List of interesting or unusual place names

From Academic Kids

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 scatological 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 much better known place, giving opportunity for confusion (for example New York, Lincolnshire, England, or Boston (also, coincidentally, in Lincolnshire)) can be found in the List of misleading place names.

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.

Contents: Top - 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

0–9

• 1770, Queensland, Australia

A

• Å in Norway & Sweden²
• Ål, Buskerud, Norway ²
• Aars, Denmark
• Abbess Roding, Essex, England
• Accident, Maryland, USA
• Adios, Navarre, Spain ("Goodbye" in Spanish)
• Advance, Indiana, USA
• Ae, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland ²
• Agenda in Kansas & Wisconsin
• Aha, Okinawa Island
• Ah Cut, Pitcairn Island
• Alert, Indiana, USA
• Almarosa Avenue, Torrance, California, Spanish for "rosy soul." Once named by the Los Angeles Times as one of California's most unusual street names
• Alphabet City, New York, USA
• Amarillo, Texas, USA, Spanish for "yellow"
• Anaheim, California, USA, named by German settlers as the home or heim of the Santa Ana River; unusual portmanteau of Spanish and German
• Anse-Qui-Pue (L'), Quebec, Canada ("The Cove that Stinks")
• Apples, Vaud, Switzerland ⁸
• Arab, Alabama, USA (Pronounced "ay-RAB," Arab is down the road from a town called Boaz, which is a Biblical Hebrew name)
• Arm, Mississippi
• Arrowbear, California, USA, midway between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear City
• Arsenic Tubs, New Mexico, USA
• Arsoli, Lazio, Italy
• Arsy, Oise, France
• Asbestos, Quebec, Canada
• Assawoman, Virginia, USA ¹
• Assens, Island of Fyn, Denmark
• Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä, a swamp in Lapland, Finland
• Atomic City, Idaho, USA
• Au, several towns in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland ²
• Avenue Road, a main street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and in other cities (there are six in London)
• Azusa, California, USA

B

• Bachelor's Bump, East Sussex, England
• Bad Axe, Michigan, USA
• 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)
• Barrow-in-Furness, England
• Bastardo, Italy
• Bat and Ball, a railway station in Sevenoaks, Kent, England
• Bath, Somerset, England
• Bath, New York USA
• Batman, Batman Province and Batman River, Turkey
• Beauty, Kentucky, USA
• Beaver in Pennsylvania & Kentucky^{1 & 7}
• Beer, Devon, England ⁸
• Belcher in Louisiana & Kentucky
• Belchertown, Massachusetts, USA
• Bendery, Moldova
• Ben Hur, Texas, USA
• Best, Texas, USA
• Between, Georgia, USA
• Bidon 5, Sahara Desert, Africa ⁵
• Big Bear City, California, USA ⁷
• Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, USA
• Big Ugly Wilderness Area, West Virginia, USA
• Bischofsloch , Germany ("Bishop's Hole")
• Bishop's Itchington, Warwickshire, England
• Bitey Bitey, Pitcairn Island
• Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, USA
• Blackjack, Texas, USA
• Bland, Missouri, USA
• Blewett, Texas, USA
• Blow Me Down, Newfoundland, Canada
• Blowing Rock, North Carolina, USA
• Blubberhouses, Yorkshire, England
• Blue Ball, Pennsylvania, USA ¹
• Blunts, Cornwall, England (a number of miles southeast of Big Willy)
• Bø, in Telemark and Nordland, Norway ²
• Boaz, Alabama, USA (Boaz, which is a Biblical Hebrew name, is down the road from a town called Arab)
• Boca Chica, Florida, USA ("little mouth" in Spanish)
• Boca Grande, Florida, USA ("big mouth" in Spanish)
• Boca Raton, Florida, USA ("Mouth of the mouse" in Spanish)
• Bong Bong, New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia
• Bong County, Liberia
• Bong Recreational Area, Wisconsin, USA
• Booger Mountain, North Carolina, USA
• Boom, Belgium
• Boring, Oregon, USA
• Boron, California, USA
• Bottom, North Carolina, USA
• Boulevard Street, a dead-end street in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
• Bra, Italy
• Braintree, a place name in the United Kingdom as well as both Massachusetts and Vermont, USA
• Brasilien, Germany
• Breaky Bottom, East Sussex, England
• Brest, France
• Bright, Indiana, USA
• Broadstairs, Kent, England
• Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
• Brown Willy, a tor in Cornwall, England
• Bryndwr, Christchurch, New Zealand (which is as flat as a pancake. "Bryndwr" is Welsh for "steep hill")
• Buckatunna, Mississippi, USA
• Buckhead, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• Bucksnort, Tennessee, USA
• Buddha, Indiana, USA
• Bugyi, Hungary (it means "knickers" (U.K.) or "panties" (U.S.))
• Bullhead City, Arizona, USA; named for a nearby rock formation shaped like a bull's head; submerged soon after the completion of nearby Davis Dam
• Bulls, New Zealand ⁷
• Bunny, Nottinghamshire, England ⁷
• Burnt Hill, Berkshire, England
• Burrumbuttock, New South Wales, Australia
• Bush, Kentucky, USA
• Butt of Lewis, northernmost point of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland

C

• Cabra, Andalusia, Spain (means goat in Spanish) ⁷
• Caesar, Mississippi, USA
• Calabasas, California, USA; Spanish for "pumpkins"
• Calexico, California, USA; portmanteau of "California" and "Mexico" given its proximity to the international border
• Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada, USA; portmanteau of California, Nevada and Arizona
• Camel Hump, Wyoming, USA
• Cape Catastrophe, South Australia
• Cape Circumcision, Bouvet Island
• Cape Disappointment, Oregon and Washington, USA
• Cape Flattery, Queensland, Australia
• Cape St. George-Petit Jardin-Grand Jardin-De Grau-Marches Point-Loretto, Newfoundland, Canada
• Caribou-qui-Pisse (Chute du), Quebec, Canada (lit. "Pissing Caribou Falls")
• Carne Asada, Portugal (meaning "roasted meat") ⁸
• Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, USA
• Catbrain Hill, Gloucestershire, England
• Cathedral City, California USA; named not for the house of worship but for a rock formation. There are no cathedrals in Cathedral City.
• Cattewater, Devon, England
• Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA, built on property that was once the backlot of Twentieth Century Fox
• Chaldon Herring, Dorset, England
• Chalk, Texas, USA
• Chard, Somerset, England
• Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Massachusetts, USA ²
• Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
• Cheesequake, New Jersey, USA ⁸
• Chew Magna, UK
• Chicken, Alaska, USA ^{7 & 8}
• Chili, New York, USA⁸ (pronounced CHYE-lye, often mispronounced by non-locals)
• Chinaman's Knob, Australia
• Chipping Sodbury, UK
• 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, Climax, Michigan, Climax, Minnesota, USA and Climax, Saskatchewan, Canada ¹
• Climax Springs, Missouri, USA ¹
• Clit, Arad, Romania ¹
• Clitherall, Minnesota, USA ¹
• Coachella, California and the corresponding Coachella Valley, USA; etymology uncertain, but generally attributed to a misspelling of the Spanish word conchella, or seashell.
• Coalinga, California, USA; attributed to a Standard Oil installation in the area called "Coaling Station A," used as a fueling point for steam locomotives.
• Coca Cola, Colón, Panama
• Cockburn, Western Australia (pronounced "Co-burn")
• Cockermouth, Cumbria, England
• Cold Christmas, Hertfordshire, England
• Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
• Come-by-Chance, New South Wales, Australia
• Competition, Missouri, USA
• Conception Junction, Missouri, USA ¹
• Concepcion, Texas, USA
• Condom, Gers, France ¹
• Cool, California, USA
• Coolville, Ohio, USA
• Cow Head, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada ⁷
• Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
• Cowes, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
• Coxsackie, New York, USA
• Crap, Albania
• Crap Sogn Gion, Graubünden, Switzerland
• Crapolla, Italy
• Crawley, West Sussex, England
• Crowborough, East Sussex, England (Yes, there are a lot of crows there.) ⁷
• Cumming, Georgia, USA ¹
• Cumming Street, Suva, Fiji ¹
• Cunt, Turkey
• Cunter, Graubünden, Switzerland ¹
• Cuntis, Pontevedra, Spain ¹
• Cut n' Shoot, Texas, USA
• Cut Off, Louisiana, USA

