pennsylvania , USA
- Egg, Austria 8
- Egg, Switzerland 8
- Egypt, Buckinghamshire, England 9
- Egypt, Kentucky , USA
- Egypti, Kiuruvesi, Finlad
- Egyptinkorpi, Lieksa, Finland (means Egyptian woodland in Finnish)
- Eighty Eight, Kentucky, USA 5
- Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, USA 5
- El Cajon, California, USA; Spanish for "the box" or "the coffin."
- Elephant Butte, New Mexico, USA 7
- Embarrass, Minnesota, USA
- Empire, Michigan, USA
- Energy, Texas , USA
- Erode, India
- E. S. Nigger Brown Stand , a section of a rugby stadium in Toowoomba, Australia 7
- Esquilant Bivouac , New Zealand
- EU, France 2 & 9 (formerly Eu)
- Eye, Cambridgeshire , Eye, Herefordshire, Eye, Suffolk, and the River Eye, England
- Eyebrow, Saskatchewan , Canada
F
- Fa , Aude, France 2
- Fagus, Missouri , USA
- Fairdealing, Kentucky , USA
- Fairy, Texas , USA
- Fakaofo, Tokelau 1
- Fakfak , Indonesian New Guinea1
- Fancy Farm, Kentucky , USA
- Fearsville, Kentucky , USA
- Felch, Michigan, USA
- Fertile, Minnesota, USA
- Fingerville, South Carolina , USA
- Finland, Minnesota , USA 9
- Fishwick , Lancashire, England 7
- Five Corners (several), USA 5
- Five Forks (several), USA 5
- Five Points (several), USA 5
- Flat, Missouri , USA
- Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada
- Florence, Kentucky, Florence, New York, Florence, South Carolina, and several other places in the USA 9
- Florida, New York, USA 9
- Florida, Massachusetts, USA)
- Flying H, New Mexico , USA
- Foggy Bottom, Washington, DC, USA
- Forks of Salmon, California, USA
- Foul Mile, Sussex, England
- Foulness, Essex, England
- French Camp, California, USA
- French Lick, Indiana, USA
- Frenchman's Butte, Saskatchewan , Canada
- Fresh Kills, Staten Island, New York, USA
- Friendly, Maryland, USA
- Friendly, West Virginia, USA
- Friendship, Wisconsin, USA
- Frisby on the Wreake, Leicestershire, England
- Frog Level, Virginia , USA
- Fucking, Austria 1
- Fuku , China 1
G
- Gander, Newfoundland, Canada 7
- Gap, Pennsylvania, USA
- Garden, Michigan, USA
- Gas, Kansas, USA
- Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA (recently renamed Aquinnah)
- Gaylord, Michigan, USA
- Gayton (several places in England) 1
- Gay Street , Bath, England
- Gays Creek, Kentucky , USA
- Geneva, Kentucky , USA
- George, Washington, USA
- Germfask, Michigan , USA
- Gibraltar, Buckinghamshire, England 9
- Gimli, Manitoba, Canada (a rural municipality)
- Gin Bottle, Arkansas , USA
- Gland, France
- Gland, Switzerland
- Gnaw Bone, Indiana, USA
- Goobies, Newfoundland , Canada
- Goodyear, Arizona, USA 4
- Goonoo Goonoo , New South Wales, Australia (pronounced "gunna g'noo")
- Goose Green, Vermont, USA; also in the Falkland Islands
- Goree, Texas, USA
- Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion, a train station in Gwynedd, Wales 2
- Grand Tetons, a mountain range in Wyoming, USA (meaning: "big tits" in French) 1
- Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, USA
- Grandmother Gap, North Carolina, USA
- Great Neck, New York, USA
- Grong Grong , New South Wales, Australia
- Gropecunt Lane , at one time several towns in England, including London, had a street with this name. They have now all been renamed 1
- Gross, Nebraska, USA
- Grosse Water Beach , in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- Grosse Tête, Louisiana, USA (meaning: "big head" in French)
- Gun Barrel City, Texas, USA
- Gunbarrel Highway, Western Australia, Australia
- Gunbarrel, Colorado, USA
- Gy, Switzerland 2
H  Old cargo handling office, Hell railway station, Norway - Hackensack, New Jersey, USA (this name has been referenced on many rock and popular music songs from as early as 1918)
- Half.com, Oregon, USA (yes, it is sponsored by eBay)
- Halfway Bush, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Halfway, Kentucky , USA
- Halfway, Missouri, USA
- Halfway House, Newfoundland, Canada
- Ham, Kent , England (compounded by its proximity to Sandwich, Kent) 8
- Hamtramck, Michigan, USA
- Happy, Texas, USA
- Happy Union, Texas , USA
- Hard, Austria
- Haseley Knob , Warwickshire, England
- Hazard, Kentucky USA
- Hazardville, Connecticut, USA
- Head of Grassy, Kentucky , USA
- Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a historic site in Alberta, Canada
- Hel, Poland 9
- Hell For Certain, Kentucky , USA
- Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, USA
- Hell Gate, a portion of the East River in New York, USA
- Hell Hole Gorge National Park, Australia
- Hell, Michigan, USA 9
- Hell, Norway 9
- Hell, Grand Cayman , British West Indies 9
- Hells Gate Roadhouse , Australia
- Helper, Utah, USA
- Hempstead, New York, USA
- Hérisson, France (meaning: "hedgehog") 7
- Hicksville, New York, and Hicksville, Ohio, USA
- High Point, a mountain in Sussex, New Jersey, USA — the highest point in the state!
