10 Unusual Place Names From Around the World
Place names are an important part of our cultural and geographical environment. They may represent the history of a place or an event that occurred at that spot in the past. However, there are some places around the world with names so unusual that it's hard to imagine what could have inspired them. In addition, there are some places in the world whose names, while completely sensical in their native language, sound strange to English speakers. Here are some of the world's most unusual place names.
10. Hot Coffee, Mississippi
Hot Coffee is not just your morning beverage – it is also the name of a place in Covington County, in southern Mississippi, USA. Story has it that the name came from a coffee store that a man named L.J Davis opened on this spot in 1870. Davis brewed his coffee using New Orleans beans and pure spring water. Davis used molasses drippings to sweeten the coffee. Reportedly, he never served his coffee with cream as he believed that it would spoil the taste. The local politicians loved his store, and they used to buy coffee for the travellers and constituents.
9. This, France
"This" is one of the communes of the department of Ardennes, which is in the northern parts of France. The municipality is in the canton of Rocroi which is in Charleville-Mezieres. The commune occupies an area of about 1.72 sq miles with a population of over 225. The current mayor of this commune is Marie-Odile Posart.
8. Christmas Pie, England
Christmas Pie is the name of a hamlet in Surrey, England. The hamlet owes its unique name to the properties that were owned by one of the famous families in the area known as ‘’Christmas’’. The numerous references of the Christmas family can be found in the Manorial court records of Cleygate which dates back to King Henry VIII’s reign in 1513. The phrase ‘’Pie’’ originated from the Saxon name ‘’Pightle’’ or ‘’Pightel’’ which refers to small arable land. The Christmas Pie settlement is on the southernmost boundary of Normandy together with the hamlet of Wanborough.
7. Boring, Oregon
Boring is a small region that came into existence after the power and light company and Portland Railway built an electric railway that operated from Cazadero to Portland in 1903. It is an unincorporated area that is at the foothills of the Cascade ranges about 12 miles from downtown Portland in Clackamas County. The place was named after a Union soldier called William Harrison Boring, whose family was the first to settle here in 1856. William started farming here in 1874 and also donated a piece of his land for the construction of a schoolhouse. Boring was the center of the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest before and during the First World War.
6. Egg, Austria
Egg is an Austrian town in the state of Vorarlberg. The 25.24 sq mile town is in Bregenz Forest on the western parts of Austria, and it is the most populous and largest in Bregenzerwald municipality. The town’s center can only be accessed through Suspension and Gschwendtobel bridges. Suspension Bridge was built in 1901, and it connects Egg to Lingenau. Alois Negrelli constructed the Gschwendtobel Bridge in 1834, and it connects the town to Lingenau. The Schmittenbach and Bregenzarach rivers flow through Egg, with River Subersach stretching along Egg.
5. Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec
The Parish town of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is the only place name with two exclamation points in the world. It is a parish municipality close to the southern shores of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. It is on western parts of Cabano and the southeastern side of Riviere-du-Loup. The parish municipality has a population of over 1,318 people, and it occupies an area of about 42.66 sq miles. The place was named in 1874. The township was started as a Roman Catholic mission site in 1860.
4. Lake Disappointment, Australia
Lake Disappointment is an endoreic lake in Pilbara, Australia. The 82,000 acre salty lake is usually dry except for extremely wet periods. The lake is on the southern parts of Karlamilyi National Park and east of Jigalong community and Newman town. It was named in 1897 by Frank Hann. Frank was exploring the area when he noticed that the creeks were flowing inland. He followed the streams, hoping to find a freshwater lake, but he saw a dry lake which he named Lake Disappointment. It is home to numerous water birds species, and in 2007 a new species of Ctenophorus nguyarna was discovered here.
3. Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It has a population of over 82,000 people. The city is on the Upper Rhine, Germany and it occupies an area of about 41.98 sq miles. It is on the western bank of the Rhine river right between Mainz and Ludwigshafen. It has thirteen boroughs, and during the fifth century, the city was the capital of Burgundians Kingdom. It thrived as an Imperial free city in the high medieval era.
2. Dull, Scotland
Dull is a Scottish village that is made up of one street of buildings on the northern side of River Tay’s valley. The village had over 2,055 people in 1951, but by 2012 the population had reduced to about 84. The name ‘’Dull’’ might mean ‘’meadow’’ in Scots Gaelic. The parish church in the village is built on a place where St Adomnan established the early Christian monastery. Numerous cross-slabs which date back to the seventh and eighth centuries have been found around the graveyard of the parish.
1. Punkeydoodles Corners, Ontario
Punkeydoodles Corners is a small village in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Even though it is primarily in Wilmot Township, Punkeydoodles Corners extends to the municipality borders of Perth East and East Zorra-Tavistock. Therefore the hamlet is in three counties. The origin of the hamlet’s name is disputed, but many people claim that it dates back to the nineteenth century when there was an Inn and Tavern in this place. Most legends claim that the innkeeper loved to sing the ‘’Yankee Doodle’’ which sounded like ‘’Punkey Doodle’’ to most of the guests. Some tales link the name to a lazy farmer who was nicknamed Punkey doodles by his wife. The term ‘’Corners’’ refers to the convergence of regional borders of Perth, Oxford and Waterloo.