D

• D'Lo, Mississippi, USA
• Day, Kentucky, USA
• Deaf Smith County, New Mexico, USA
• Death Valley, California, USA
• Decoy, Kentucky, USA
• Deer Lick, Pennsylvania, USA
• Dial Post, Sussex, England
• Dice, Kentucky, USA
• Die, Drôme, France
• Dike Road, Winter Park, Florida
• Dildo Island, South Dildo, and Dildo, Newfoundland, Canada ¹
• Ding Dong, Texas, USA ^{1 8}
• Dirty Devil Wash, Nevada, USA
• Dismal, Tennessee, USA
• Disappointment Islands
• Dix Hills, New York, USA ¹
• Dondangadale, Victoria, Australia (historic township - not a current place)
• Doo Town, Tasmania, Australia (All houses are called something to do with "doo", eg. Doo Little, Doo Drop In, Didgeri-doo, etc.)
• Double Trouble, New Jersey, USA (Also name of a state park)
• Drain, Oregon, USA
• Draw, Texas, USA
• Dresden, Staffordshire, England
• Dry Prong, Louisiana, USA
• Duel, Michigan, USA
• Dummer, New Hampshire, USA
• Dwarf, Kentucky, USA

E

• Eagle, Lincolnshire, England
• Eagle Butte, South Dakota USA
• Earth, Texas, USA
• Eastabuchie, Mississippi, USA
• East Fishkill, New York, USA
• East Northport, New York, USA
• East Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada
• Easter Island, Chile ⁴
• Ecce Homo, Schwyz, Switzerland ¹
• Economy, Indiana, USA
• Economy, Pennsylvania, USA
• Ed, Austria ²
• Ed, Sweden ²
• Eel Pie Island, London, England
• Effort, Pennsylvania, USA
• Egg, Austria ⁸
• Egg, Switzerland ⁸
• Egyptinkorpi, Lieksa, Finland (means Egyptian woodland in Finnish)
• Eighty Eight, Kentucky, USA ⁵
• Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, USA ⁵
• El Cajon, California, USA (Spanish for "the box" or "the coffin")
• El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de la Porciuncula, USA (Spanish for "Los Angeles")
• Elbow, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Elephant Butte, New Mexico, USA ⁷
• Embarrass, Minnesota, USA
• Empire, Michigan, USA
• Energy, Texas, USA
• Enfant-Qui-Vole (Lac de l'), Quebec, Canada (lit. "Lake of the Child Who Steals")
• Erode, India
• E. S. Nigger Brown Stand, a section of a rugby stadium in Toowoomba, Australia ⁷
• Esquilant Bivouac, New Zealand
• EU, France ^{2 & 9} (formerly Eu)
• Evry, France
• Eye, Cambridgeshire, Eye, Herefordshire, Eye, Suffolk, as well as the River Eye, England, and River Eye, Scotland,
• Eyebrow, Saskatchewan, Canada

F

• Fa, Aude, France ²
• Fagus, Missouri, USA
• Fairdealing, Kentucky, USA
• Fairy, Texas, USA
• Fakaofo, Tokelau ¹
• Fakfak, Indonesian New Guinea¹
• Fancy Farm, Kentucky, USA
• Faro, Yukon, Canada, named after the Faro card game
• Fearsville, Kentucky, USA
• Felch, Michigan, USA
• Fertile, Minnesota, USA
• Fine, New York, USA
• Fingerville, South Carolina, USA
• Fingringhoe, Essex, England
• Fishkill, New York, USA ("kill" is an old Dutch word for a small stream)
• Fishwick, Lancashire, England ⁷
• Five Corners (several), USA ⁵
• Five Forks (several), USA ⁵
• Five Points (several), USA ⁵
• Flat, Missouri, USA
• Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada
• Fly Don't Drive, (street name) Traverse City, Michigan, USA
• Flying H, New Mexico, USA
• Foggy Bottom, Washington, DC, USA
• Forks of Salmon, California, USA
• Foul Mile, Sussex, England
• Foulness, Essex, England
• French Camp, California, USA
• French Lick, Indiana, USA
• Frenchman's Butte, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Fresh Kills, Staten Island, New York, USA
• Friendly, Maryland, USA and Friendly, West Virginia, USA
• Friendship, Wisconsin, USA
• Frisby on the Wreake, Leicestershire, England
• Frog Level, Virginia, USA
• Fucking, Austria ¹
• Fuku, China ¹
• Future City, Illinois, USA