- Hi Hat, Kentucky , USA
- Himmelspforte, Germany (meaning: "heaven's gate")
- Hoard, Clark County, Wisconsin, USA
- Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, USA
- Hole in the Ground, Oregon , USA
- Hole in the Wall, Bahamas
- Holland, Michigan, USA 9
- Homochitto, Mississippi , USA
- Homosassa, Florida, USA
- Honor, Michigan, USA
- Hornytown, North Carolina , USA 1
- Hotazel , Northern Cape, South Africa (pronounced "hot-as-hell")
- Hot Coffee, Mississippi , USA 8
- Houston Street, a main road in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York (pronounced "HOW-stin")
- How, Wisconsin, USA 6
- Howlong , Victoria, Australia
- Humptulips , Washington, USA
- Humpty Doo, Northern Territory, Australia
- Hungry Law , a peak on the England–Scotland border
- Hungry Mother State Park, Virginia, USA
I
- Idyllwild, California, USA
- Ii, Finland 2
- IJ, river in the Netherlands
- Index, Washington, USA
- Indian Queens , Cornwall, England
- Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA 9
- Industry, California, USA
- Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California (street with the head office of Apple Computer)
- Innaloo (suburb of Perth, Australia)
- Intercourse, Alabama and Intercourse, Pennsylvania, both in USA 1
- Iowa, Louisiana, USA 9
- Ireland, Bedfordshire , England 9
- Ironia, New Jersey , USA
- Island, Kentucky, USA
- Isles of Scilly, England (pronounced "silly")
- Italy, Texas, USA 9
J
- Jackpot, Nevada, USA
- Jamboree, Kentucky , USA
- Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, USA (you'd think that would be in New Jersey [or have a shore]) 9
- Jerusalem, Lincolnshire , England 9
- Jerusalem, New Zealand 9
- Jerusalemi , Finland 9
- Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, USA
- Job, Kentucky , USA
- Jobsville, New Jersey , USA
- Jockey End , Hertfordshire, England
- Joe Batt's Arm , an offshore fixture in Canada
- John Catch a Cow , Pitcairn Island
- John o' Groats, Scotland
- Jot Em Down , Texas, USA
- Jupiter, Florida, USA 9
- Jupiter, Romania, and the nearby towns of Saturn, Venus, and Neptun 9
- Justiceberg, Texas , USA
K
- Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
- Kalgary, Texas , USA 9
- Kalifornien, Germany
- Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
- Kärpänen, Lahti, Finland ("fly" (insect) in Finnish)
- Kau Shi Wai , Hong Kong ("village of dog poo" in Cantonese)
- King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Kissimmee, Florida, USA (properly pronounced "kis-SIMM-ee" (IPA [kǝˈsɪmɪ]), but usually mispronounced "KISS-a-me" ([ˈkɪsǝmiː]) by non-locals)
- Kellys Knob , Kununurra, Australia
- Kilkenny, Minnesota, USA (sounds like "killed Kenny" from South Park)
- Kiritimati (pronounced "Christmas"), islands in the South Pacific ("ti" in the native language is the "s" sound in English)
- Kissing, Germany
- Klang Valley, Malaysia
- Knickerbocker, Texas , USA
- Knob Lick, Missouri , USA
- Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England
- Kokomo, Indiana, USA
- Koolyanobbing, Western Australia 1
- Korea, Kentucky , USA
- Korea, Poland 9
- Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit — the poetic name of Bangkok, Thailand 2
- Krypton, Kentucky , USA
L
- La Hoz de la Vieja, Teruell , Spain ("The Old Woman's Sickle")
- Lake Cadibarrawirracanna, Australia
- Lake Titicaca, in Peru and Bolivia
- Largo Labia , Rome, Italy
- Lamb, Michigan , USA 8
- Learned, Mississippi, USA
- Le Net , Brittany, France
- Liberal, Kansas, USA
- Lickey End, Worcestershire, England
- Licking, Missouri, USA
- Licking County, Ohio, USA
