Peculiar names

By Simon

Today I came across a site, presented by Lady Fortune the Absurd of Greater Internetshire, that automatically generates silly aristocratic titles, such as The Very Reverend Omniglot the Random of Midhoop St Giggleswich or Milord Sir Lord Simon the Contrite of Much Moulding upon Carpet.

Some of the names it throws up, such as Piddletrenthide, Barton in the Beans and Giggleswick, are genuine places in the UK, but many of them are made up. Piddletrenthide is a small village on the River Piddle in Dorset, Barton in the Beans is in Leicestershire, and Giggleswick is in North Yorkshire.

There are plenty of other oddly-named places in the UK, including Chipping Sodbury, Ugglebarnby, Steeple Bumpstead, Blubberhouses and Bugthorpe, and this site generates more.

Are there are any oddly-named places near you?

23 thoughts on “Peculiar names”

  1. Not necessarily near me, but in the USA we have:

    Intercourse, Pennsylvania
    Big Ugly, West Virginia
    Big Bogue Homo Creek, Mississippi
    Big Bone Lick, Kentucky
    Boring, Oregon
    Cocksgag, Ohio
    Assawoman, Virginia
    Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky
    Panic, Pennsylvania
    Poor Town, North Carolina
    Stinking Bay, Arkansas
    Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

    There are MANY more- not all of them I could put on here.

  2. We have some strange names for places here in Washington state:
    Puyallup (pronounced pyoo-AL-up)
    Issaquah
    Okanogan
    Vader
    Humptulips
    Skookumchuck River
    Wynoochee River

    Most are derived from Native American terms or names.

  3. Here are some funny names from my home state of Utah:
    Virgin,
    Low,
    Hardup,
    Wiitokuchumpunkuruganiyugwivantumu (a Native American village)
    I couldn’t find many others, but, there are also many names in Utah (being the Mormon state) that involve prophets and places from the Book of Mormon such as: Nephi, Lehi, Bountiful, and MANY others.

  4. Well nearly all placenames near me are derived from Irish so I have:
    Poulnagcon (Poll na gCon in Irish).
    Ballnahaun (prounced Bal na hown)
    Ton Gaoth (Ton is Irish for behind, and Gaoth is Wind).

  5. I was thinking of Puyallup as well. Spokane is another (spoh-CAN). And who can forget Walla Walla (and who would want to)?

  8. From the Mojave Desert in and around southern California:
    Needles
    Amboy
    Saltus
    Ragtown
    Barstow
    Truckee (from norCal)

    Germany has some strangely-named towns as well:
    Feucht (near Nuremburg, meaning “moist”)
    Windischeschenbach (say that three times quickly!)

    You should have asked me five years ago; I could have rattled off a good list!

  11. Near my hometown there is a place called “White City” which I’ve always thought was a funny name.
    Then there’s “Butte Falls” which my dad made fun of almost every week.

  12. You forgot Toad Suck, Arkansas and Slapout, Alabama (as in, “this store is slap out of those!”).

    Not to mention the following hideously mispronounced names of foreign origin:

    El Dorado, AR (ell doh-RAY-doh)
    Stuttgart, AR (sstuhht-gahhrt)
    Lafayette County, MS (La-FAY-et)

    Somebody should seriously tell these people that if you can’t pronounce it right, you shouldn’t be borrowing it! 😀

  13. Oh, I almost forgot. We have Diablo, WA, pronounced die-AB-low.

    Oh, theres a Tokio, WA as well.

  14. Minstrel Ayreon:

    “Somebody should seriously tell these people that if you can’t pronounce it right, you shouldn’t be borrowing it!”

    I seriously doubt the people who are mispronouncing the names are the same who picked them… 🙂

  15. In Indonesia we have a small town called Lopassa Hassamantaljakasta Keliea, and it doesn’t mean a thing or has got anything to do with a thing in Indonesian.

  16. Hm… I’m sure there are many oddly named places around here, but I can’t think of any, except the one we kept making fun of in history class: Flin Flon. I had always though it was from an autochtone language (because of how North it was), but it ends up that it’s not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flin_Flon
    It actually comes from the lead character’s name in a paperback novel! (Flintabetty Flonatin)

  17. There are some excellent, often quite surreal-sounding village / place names in Lincolnshire (England) where I live:

    Anton’s Gowt
    Ashby Puerorum
    Belchford
    Dyke
    Guthram Gowt
    Hop Pole
    Juice Trump Hill
    Leake Hurn’s End
    Mavis Enderby
    Meals
    Pode Hole
    Potterhanworth Booths
    The Royalty
    Scrane End
    Skendleby Psalter
    Sots Hole
    Spital in the Street
    Twenty

    And the almighty …

    Claxby Pluckacre

  18. Darmstadt is quite a big city in Germany. “Darm” means intestine, “Stadt” means town. I have never met a German who thinks it is funny though.

  19. I have been living in southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria da Boca do Monte, if we translate it to English, it is Saint Mary of Mountain’s Mouth, because the city is in the boarder of a mountain. Even my native city, Rio de Janeiro, which whole name is São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, it would be Saint Sebastian of January’s River.

  20. Mojo, Maychew, Mega, Lake Tana (Umanga?) Gojam(aica?) Shower, and Arsi all Ethiopian names that tickle my fancy
    And Whykickamoocow in NZ. Also, my town used to be called Tutaenui (big turd)

  21. Mizan Teferi= Scales to be feared? South Western Ethiopia.
    Who named that town?

  22. In my home State of Maryland in the US there is small town just North of Baltimore called Boring.

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