G

• Gander, Newfoundland, Canada ⁷
• Gap, Pennsylvania, USA
• Garden, Michigan, USA
• Gas, Kansas, USA
• Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA (recently renamed Aquinnah)
• Gaylord, Michigan, USA
• Gayton (several places in England) ¹
• Gay Street, Bath, England and Winter Park, Florida USA
• Gays, Illinois, USA
• Gays Creek, Kentucky, USA
• George, Washington, USA
• Germfask, Michigan, USA
• Gimli, Manitoba, Canada (a rural municipality)
• Gin Bottle, Arkansas, USA
• Gland, France and Gland, Switzerland
• Gnaw Bone, Indiana, USA
• Goobies, Newfoundland, Canada
• Goodyear, Arizona, USA ⁴
• Goonoo Goonoo, New South Wales, Australia (pronounced "gunna g'noo")
• Goose Green, Vermont, USA; also in the Falkland Islands
• Goree, Texas, USA
• Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion, a train station in Gwynedd, Wales ²
• Grand Tetons, a mountain range in Wyoming, USA (meaning: "big tits" in French) ¹
• Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, USA
• Grandmother Gap, North Carolina, USA
• Great Neck, New York, USA
• Grong Grong, New South Wales, Australia
• Gropecunt Lane, at one time several towns in England, including London, had a street with this name. The London street near Cheapside in the City was renamed Grape Street after the Great Fire. They have now all been renamed ¹
• Gross, Nebraska, USA
• Grosse Water Beach, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
• Grosse Tête, Louisiana, USA (meaning: "big head" in French)
• Gun Barrel City, Texas, USA
• Gunbarrel Highway, Western Australia, Australia
• Gunbarrel, Colorado, USA
• Gy, Switzerland ²

H

• Hackensack, New Jersey, USA (this name has been referenced on many rock and popular music songs from as early as 1918)
• Half.com, Oregon, USA (yes, it is sponsored by eBay)
• Halfway Bush, Dunedin, New Zealand
• Halfway, Kentucky, USA and Halfway, Missouri, USA
• Halfway House, Newfoundland, Canada
• Ham, Wiltshire and Ham, Kent (the latter is near Sandwich, Kent), both in England ⁸
• Hamtramck, Michigan, USA
• Happy, Texas, USA
• Happy Union, Texas, USA
• Hard, Austria
• Haseley Knob, Warwickshire, England
• Hazard, Kentucky USA
• Hazardville, Connecticut, USA
• Head of Grassy, Kentucky, USA
• Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a historic site in Alberta, Canada
• Hel, Poland
• Hell Corner, Berkshire, England
• Hell For Certain, Kentucky, USA
• Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, USA
• Hell Gate, a portion of the East River in New York, USA
• Hell Hole Gorge National Park, Australia
• Hell, Michigan, USA, Hell, Norway, & Hell, Grand Cayman, British West Indies
• Hells Gate Roadhouse, Australia
• Helper, Utah, USA
• Hempstead, New York, USA
• Hérisson, France (meaning: "hedgehog") ⁷
• Hicksville, New York, and Hicksville, Ohio, USA
• High Point, a mountain in Sussex, New Jersey, USA — the highest point in the state!
• Hi Hat, Kentucky, USA
• Himmelspforte, Germany (meaning: "heaven's gate")
• Hoard, Clark County, Wisconsin, USA
• Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, USA
• Hole in the Ground, Oregon, USA
• Hole in the Wall, Bahamas
• Hollywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
• Homochitto, Mississippi, USA
• Homosassa, Florida, USA
• Honor, Michigan, USA
• Hornytown, North Carolina, USA ¹
• Horloge-Qui-Boîte island (L'), Quebec (lit. "The Limping Clock")
• Hotazel, Northern Cape, South Africa (pronounced "hot-as-hell")
• Hot Coffee, Mississippi, USA ⁸
• Houston Street, a main road in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York (pronounced "HOW-stin")
• How, Wisconsin, USA ⁶
• Howlong, Victoria, Australia
• Humptulips, Washington, USA
• Humpty Doo, Northern Territory, Australia
• Hungry Law, a peak on the England–Scotland border
• Hungry Mother State Park, Virginia, USA

I

• Ice Water, Mississippi, USA
• Idyllwild, California, USA
• Ii, Finland ²
• IJ, river in the Netherlands
• Index, Washington, USA
• Indian Queens, Cornwall, England
• Industry, California, USA
• Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California (street with the head office of Apple Computer)
• Innaloo (suburb of Perth, Australia)
• Intercourse, Alabama and Intercourse, Pennsylvania, both in USA ¹
• Ironia, New Jersey, USA
• Island, Kentucky, USA
• Isles of Scilly, England (pronounced "silly")