- Lignumvitae Key, Florida , USA
- Lititz, Pennsylvania, USA1
- Little Big Horn, Montana, USA
- Little Five Points, Atlanta, Georgia, USA 5
- Little George Coc'nuts, Pitcairn Island
- Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
- Little Rock, Kentucky , USA
- Livermore, California, USA
- Liverpool, Great Britain
- Lizard Lick, North Carolina , USA
- Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales 2
- Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole (normally Llanfynydd), Wales 2
- Load, Kentucky , USA
- Loogootee, Indiana, USA
- Loop, Texas , USA
- Long Island, Massachusetts , USA 9
- Lord Hereford's Knob — hill on the Welsh–English border
- Los Rábanos, Soria , Spain ("the radishes")
- Lost, Scotland (renamed Lost Farm in 2004)
- Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland (pronounced "Lock Nay")
- Love,Illinois , USA
- Loveland, Ohio, USA
- Loveland, Colorado, USA
- Loveladies, New Jersey , USA
- Lovely, Kentucky , USA
- Lover, Wiltshire , England
- Lower Slaughter , Gloucestershire, England
- Loyal, Oklahoma, USA
- Loyal, Wisconsin, USA
- Luck, Wisconsin, USA
- Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Lü , Switzerland 2
M
- Mace, Indiana , USA
- Macgillicuddy's Reeks, mountains in Ireland
- Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA
- Mahwah, New Jersey, USA
- Mailmanloppu , Finland ("the End of the World")
- Malta, Austria 9
- Manhattan Beach, California, USA, named for the New York island 9
- Manteca, California, USA, Spanish word for lard.
- Manunka Chunk, New Jersey , USA
- March, Cambridgeshire, England 4
- Mars, Pennsylvania, USA 9
- Martin's Heron, Berkshire, UK
- Mary Alice, Kentucky , USA
- Maryland, Gwent , Wales
- Masai, Malaysia
- Mashpee, Massachusetts, USA
- Matching Tye, Essex , England
- Mavis Enderby, Lincolnshire, England
- Maybee, Michigan, USA
- Mayo, Kentucky , USA
- Meat Camp, North Carolina , USA
- Mecca, California, USA 9
- Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
- Memphis, Michigan, USA 9
- Memphis, Tennessee, USA 9
- Memphis, Texas, USA 9
- Metropolis, Illinois, USA
- Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, portmanteau of "Mexico" and "California" given its location directly against the international border
- Mexico, Kentucky , USA 9
- Mexico, New York , USA 9
- Miami, Manitoba , Canada 9
- Miami, Oklahoma, USA 9
- Miami, Texas, USA 9
- Mianus, Connecticut, USA
- Middelfart, Funen, Denmark
- Milton Keynes, England
- Minorsville, Kentucky , USA
- Mockbeggar, England
- Mold, Wales
- Money, Mississippi , USA
- Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky , USA
- Monks Risborough, England
- Monroe, Maryland , USA
- Monster, Netherlands
- Montevideo, Minnesota, USA 9
- Montezuma, Indiana, USA
- Moonlight, New Zealand
- Moose Factory, Ontario, Canada
- Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
- Moretonhampstead, Devon (longest one-word place name in England)
- Moron, USA (the original name of Taft, California)
- Moron, Mongolia
- Morón, Spain (Morón Air Base is the home of the 496th USAF Air Base Squadron)
- Moron, Switzerland
- Moscow, Idaho (Home of the University of Idaho)
- Moscow, Scotland
- Moscow, Kentucky , USA
- Moscow, Tennessee, USA 9
- Mough, Ireland (pronounced Muff) 1
- Mount Jerome , Ireland
- Mount Comfort, Indiana , USA
- Mount Gay, West Virginia , USA
- Mount Hopeless , Australia
- Muck, island in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland
- Muff, Northern Ireland
- Muleshoe, Texas, USA
- Mumbles, Wales
- Mutters , Austria
N
- Nar Nar Goon, Victoria, Australia
