I’ve been collecting unusual place names for years. Here in California we’ve got few Indian names, but many Spanish ones. But my two favorites so far are a made up one (Coalinga) and an Armenian one (Yettem).
Out of state my favorite is “Dime Box, Texas.”
Now Dick, when you say collect, what do you mean exactly? Are we just finding unique place names on a map, are we traveling to said places, or are we stealing their road signs (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
I always liked Rancho Cucamonga
Pennsylvania has some unusual place names
How about wampum or torpedo - cyclone - slate lick - plum - turtle creek - glen campbell
there are lots more
Bill
Washington St likes to name it’s towns twice: (Tum Tum and Walla Walla) for example.
Bill Z said:
Pennsylvania has some unusual place names
How about wampum or torpedo - cyclone - slate lick - plum - turtle creek - glen campbell
there are lots more
Bill
Most of the “towns” on my RR are named after real places in PA in near or around, but not on the East Broad Top. Kistler, Tyrone, Honey Grove, Nook, Meadow Gap and Willow Hill. And most of them easily translate to 4 letter RR Map locations like KIST, TYRE, HONY, NOOK and WILO. These are certainly not amoung the more unique names in PA. On my way to ECLSTS I always pass through Virginville on the way to Blue Ball before I get to Intercourse.
There are some very interesting and unusual names in the United States and Canada. I see so many First Nation, English, French, Spanish and German names which suggest the language of the original settlers of the area named.
I am sure there are very many curious ones with other, non race/language origins.
I used to pass through some small towns when I was driving around to service copiers. Places like Glyde, Smock, Cuddy, Cyan, Dry Tavern, and such. When one of the other techs had a service call in Wind Ridge, I started laughing. He asked me why. I told him that if he blinked he would miss it. Downtown Wind Ridge is a fire station/post office, a house and a small shack like structure across the street. Then he asked me how the heck to get there. Turns out he was going to a drill site about 20 miles south of there, but it was listed as a Wind Ridge address, because that was the closest “town” to the site.
If you zoom in on Newfoundland with Google Maps it has some unusual names.
Joe Batt’s Arm
Tilting
Comfort
Cow’s Head
Come By Chance
Dildo
Tickles
Heart’s Desire
Herring Neck
Dead Man’s Bay
OMG this is turning X rated. I might be offended if I could quit laughing long enough.
Then there’s Bird-in-Hand, Paradise, Intercourse, Ohiopyle, California, in PA. There’s a Mexico in NY state. There’s a Switzerland in SC.
Maine has all kinds of town and place names too. Nautical: Winter Harbor, Fiddlers Reach, Eastport, foreign: Sorrento, Lubec. China, Poland, native american: Sasanoa, Wiscasset, english: Bath and Falmouth, industrial: Weeks Mills, Stonington, Rockport, Farmington. patriotic: Washington Franklin Jefferson. how about Caribou or Duck trap?
There are, at last count, sixteen towns named “Moscow,” in the good old’ USA.
When I was a Boy Scout, we held our annual Camporee on a meadow named “Cathouse Flats,” on the maps. Its near the summit of Blewett Pass. For an 11-12 year old Scout, this is rich.
What I started! LOL. I try to visit the more unusual, like Yettem (means “Paradise” in Armenian) . I try to find the English translation which makes it all the more interesting! Why is “Piedras Blancas” a name? Because thousands of birds sat on them for hundreds of years and made them white. Sure is better than “Bird Poop Rocks.”
I’ve got a copy of “California Place Names” that is my bible for this stuff. Incidentally, there are only three places in the US named “Sacramento,” and two are ghost towns. Jury is till out on the one I live in.
Anaheim (where the original Disneyland is) is a hybrid of TWO languages. “Ana” is from the Spanish “Santa Ana” a nearby town. “Heim” is from German (one of the few German names in California) meaning “home.” Anaheim was settled by German immigrants.
While not an official town, I live not far off from Garrigan’s Gulch.
John
From our backyard, Farmington NM is surrounded on three sides by Native Indian Reservations.
The Navajo being the largest. Just south on US Hwy 550 is the place known as Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle.
How do you pronounce it? You Can’t… The h-Na-O- part is sort of like hairballing from deep in the throat. The first part is pronounced " ZiTH " with the “D” not even used. The " Hle " part comes out as a throaty kind of a hissss. Trying to read the word and pronounce it is impossible I have learned to properly pronounce it, My Navajo friends are quite proud of me. Most locals ether refer to it as “Disneyland” or jest " Dith " It is a sacred place to the Navajo, Birth place of “First Man” and “First Woman” and the center of their origins. There is a BIA Boarding house School and medical center there.
The Navajo language is a highly complex language with a lot of guttural and throat sounds mixed in. The language did not even have a written language or spellings until the 1960s. It is a very unique sounding language. It is for this reason that the US Military adopted the language for our TOP SECRET codes during WWII. Hence the Secret Navajo Code Talkers. Even the code people of the military couldn’t make sense of the spoken language. It remained as the only WWII code never broken, and the existence of the “Code Talkers” were kept secret for decades after WWII, Many a Code Talker never received any recognition for there important combat service, due to the classified nature of their work. Only in the past couple of decades have they received the honors due them for their part in WWII. They landed on many beaches in the South pacific right along side their fellow Marines.
@Devon, I grew up next to Cucamonga, In So Cal. As a kid it was just a wide spot in the road with several Wineries , lots of vineyards and no real town, But it was OLD, like Spanish Land Grants Old. But it was just Cucamonga then. Going east from LA in the 60’s, it was the first land that hadn’t been completely developed yet, and it was rural and grew wine grapes, and Olives, Lots of Oranges and Lemons. It wasn’t until the rich folks from LA discovered it and started to build homes there that they added the “Rancho” to it to give it some class I guess.
Didn’t Cucamonga have a sewing circle, book review and timing association back then along with Anaheim and Azuza?
Heard rumors about it from a couple guys from there…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Within miles of Carlyle, we have Owl’s Bend, Posey and Frogtown. Some of those made it to the KVRwy.
@Ken Yup… Spent numerous Fri -Sat evenings at the Cucamonga Drag strip. It was one of the earliest Strips in SoCal. $1.00 to get in, but easy to just sneak in. A Very low key, local, good time, run-what-you-brung place. Pretty loose on the safety rules also. In the late 50’s early 60’s some big names would show up to tune and test. Azusa and Anaheim were much more commercial and professional strips. Pomona only ran occasionally and had the Winternationals. Cucamonga was by far the locals and street rodders preferred strip.
EDIT: Not but a few blocks from the Santa Fe tracks, and the Red Line. To keep it train related.
