Place names considered unusual
Place names considered unusual can include those which are also offensive words, inadvertently humorous or highly charged words, as well as place names of unorthodox spelling and pronunciation, including especially short or long names. These names often have an unintended effect or double-meaning when read by someone who speaks another language.
Profane, humorous and highly charged words
Some place names can be offensive or humorous in other languages, like Rottenegg or Fucking in Austria, or Fjuckby in Sweden, where the name can be associated with the word "fuck". Although as a place name Fucking is benign in German, in English the word is usually vulgar. Its earliest recorded use in England is within a 14th-century Bristol field name, Fucking Grove, although it is unclear whether the word was considered obscene at that time. Similarly, when they hear of the French town of Condom, English speakers will likely associate it with condoms.Conversely, a number of place names can, by folk etymology or otherwise, be considered humorous or offensive by their inhabitants, such as the Italian towns of Bastardo and Troia, the German towns Affendorf, , , , , which appropriately lies at the edge of the Höllental, , Lederhose, , , , and . Petting is a village in Bavaria meaning Petting both in German and English. The Austrian municipality Unterstinkenbrunn and the cadastral community Oberstinkenbrunn can also be considered offensive by residents.
In Sweden, there are the villages of , , Fittja, and .
In the Czech Republic, there are villages called Šukačka and Onen Svět, which are located 2 kilometres from each other.
In Canada, there is a lake named Big Ass Lake in Nova Scotia, and the town of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! in Quebec.
In Hong Kong, place names containing the words "si2" and "niu6" are common, and there are a number of place names actually containing profanities, such as 㞗頭 ‘’Gau Tau‘’, 含撚角 Ham Lun Kok respectively. Other examples include 狗屎圍 Kau Shi Wai, now 鳳美圍 Fung Mei Wai 'phoenix beauty grounds'.
In the United States, there are at least three towns named Cumming, a slang term for ejaculation, and the name of the town of Effingham, Illinois, contains a minced oath for "fuck". Long Dick Creek in Iowa is named after a settler, not male genitalia, and Horneytown, North Carolina is named for the Horney family of early settlers. There is also Two Egg, Florida, the name of which evokes testicles, and Athol, Massachusetts, whose pronunciation evokes "asshole". In South Carolina, there is a town named Fingerville, after a settler, Joseph Finger. In Michigan, there is a town named Hell, and various explanations for its name exist.
In the United Kingdom, there are a number of places with names that would be considered derogatory in other settings, such as the Northamptonshire community Titty Ho, a pair of Twatts; one in Orkney and the other in Shetland, and the Dorset community, Shitterton. When people hear of the Turkish city of Batman, English speakers will likely associate it with the superhero of the same name.
Name changes
For negative reasons
Some place names are deemed to be offensive or unacceptable, often through historic semantic changes in what is tolerated.An example of this would be the once common English street name Gropecunt Lane, whose etymology is a historical use of the street by prostitutes to ply their trade. During the Middle Ages, the word cunt may often have been considered merely vulgar, having been in common use in its anatomical sense since at least the 13th century. Its steady disappearance from the English vernacular may have been the result of a gradual cleaning-up of the name; Gropecunt Lane in 13th-century Wells became Grope Lane, and then in the 19th century, Grove Lane. In the city of York, Grapcunt Lane was renamed Grope Lane and is now called Grape Lane. In Bristol, Gropecount Lane was sometimes being contracted to Grope Lane by the late 15th century. This was later euphamised to Grape Lane, or in the 18th century Hallier's Lane. However, the old name was only finally obliterated by the City Council's decision to rename the street Nelson Street, following the death of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.
The Swedish village of Kräkånger, whose name could be interpreted as "vomit regret", changed its name to Lövsele in 1951.
A similar case was in the town of Sasmuan, Pampanga, in the Philippines, formerly known as "Sexmoan" based on attempts by Spanish friars to transcribe Sasmuan; it was unanimously changed into Sasmuan in 1991, because of negative sexual connotations associated with the place name.
In Canada, the town of Swastika, Ontario, founded in 1908, adopted its name years before the Nazi Party adopted the swastika as a symbol, and, in fact, over a decade before the Nazi Party was formed in early 1920. During World War II, the provincial government removed the Swastika sign and replaced it with a sign renaming the town "Winston". The residents removed the Winston sign and replaced it with a Swastika sign with the message, "To hell with Hitler, we came up with our name first."