- Nasty, Hertfordshire, England
- Natters , Austria
- Nauraushaun, New York , USA
- Nazareth, Texas, USA 9
- Neck City, Missouri, USA
- Needles, California, USA
- New Invention, Shropshire , England
- New Invention, England
- Newtwopothouse and neighbouring Twopothouse in Ireland (among the few properly translated placenames in Ireland)
- Newyork, Argyll and Bute , Scotland 9
- New York, Lincolnshire, England 9
- New York, North Yorkshire , England 9
- New York, Tyne and Wear, England 9
- New York Mills, Minnesota, USA 9
- New Zealand, Buckinghamshire, England 9
- Nightcaps , Southland, New Zealand
- Ninety Six, South Carolina, USA 5
- Ninety Six Corners, New York , USA 5
- Ninetynine Oaks, California , USA 5 & 7
- Nobber , County Meath, Ireland
- Nobottle, Northamptonshire, England
- Nogo, Arkansas, USA
- No Guts Captain , Pitcairn Island
- Nomansland, Wiltshire , and Nomansland, Devon , England
- Nome, Alaska, USA ('No Name' misread by a map maker as 'Nome')
- Noodle, Texas , USA 8
- No Name, Colorado , USA
- No Name Key, Florida , USA
- No Place, County Durham, England
- Noone, New Hampshire , USA
- Norco, California, USA; abbreviation of "North Corona"
- Normal, Illinois, USA
- Normandy, Surrey , England 9
- Normandy, Texas , USA 9
- North, South Carolina, USA
- Nothing, Arizona, USA
- Notrees, Texas , USA
- Novice, Texas, USA
- Nowhere, Arizona , USA
- Nuckols, Kentucky , USA
- Nunhead, London, England
- Nyah and Nyah West , Victoria, Australia
O
- Oatman, Arizona, USA
- Öd , Austria 2 (also meaning "deserted" in German)
- Oddville, Kentucky , USA
- Ogle, Kentucky , USA
- Ogre, Latvia
- Ohio, New York, USA 9
- Old Dad Mountains , USA, geographical feature in the Mojave Desert
- Old Harry, Quebec , Canada
- Old Harry Rocks, Dorset, England
- Old Sodbury , Gloucestershire, England
- Old Swan, Liverpool, England
- Oliver Paipoonge, Ontario, Canada
- Ontario, California, USA 9
- Opdyke, Texas , USA
- Opelousas, Louisiana, USA
- Orange, California, USA; county seat of Orange County8
- Oroville, California and Oroville, Oregon , USA ("Oro" is Spanish for "gold")
- Os, Hedmark, Norway 2
- Os, Hordaland, Norway 2
- Oslo, Minnesota, USA 9
- Oxnard, California, USA
P
- Paint Lick, Kentucky , USA
- Panthersville, Georgia, USA
- Parachute, Colorado, USA
- Paradise, New Zealand
- Paradise, California, USA
- Paradise, Michigan, USA
- Paradise, Pennsylvania, USA
- Paradiso (Switzerland)
- Paris, Tennessee, USA 9
- Paris, Texas, USA
- Paris, Kentucky, USA
- Paris, Ontario, Canada
- Pease Pottage, West Sussex, England 8
- Peck, Michigan, USA 1
- Peckerwood Lake , a lake in Arkansas, USA 1
- Peculiar, Missouri, USA
- Peel, Ontario , Canada
- Peep-o-Day , near Wanganui, New Zealand
- Peinlich , a village on the Isle of Skye, UK (means embarrassing in German)
- Penisarwain , Gwynedd, Wales 1
- Peñíscola , Spain 1
- Penistone, South Yorkshire, England 1
- Pennsylvania, Gloucestershire , England
- Peor es nada , Chile (means worse is nothing in Spanish)
- Perl, Germany (and those who work with the Web may be amused to find Apach, France adjacent)
- Petting, Germany
- Pettit, Texas , USA
- Philadelphia, Mississippi, USA
- Phuket, Thailand 1
- Pickle Street, West Virginia (unincorporated, on US 33)
- Picpus (Paris underground railway station)
- Piddle, river in Dorset, England, which runs from near Puddletown to Poole harbour
- Pidley , Cambridgeshire, England 1
- Pieru, Saarijärvi, Finland (means fart in Finnish)
- Pie Town , New Mexico, USA 8
- Pis Pis River , Nicaragua
- Pittsburg, California, USA 9
- Pittsburg, New Hampshire, USA 9
- Pity Me, County Durham, England