J

• Jackpot, Nevada, USA
• Jamboree, Kentucky, USA
• Jiggalong, Western Australia, Australia
• Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, USA
• Job, Kentucky, USA
• Jobsville, New Jersey, USA
• Jockey End, Hertfordshire, England
• Joe, Montana, USA, named after NFL legend Joe Montana.
• Joe Batt's Arm, an offshore fixture in Canada
• John Catch a Cow, Pitcairn Island
• John o' Groats, Scotland
• Jot Em Down, Texas, USA
• Justiceberg, Texas, USA

K

• Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
• Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
• Kandahar, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Kärpänen, Lahti, Finland ("fly" (insect) in Finnish)
• Kau Shi Wai, Hong Kong ("village of dog poo" in Cantonese)
• King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Kissimmee, Florida, USA (properly pronounced "kis-SIMM-ee" (IPA [kǝˈsɪmɪ]), but usually mispronounced "KISS-a-me" ([ˈkɪsǝmiː]) by non-locals)
• Kellys Knob, Kununurra, Australia
• Keno City, Yukon, Canada, named after the Keno gambling game.
• Kilmacow, Co. Waterford, Ireland
• Kiritimati Island, Kiribati (pronounced "Christmas" and is in fact an alternate name for the island; "ti" in Gilbertese is the "s" sound in English)
• Kissing, Germany
• Klang Valley, Malaysia
• Knickerbocker, Texas, USA
• Knob Lick, Missouri, USA
• Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England
• Kokomo, Indiana, USA
• Koolyanobbing, Western Australia ¹
• 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
• Krypton, Kentucky, USA

L

• La Hoz de la Vieja, Teruell, Spain ("The Old Woman's Sickle")
• Lake Cadibarrawirracanna, Australia
• Lake Tahoe, USA
• Lake Titicaca, in Peru and Bolivia
• Largo Labia, Rome, Italy
• Lamb, Michigan, USA ⁸
• Lame Deer, Montana
• Latex, Texas
• Learned, Mississippi, USA
• Le Net, Brittany, France
• Liberal, Kansas, USA
• Lick Skillet, Texas, USA
• Lickey End, Worcestershire, England
• Licking, Missouri, USA
• Licking County, Ohio, USA
• Lignumvitae Key, Florida, USA
• Lititz, Pennsylvania, USA¹
• Little Big Horn, Montana, USA
• Little Five Points, Atlanta, Georgia, USA ⁵
• Little George Coc'nuts, Pitcairn Island
• Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
• Little Rock, Kentucky, USA
• Livermore, California, USA
• Liverpool, Great Britain
• Lizard Lick, North Carolina, USA
• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales ²
• Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole (normally Llanfynydd), Wales ²
• Load, Kentucky, USA
• Loogootee, Indiana, USA
• Loop, Texas, USA
• Lord Hereford's Knob — hill on the Welsh–English border
• Los Rábanos, Soria, Spain ("the radishes")
• Lost, Scotland (renamed Lost Farm in 2004)
• Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland (pronounced "Lock Nay")
• Louny, Czech Republic
• Love, Illinois, USA
• Loveland, Ohio, USA
• Loveland, Colorado, USA
• Loveladies, New Jersey, USA
• Lovely, Kentucky, USA
• Lover, Wiltshire, England
• Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire, England
• Loyal, Oklahoma, USA
• Loyal, Wisconsin, USA
• Luck, Wisconsin, USA
• Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
• Lü, Switzerland ²

M

• Mace, Indiana, USA
• Macgillicuddy's Reeks, mountains in Ireland
• Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA
• Mahwah, New Jersey, USA
• Mailmanloppu, Finland ("the End of the World")
• Manteca, California, USA, Spanish word for lard.
• Manunka Chunk, New Jersey, USA
• March, Cambridgeshire, England ⁴
• Martin's Heron, Berkshire, UK
• Mary Alice, Kentucky, USA
• Maryland, Gwent, Wales
• Masai, Malaysia
• Mashpee, Massachusetts, USA
• Matching Tye, Essex, England
• Mavis Enderby, Lincolnshire, England
• Maybee, Michigan, USA
• Mayo, Kentucky, USA⁸
• Mayo, Yukon, Canada⁸ (Actually named after Alfred Mayo)
• Meat Camp, North Carolina, USA
• Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
• Messy, France
• Metropolis, Illinois, USA
• Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, portmanteau of "Mexico" and "California" given its location directly against the international border
• Mianus, Connecticut, USA
• Middelfart, Funen, Denmark
• Milton Keynes, England
• Minorsville, Kentucky, USA
• Mockbeggar, England
• Mold, Wales
• Money, Mississippi, USA
• Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky, USA
• Monks Risborough, England
• Monroe, Maryland, USA
• Monster, Netherlands
• Montezuma, Indiana, USA
• Moonlight, New Zealand
• Moose Factory, Ontario, Canada
• Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Moretonhampstead, Devon (longest one-word place name in England)
• Moron, USA (the original name of Taft, California)
• Morón, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Moron, Mongolia
• Morón, Spain (Morón Air Base is the home of the 496th USAF Air Base Squadron)
• Moron, Switzerland
• Mough, Ireland (pronounced Muff) ¹
• Mount Jerome, Ireland
• Mount Comfort, Indiana, USA
• Mount Gay, West Virginia, USA
• Mount Hopeless, Australia
• Muck, island in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland
• Muff, Northern Ireland
• The Mullet, an island off the coast of Ireland
• Muleshoe, Texas, USA
• Mumbles, Wales
• Mutters, Austria