In Spain, a municipality was named Castrillo Matajudíos from 1627 to 2015. Matamoros, however, remains a common place name, surname, and even the name of several businesses in Spanish-speaking countries.
A few place names in the United States and Canada historically used the word "nigger", a derogatory term for black people. Over the course of the 20th century, many of these place names were changed because of the racist connotations of the word. One example is Dead Nigger Draw in Texas, which was changed to Dead Negro Draw in 1963, then to Buffalo Soldier Draw in 2020. Another is Niggerhead Mountain near Malibu, California, which was changed to Negrohead Mountain in the 1960s and finally to Ballard Mountain in 2010 for an early African American settler. Niggertown Marsh and Niggertown Knoll in Highlands County, Florida, named for a short-lived freedmen's settlement from the 1870s, were removed from public maps following a complaint in 1992.
In Canada, Quebec decided in 2015 to rename 11 places within the province that contained the word "nigger" or the French equivalent, nègre. An Australian island about north of Cape Grenville was formerly known as Nigger Head; in September 2017, the Queensland government stated that a new name would be chosen for the island, although a new name was never selected and the island remains officially unnamed. In 2016, New Zealand renamed three locations which were found to be offensive: Niggerhead, Nigger Hill, and Nigger Stream became Tawhai Hill, Kanuka Hills, and Pukio Stream respectively.
Numerous place names in the United States and Canada have historically included the term "squaw" a word considered racist and sexist toward Indigenous women. While originating from Algonquian languages, Indigenous peoples in America and Canada consider the term offensive due to its centuries-long use in a derogatory context. Notable name changes include those of the 2003 of Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona, renamed to Piestewa Peak, after Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, a Hopi soldier killed in action during the United States invasion of Iraq. In 2022, Squaw Valley, California, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, was renamed Olympic Valley. Squaw Island, a small Island at the north end of Canandaigua Lake, was renamed in 2021 to Skenoh Island. The most comprehensive change came in 2021, when Secretary's Order 3404 directed the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to replace all place names containing the word "squaw
Kindai University in Osaka, Japan, changed its English-language name in 2014 from Kinki University. The Japanese-language name of the university,, was left unchanged. The change was globally reported, though since its founding in 1949, the original name was not a problem within Japan. However, with the dramatic globalization of Japanese universities in recent decades, including the presence of hundreds of foreign students, staff, faculty, and visiting scholars on campus, the leadership of the university made the change in 2016, after deciding to do so in 2014.
Beijing's was originally known as "Zhushikou" during the Ming Dynasty, In which 猪 meant "pig", and 市 meant "market", because it was a famous market for selling live pigs. By the Qing Dynasty, the pig market had faded away. The place was renamed to "Zhushikou", where 珠 means "pearl".
In 1997, the town of Gay Head in Massachusetts changed its name to Aquinnah.
For positive reasons
Sometimes, place names are changed as a publicity stunt or to promote tourism.Waters, Arkansas, changed its name to Pine Ridge, Arkansas, after it became known that the fictional town Pine Ridge in the radio sitcom Lum and Abner was based on Waters. Now a sparsely populated and no longer incorporated community, Pine Ridge is home to a Lum and Abner museum.
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, changed its name from Hot Springs in 1950, after the host of the radio program Truth or Consequences promised free publicity to any town willing to change its name to that of the show. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, changed its name from Mauch Chunk in honor of the famous athlete when his widow agreed to allow his remains to be buried there.
The former community of Clark, Denton County, Texas, changed its name to DISH as part of a marketing agreement with Dish Network whereby the town's residents would get free satellite TV service from the company.
In 1999, the town of Halfway, Oregon, changed its name to Half.com for one year after the e-commerce start-up of the same name offered 20 computers, as well as $110,000 for the school, and other financial subsidies.
Saint Augusta, Minnesota, was for a short time named Ventura after the then-governor Jesse Ventura to draw attention in avoiding annexation by the nearby city of Saint Cloud. The name was reverted to the original name after the crisis passed.
In the late 1990s, the town of Granville, North Dakota, agreed to change its name temporarily to McGillicuddy City as part of a promotion for Dr. McGillicuddy's schnapps.
In August 1998, Topeka, Kansas was renamed ToPikachu for the North American launch of Nintendo's wildly successful Pokémon franchise. The city was once again renamed ToPikachu for one day, October 27, 2018, for the launch of Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
In March 2010, Topeka temporarily changed its name to Google, after the technology company, to secure the installation of Google Fiber in the city.