- Placentia, California, USA
- Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 1
- Plain Dealing, Louisiana, USA
- Plaster City, California , USA
- Pleasureville, Kentucky, USA
- Point Happy , a geologic feature in La Quinta, California, USA
- Polar, Texas , USA
- Police , Poland
- Pompeii, Michigan, USA 9
- Poortugaal, Netherlands
- Poowong , Victoria, Australia,
- Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas , USA
- Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 9
- Pratt's Bottom, London, England 1
- Prickwillow , England 1
- Pride, Kentucky , USA
- Princes End, Tipton, England
- Pringle, Texas , USA 8
- Prussia Cove, Cornwall , England
- Pukë , Albania
- Punkeydoodles Corners, Ontario , Canada
- Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, USA
- Pussy, France 1
- Puzzletown, Pennsylvania, USA
Q
- Quail, Texas, USA
- Quebec, County Durham, England 9
- Queen Camel , Somerset, England
- Quicksand, Kentucky , USA
- Quién Sabe Mountains, California , USA; geographical feature in the Mojave Desert; Spanish for "who knows?"
R
- Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado, USA
- Rabbit Hash , Kentucky, USA
- Ramrod Key, Florida , USA
- Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA 3
- Rancho Mirage, California, USA; possibly the only place name in the world combining words from both Spanish and French
- Re, Vestfold, Norway 2
- Reading, Berkshire, England (pronounced "Redding")
- Reading, Pennsylvania, USA (pronounced "Redding")
- Reading, Massachusetts, USA (pronounced "Redding")
- Rectum, Netherlands
- Rest and be thankful , Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Rice, California , USA; abandoned small town in the southern Mojave Desert8
- Rifle, Colorado, USA
- Ringoes, New Jersey , USA
- Rising Sun, Indiana, USA
- Roach, Missouri, USA
- Robert's Arm, Newfoundland , Canada
- Robert Lee, Texas, USA
- Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile
- Rocket Pool , England
- Rome, Georgia, USA 9
- Ronkonkoma, New York, USA (stress on the second syllable)
- Root, Lucerne , Switzerland
- Rosenhayn, New Jersey, USA
- Rottenegg, Austria 8
- Rottingdean, Sussex , England
- Rough and Ready, California , USA
- Royalty, Texas , USA
- Rule, Texas, USA
- Rum, island in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland 8
- Rum , Austria 8
- Rum Jungle , Australia 8
- Rust, Austria
- Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire, England
- Ry, Denmark 2
- Ryme Intrinseca, Somerset, England
S
- Sacramento, Kentucky, USA9
- Saddam Hussein, Sri Lanka (the Iraqi dictator donated money to the town after a destructive 1978 cyclone.)
- Safe, Missouri , USA
- Saint Louis, Michigan , USA 9
- Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec, Canada
- Saint-Tite, Quebec, Canada (pronounced "St Tit")
- Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
- Samendorf , Austria ('town of semen')
- San Francisco, Costa Rica 9
- Sandwich, Illinois, USA 8
- Sandwich, Kent, England 8
- Sandwich, Massachusetts, USA 8
- Salsipuedes, California , USA (meaning: "leave if you can" in Spanish)
- Santa Claus, California , USA
- Santa Claus, Georgia, USA
- Santa Claus, Indiana, USA
- Santa Claus, Ohio , USA (There is a Christmas-related theme park there)
- Saracen's Head, Lincolnshire , England
- Satan's Kingdom, Vermont , USA
- Satsuma, Alabama, USA
- Schenectady, New York, USA (pronounced "Ske-NECT-i-dee")
- Scotland, Lincolnshire , England 9
- Scotland, West Yorkshire , England 9
- Scunthorpe, England (causes problems with some child-protection filters)
