Place names considered unusual

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 scatalogical or insulting, usually unintentionally. For example Intercourse, Shitlington Crags, or Silly.
- Some sex-related names are marked 1 below
Names of unorthodox spelling or sound. For example Å or Woolloomooloo.
- Candidates for the shortest or longest word in English or other languages are marked 2.
- Names that are also listed on inherently funny word are marked 3.
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.

See also: List of unusual English words, Street sign theft, toponymy, list of toponyms (with names derived from place names)

==A==

File:11mo06.jpg

Village of Å in Norway

Å, Norway ²
Å, Sweden ²
Adiós, Navarre, Spain ("Good bye" in Spanish)
Ae, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland ²
Ah Cut, Pitcairn Island
Ål, Buskerud, Norway ²
Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York, New York, USA
America, Cambridgeshire, England ⁹
Amerika, Germany ⁹
Ameryka, Hrubieszow County, Poland ⁹
Ameryka, Opole Voivodship, Poland ⁹
Amsterdam, New York, USA ⁹
Anting, China ⁷
Arab, Alabama, USA (Arab is down the road from a town called Boaz, which is a Biblical Hebrew name)
Arabia, Finland ⁹
Arsoli, Lazio, Italy
Asbestos, Quebec, Canada
Au, several towns in Austria, Germany and Switzerland ²
Avenue Road, a main street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

==B==

Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, Germany
Bald Knob, Arkansas, USA
Banana, Queensland, Australia ^{7 & 8}
Bang Bang Jump Up, a rock formation in Australia
Barrow, Alaska (northernmost city in the USA. They probably don't have wheelbarrows there.)
Bastardo, Italy
Bat and Ball, a railway station in Sevenoaks, Kent, England
Beaver, Pennsylvania ^{1 & 7}
Beer, Devon, England ⁸
Bendery, Moldova
Bidon 5, Sahara Desert, Africa ⁵
Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, USA
Big Ugly Wilderness Area, West Virginia, USA
Bitey Bitey, Pitcairn Island
Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, USA
Blubberhouses, Yorkshire, England
Blow Me Down, Provincial Park in Newfoundland, Canada
Blowing Rock, North Carolina, USA
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, USA
Bø, in Telemark and Nordland, Norway ²
Boaz, Alabama (Boaz, which is a Biblical Hebrew name, is down the road from a town called Arab)
Bob, Canada (After Nunavut separated from the Northwest Territories, a poll was conducted as to what the remainder of the territory should be named. Retaining the name Northwest Territories won by a substantial margin, but a distant runner-up choice was Bob. [1])
Boca Grande, Florida, USA ("big mouth" in Spanish)
Boca Raton, Florida, USA ("Mouth of the mouse" in Spanish)
Boom, Belgium
Boring, Oregon, USA
Bottom, North Carolina, USA
Bra, Cuneo, Italy
Brasilien, Germany
Brazil, Indiana, USA ⁹
Broadway, Virginia, Broadway, North Carolina, and several other places in the USA. You'd think Broadway was a street, not a town.⁹
Brown Willy, a tor in Cornwall, England
Bucksnort, Tennessee, USA
Burrumbuttock, New South Wales, Australia

C

California, Buckinghamshire, England ⁹
California, Falkirk, Scotland ⁹
California, Norfolk, England ⁹
Canada, Hampshire, England ⁹
Cape Catastrophe, South Australia
Carney's Point, New Jersey, USA
Chard, England
Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Massachusetts ²
Cheesequake, New Jersey 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
Climax, Michigan, USA
Climax, Saskatchewan, Canada
Clit, Arad, Romania ¹
Cockburn, Western Australia (pronounced "Co-burn")
Cockermouth, Cumbria, England
Cold Christmas, Hertfordshire, England
Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland, Canada
Come-by-Chance, New South Wales, Australia
Condom, Gers, France ¹
Coolville, Ohio, USA
Coxsackie, New York, USA
Crap Sogn Gion, Graubünden, Switzerland
Crowborough, East Sussex, England (Yes, there are a lot of crows there.) ⁷
Cumming Street, Suva, Fiji ¹
Cunter, Graubünden, Switzerland ¹
Cuntis, Pontevedra, Spain ¹
Cut n' Shoot, Texas, USA

