22 Small Towns That Will Make You Wonder How They Got Their Names
Meat Camp. Lizard Lick. Ding Dong.
We asked the BuzzFeed Community for the funniest small town names in the US. Here are some of our favorites!
1. Hopeulikit, Georgia
Yes it's actually pronounced "Hope you like it," after a '20s dance hall.
Hopeulikit — along with some others on this list — is technically an "unincorporated community", meaning it doesn't have official legal boundaries. But it does have SIGNS! Like this glorious one.
2. Buttzville, New Jersey
Butts! I mean, Buttz! As in Michael Robert Buttz!
—Connie Moy, Facebook
3. George, Washington
I'd be upset if there wasn't a George, Washington. (Technically it's City of George, Washington, but that's not what their signs say!)
4. Intercourse, Pennsylvania
*stifles middle school giggles*
There are three theories for how the name came about, none of them dirty.
5. Ketchuptown, South Carolina
This is America, of course we have a Ketchuptown! (Even if it started off as a place to "catch up.")
See more photos of Ketchuptown on the South Carolina Picture Project.
6. Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky
There are multiple origin stories, but I can sorta buy the one about the shape of the Ohio River — on a map, it looks like a monkey, and Monkey's Eyebrow is where the eyebrow should be.
7. Meat Camp, North Carolina
Meat. Camp.
(In the late 1700s it was a hunting camp that may have sometimes stored meat — which sorta makes it better because I keep picturing old-timey hunters saying "Time to head back to the MEAT CAMP.")
8. Forty Fort, Pennsylvania
(Say it out loud.)
Back in the day, Connecticut's charter was ridiculously broad and the king DGAF that there was overlap with William Penn's land grant, so forty people from Connecticut marched down and settled there.
9. Chicken, Alaska
"They originally wanted to name the town after our state bird, which is the Ptarmigan, but no one could spell it correctly. So they named it Chicken instead."
—Carly Cummings, Facebook
10. Two Egg, Florida
During the Great Depression, farmers traded two eggs for merchandise at the local store — and there might have been a traveling salesman who noticed and called it a "two-egg town."
11. Ding Dong, Texas
12. Possum Grape, Arkansas
"It was named because residents couldn't decide whether they wanted their fledgling town to be called "Possum" or "Grape", so they came up with this compromise!"
—Rebecca Foreman, Facebook
13. Pie Town, New Mexico
Named for their pies, still known for their pies. What else could you want in a town?
14. Sandwich, Massachusetts
It's the Sandwich Police!!!! (It's the ~oldest town on Cape Cod~, founded in 1637, and is apparently similar to Sandwich, England.)
15. Sugar Tit, South Carolina
:: side eye emoji ::
Supposedly the farmers who settled the area would give their babies sugar cane to chew on while mom and dad worked? These days there's no official sign, but there is Sugar Tit Moonshine.
16. No Name, Colorado
This time it's some highway developers fault.
17. Tightwad, Missouri
What on earth would make a town call itself Tightwad, you ask? Apparently, a watermelon farmer.
18. Boring, Oregon
Named after a dude named Boring, it did have a moment of fame in a strange laundry detergent ad.
19. Bald Knob, Arkansas
The middle schooler in me can't get over this one.
(It's named after a rock outcrop.)
—Erica Stark, Facebook
20. Yeehaw Junction, Florida
It USED to be called Jackass Junction, until 1950s propriety went and messed that up.
21. Lizard Lick, North Carolina
Probably named because someone literally saw lizards licking themselves on a fence (which...I guess lizards sometimes must lick themselves); made famous by Lizard Lick Towing's TV show.
22. Oh, and there's a TON of different places called Climax.
Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, Georgia, and New York all have towns or hamlets called Climax. Oregon, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania all have unincorporated communities called Climax. And both Iowa and South Carolina have populated places called Climax.
(Apparently the word "climax" didn't = orgasm until like, 1880, and before then its common meaning was more like "escalating steps". American-dream-wise, this kind of makes sense.)
Keep it weird, America! 😜
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.