- Searchlight, Nevada, USA
- Secretary, Maryland, USA
- Seldom Seen Roadhouse, Victoria, Australia
- Semen, Indonesia 1
- Seven Corners, Virginia, USA
- Also the name of an intersection in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (now rebuilt in a more traffic-friendly arrangement)
- Seventeen Seventy , Queensland, Australia 4 & 5
- Sex Rouge , a mountain in the Swiss Alps 1
- Sexbierum, the Netherlands
- Sasmuan, Pampanga , Philippines (now renamed Sasmuan) 1
- Sexsmith, Alberta , Canada 1
- Shafter, California, USA1
- Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia , Canada
- Shag Island, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indian Ocean (dependency of Australia)
- Shag Island, Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada 1
- Shag Point , New Zealand 1
- Shag River, New Zealand 1
- Shamrock, Texas, USA 7
- Shelfanger, Norfolk, UK
- Sheriff Hales, Shropshire, UK
- Shit , Iran
- Shitagoo Lake , Quebec, Canada
- Shitlington Crags , Northumberland, England
- Shittlehope, Durham, England
- Shoulderblade, Kentucky , USA
- Sideview, Kentucky , USA
- Siem Reab, Cambodia (meaning defeat Siam)
- Siesta Key, Florida, USA
- Silica, Minnesota , USA
- Silly, Belgium
- Simmering, Vienna, Austria
- Siren, Wisconsin, USA
- Sissy, France (commune)
- 6, West Virginia , USA (the town has been renamed) 5
- Skaneateles, New York, USA (pronounced like skinny Atlas)
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan, USA
- Slough, England (rhymes with "cow")
- Smackover, Arkansas, USA
- Snafu Creek , Yukon, Canada
- Snapfinger, Georgia , USA
- Snodland, Kent, England
- Solitude, Indiana , USA
- Sommerloch , Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany 4 (meaning: "summer slump")
- Sort, Lleida, Spain (means luck in Catalan)
- Soweto, South Africa (derived from an abbreviation of "South Western Townships")
- Spit Junction , New South Wales, Australia
- Splatt , Devon, England
- Splott, Cardiff, Wales
- Spooner, Wisconsin, USA
- Spread Eagle, Wisconsin , USA 1
- Spunk Creek , Minnesota, USA and related bodies of water such as Middle Spunk Lake 1
- Spuzzum, British Columbia , Canada
- Stamping Ground, Kentucky, USA
- Stateline, Nevada, USA
- Stiffkey, Norfolk, UK
- Stockolm, Finland 9
- Stora Stjärtvecket , Sweden
- Strata Florida Abbey, Dyfed, Wales
- Suez, Finland 9
- Sugar Land, Texas, USA
- Sugar Tit, South Carolina , USA 1
- Sumerduck, Virginia, USA
- Surprise, Arizona, USA
- Surprise, Nebraska, USA
- Swallow, Lincolnshire, UK
- Swastika, Ontario, Canada
- Swords, outside Dublin, Ireland
- Syberia, Poland 9
T
- Taintsville, Florida , USA
- Tarzan, Texas , USA
- Tarzana, California, USA; based on the name of fictional charcter Tarzan
- Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu Hill, New Zealand
- Tehachapi, California, USA and the corresponding Tehachapi Pass
- Telegraph, Texas , USA
- Telephone, Texas , USA
- Te Puke, New Zealand
- Te Urewera National Park, New Zealand ("Te Urewera" is Maori for "the burnt penis")
- Terry Hie Hie , New South Wales, Australia
- Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, New Zealand 2
- Texas, Queensland, Australia 9
- Thermal, California , USA
- Thong, Kent, England
- Thousand Oaks, California, USA 5 & 7
- Thousand Palms, California, USA 5
- Thousandsticks, Kentucky , USA
- Tiddleywink, Wiltshire, England
- Tightsqueeze, Virginia , USA
- Tightwad, Missouri, USA
- Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico; commonly credited to the Spanish phrase "Tia Juana," or "Aunt Jane." The name is actually from the Yuman tiwan, or "near the sea."
