10 Hilarious City Names and the Stories Behind Them

There are a lot of places in the world with funny or strange names and interesting stories about how they got them. There are also many places with names that are very ordinary in their own countries but that sound weird to English speakers.

Bright Side made a list of some of these places, but, of course, there are many more of them.

1. Shitterton

Shitterton is a hamlet in Dorset, England. The origins of its name are uncertain, but one theory says that it means "the village on the stream that is used as an open sewer." The Shitterton road sign was stolen many times as a souvenir, so now they have one made of marble.

2. Gotham

Unfortunately, you have no chance of meeting Batman in Gotham because it’s just a small village in Nottinghamshire, England. Its name comes from the Old English for "goat home."

3. Toad Suck

Toad Suck is located in Arkansas, United States, and there are a few versions of the origin of its name. Some believe that it got the name after the layabouts who hung out in local taverns where they “sucked on the bottle until they swelled up like toads.“ Others think it’s a distortion of the French phrase that means ”a narrow channel in the river."

4. Chicken

This area was abundant in ptarmigans, and early miners, traveling in search of gold, kept themselves alive by eating them. When the town was to become incorporated in 1902, the name "Ptarmigan" was suggested. Many people liked the name, but nobody could agree on the correct spelling. So, to avoid embarrassing situations, they named it Chicken.

5. Crapstone

The English language has changed over the centuries, and some words that we use today didn’t exist in earlier times or meant something different. There is a village named Crapstone in England. No one can explain the origin of the name, but it was definitely something innocent. Some residents say it was “place of the rocks“ and ”something to do with the soil."

6. Boring

Boring is located in Oregon, United States, and it was not named because you get bored there quickly. It was named after the Union soldier William Harrison Boring, who was the first to settle there with his family in 1856. This town is paired with Dull, Scotland.

7. Dull

Dull is a village in the county of Perth and Kinross in Scotland. Its name means “field“ or ”meadow" in Pictish, an extinct language once spoken in eastern and northern Scotland.

8. Middelfart

The name of Middelfart, a town in central Denmark, was first recorded in 1231 as Mæthælfar, which means “the middle passage“ or ”the middle way." A very ordinary name for the Danes, but it sounds pretty funny to English speakers.

9. No Name

No Name is a place in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. It is located near No Name Creek and No Name Canyon. There are several stories of how it got its name, but the most common one is that when the state sent questionnaires to find out the town’s name, the majority of inhabitants wrote “No Name“ in the Name of Town section. The state officially recorded ”No Name" into the state records. Later there were attempts to change it, but the name stuck.

10. Obama

The city of Obama in Japan has nothing in common with the former US president besides the pronunciation of their names. Obama means "small beach" in Japanese.

Do you know any other cities with funny or weird names? And what’s the name of the city you live in? Tell us about it in the comments.

Preview photo credit five_aces / instagram, immakinganotehere / imgur

SOURCE: BRIGHTSIDE