D

Delaware, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Delaware, Ohio, and several other places in the USA ⁹
Die, Drôme, France
Dildo Island, South Dildo, and Dildo, Newfoundland, Canada ¹
Dondangadale, Victoria, Australia
Drain, Oregon, USA
Duel, Michigan, USA

E

Earth, Texas, USA
East Fishkill, New York, USA
Easter Island, Chile ⁴
Ecce Homo, Schwyz, Switzerland ¹
Ed, Upper Austria, Austria ²
Ed, Sweden ²
Egg, Austria ⁸
Egg, Zürich, Switzerland ⁸
Egypt, Buckinghamshire, England ⁹
Eighty Eight, Kentucky, USA ⁵
Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, USA ⁵
Elephant Butte, New Mexico, USA ⁷
E. S. Nigger Brown Stand, a section of a rugby stadium in Toowoomba, Australia ⁷
EU, Normandy, France ^{2 & 9} (formerly Eu)

F

Fa, Aude, France ²
Five Corners (several), USA ⁵
Five Forks (several), USA ⁵
Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada
Florida, New York, USA ⁹
Foggy Bottom, Washington, DC, USA
Foul Mile, England
Foulness, England
French Lick, Indiana, USA
Frenchman's Butte, Saskatchewan, Canada
Fresh Kills, Staten Island, New York, New York, USA
Frisby on the Wreake, Leicestershire, England
Fucking, Upper Austria, Austria ¹
Fuku, China ¹

G

Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA (recently renamed Aquinnah)
George, Washington, USA
Gibraltar, Buckinghamshire, England ⁹
Gimli, Manitoba, Canada (a rural municipality)
Gland, Aisne, France
Gland, Vaud, Switzerland
Gnaw Bone, Indiana, USA
Goobie's, Newfoundland, Canada
Goodyear, Arizona, USA ⁴
Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion, a train station in Gwynedd, Wales ²
Grand Tetons, a mountain range in Wyoming, USA (meaning: "big tits" in French) ¹
Grong Grong, New South Wales, Australia
Grosse Water Beach, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Gun Barrel City, Texas, USA
Gunbarrel Highway, Western Australia, Australia
Gunbarrel, Colorado, USA
Gy, Geneva, Switzerland ²

==H==

Half.com, Oregon, USA (Yes, it is sponsored by eBay)
Halfway House, Newfoundland, Canada
Hackensack, New Jersey, USA (This name has been referenced on many rock and popular music songs from as early as 1918.)
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a historic site in Alberta, Canada
Hel, Poland ⁹
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, New York, USA
Hell Gate, a portion of the East River in New York, 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, Colorado, USA
Hérisson, Allier, France (meaning: "hedgehog")
Hicksville, New York, and Hicksville, Ohio, USA -- they aren't even in hick states!
High Point, a mountain in Sussex, New Jersey, USA -- the highest point in the state!
Himmelspforte, Germany (meaning: "heaven's gate")
Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, USA
Homosassa, Florida, USA
Honor, Michigan, USA
Hornytown, North Carolina, USA ¹
Houston Street, a main road in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City (pronounced "HOW-stin")
How, Wisconsin, USA ⁶
Howlong, Victoria, Australia
Humpty Doo, Northern Territory, Australia
Hungry Law, a peak on the English-Scottish border
Hungry Mother State Park, Virginia, USA

I

Ii, Finland (two identical vowels) ²
Indian Queens, Cornwall, England
Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California: street with the head office of Apple Computer
Innaloo (suburb of Perth, Western Australia)
Intercourse, Pennsylvania, USA ¹
Ironia, Jersey, USA
Isles of Scilly, England (pronounced "silly")

J

Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, USA (You'd think that would be in New Jersey.) ⁹
Jerusalemi, Finland ⁹
Jobsville, New Jersey, USA
Joe Batt's Arm, some type of offshore fixture in Newfoundland
John Catch a Cow, Pitcairn Island
Jupiter, Florida, USA ⁹

K

Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Kalifornien, Germany
Kissimmee, Florida, USA (properly pronounced "kis-SIMM-ee" (IPA [kǝˈsɪmɪ]), but usually mispronounced "KISS-a-me" ([ˈkɪsǝmiː]) by non-locals)
Knob Lick, Missouri, USA
Kokomo, Indiana, 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