- Titisee , Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Titlis , Switzerland
- Tittybong , Victoria, Australia
- Titz , North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Toadsuck, Texas , USA
- Toadsuck , Perry County, Arkansas, USA
- Toast, North Carolina, USA 8
- Tokio, Texas , USA 9
- Tombstone, Arizona, USA
- Toronto, County Durham, England 9
- Touristville, Kentucky , USA
- Towcester, Northamptonshire, England (pronounced "toaster")
- Transylvania, Louisiana, USA
- Treinta y Tres , Uruguay (thirty-three)
- Troia, Calabria, Italy (means "slut")
- True, Wisconsin, USA
- Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA
- Tubbercurry, County Sligo, Ireland
- Turda, Cluj, Romania
- Turkey, Kentucky , USA
- Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
- Tutaekuri River , New Zealand ("Tutaekuri" is Maori for "dogshit")
- Tuxedo, Texas , USA
- Twatt, Orkney Islands, Scotland
- Twatt, Shetland Islands, Scotland
- Twenty, Lincolnshire, England 5
- Twentynine Palms, California, USA 5
- Twinsburg, Ohio, USA 7
- Two Boars Roll , Pitcairn Island
U
- U (Coclé) , Panama
- Ugley, Essex, England
- Ultima, Victoria, Australia
- Unalaska, Alaska, USA
- Unnamed Conservation Park , South Australia, Australia
- Up In Ti , Pitcairn Island
- Upotipotpon , Victoria, Australia
- Upper Slaughter , Gloucestershire, England
- Upper Swan, Western Australia, Australia
- Uranium City , Saskatchewan, Canada
- Usa, Oita, Japan 9 (Rumors that the town was so named so its exports could bear the label "Made in USA" are apocryphal.)
- Useless Loop , Western Australia, Australia
V
- Vagina, Kurganskaya Oblast, Russia
- Varkaus, Finland (means theft in Finnish)
- Venice, California, USA 9
- Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta , a train station on the Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu–Renigunta, Andhra Pradesh line, India
- Venusberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Veribest, Texas , USA
- Void , Meuse, France (now merged with a neighbouring place to form Void-Vacon )
- Vienna, Virginia, USA 9
- Virgin, Nevada , USA
- Virgin, Utah, USA
- Virginia Water, Surrey, England
- Virginville, Pennsylvania , USA
- Vulcan, Alberta, Canada
W
- Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
- Wahoo, Nebraska, USA
- Walla Walla, Washington, USA 3
- Wanglik (Hengli), Guangdong , China
- Wangs, Sankt Gallen , Switzerland
- Wangs, Minnesota , USA
- Wank, mountain in Bavaria, Germany 1 (see List of British English words not used in American English)
- Wankdorf , suburb of Bern, Switzerland, and motorway interchange A1 / A6 1
- Wankers Corner, Oregon, USA 1
- Wankham , Upper Austria, Austria
- Wankie, former name of Hwange, Zimbabwe 1
- Ware, Massachusetts, USA
- Ware, Hertfordshire, England 6
- Watanobbi , New South Wales, Australia
- Waterproof, Louisiana, USA
- Weare, New Hampshire, USA (pronounced "weer," but often pronounced "where?" or "we are" by non-locals) 6
- Wedding, Germany
- Weed, California, USA
- Weir, Mississippi, USA (Pronounced "where") 6
- Welcome, South Carolina, USA
- Wendy-cum-Jolly, Hertfordshire , England
- Westward Ho!, Devon, England (the punctuation mark is part of the name. The town takes its name from the title of a book by Charles Kingsley)
- Wetwang, Yorkshire, England 1
- Whakapapa skifield, New Zealand, and many other similar placenames ("Wh-" is pronounced as "F" in Maori) 1
- Wham, North Yorkshire , England
- What Cheer, Iowa, USA
- Where Freddy Fall , Pitcairn Island
- Where Minnie Off , Pitcairn Island
- Where Reynolds Cut The Firewood , Pitcairn Island
- Whroo , Victoria, Australia
- Why, Arizona, USA 6
- Whynot, Mississippi , USA
- Wide Open , Tyne and Wear, England
- Wigley, Derbyshire , England
- Wigley, Hampshire , England
- Wigley, Shropshire , England
- Wigtwizzle , South Yorkshire, England
- Winter, Wisconsin, USA 4
- Wisdom, Montana, USA
- Wisdom's Bottom, Oxfordshire, England (not a settlement name, but appears on maps as a geographical feature. A bottom is a dry valley or hollow.)
- Woodenbong, New South Wales, Australia
- Woolloomooloo, Sydney , Australia
- Woon Gumpus Common , Cornwall, England
- Wong Way , street in Singapore
- Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (home of the Diet of Worms) 7
- Wynot, Nebraska, USA
- Wyoming, New South Wales , Australia 9
- Wyoming, Michigan, USA 9
X
Y
- Y, Alaska, USA 2
- Y, Somme, France 2
- Yaphank, New York, USA
- Ybor City, Florida, USA
- Young America, Minnesota , USA
- Yreka, California, USA
Z
See Also
Further Reading
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