N

• Nar Nar Goon, Victoria, Australia
• Nasty, Hertfordshire, England
• Natters, Austria
• Nauraushaun, New York, USA
• Neck City, Missouri, USA
• Needles, California, USA
• New Invention, Shropshire, England
• New Invention, England
• Newtwopothouse and neighbouring Twopothouse in Ireland (among the few properly translated placenames in Ireland)
• Niemyje-Ząbki, Poland ("He is not cleaning his teeth")
• Nightcaps, Southland, New Zealand
• Ninety Six, South Carolina, USA ⁵
• Ninety Six Corners, New York, USA ⁵
• Ninetynine Oaks, California, USA ^{5 & 7}
• Nobber, County Meath, Ireland
• Nobottle, Northamptonshire, England
• Nogo, Arkansas, USA
• No Guts Captain, Pitcairn Island
• Nomansland, Wiltshire, and Nomansland, Devon, England
• Nome, Alaska, USA ('No Name' misread by a map maker as 'Nome')
• Noodle, Texas, USA ⁸
• No Name, Colorado, USA
• No Name Key, Florida, USA
• No Place, County Durham, England
• Noone, New Hampshire, USA
• Norco, California, USA; abbreviation of "North Corona"
• Normal, Illinois, USA
• North, South Carolina, USA
• Northwest South River Drive, Miami, Florida, USA
• Nothing, Arizona, USA
• Notrees, Texas, USA
• Novice, Texas, USA
• Nowhere, Arizona, USA
• Nuckols, Kentucky, USA
• Nunhead, London, England
• Nyah and Nyah West, Victoria, Australia

O

• Oatman, Arizona, USA
• Öd, Austria ² (also meaning "deserted" in German)
• Odder, Denmark
• Oddville, Kentucky, USA
• Ogle, Kentucky, USA
• Ogre, Latvia
• Old Dad Mountains, USA, geographical feature in the Mojave Desert
• Old Harry, Quebec, Canada
• Old Harry Rocks, Dorset, England
• Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England
• Old Swan, Liverpool, England
• Oliver Paipoonge, Ontario, Canada
• Opdyke, Texas, USA
• Opelousas, Louisiana, USA
• Orange, California, USA; county seat of Orange County⁸
• Oroville, California and Oroville, Oregon, USA ("Oro" is Spanish for "gold")
• Os, Hedmark, Norway ²
• Os, Hordaland, Norway ²
• Otterup, Denmark
• Owanka, South Dakota, USA ¹
• Oxnard, California, USA

P

• Paint Lick, Kentucky, USA
• Panthersville, Georgia, USA
• Parachute, Colorado, USA
• Paradise, New Zealand
• Paradise, California, USA
• Paradise, Michigan, USA
• Paradise, Pennsylvania, USA
• Paradiso (Switzerland)
• Pease Pottage, West Sussex, England ⁸
• Peck, Michigan, USA ¹
• Peckerwood Lake, a lake in Arkansas, USA ¹
• Peculiar, Missouri, USA
• Peel, Ontario, Canada
• Peep-o-Day, near Wanganui, New Zealand
• Peinlich, a village on the Isle of Skye, UK (means embarrassing in German)
• Penisarwain, Gwynedd, Wales ¹
• Peñíscola, Spain ¹
• Penistone, South Yorkshire, England ¹
• Pennsylvania, Gloucestershire, England
• Peor es nada, Chile (means worse is nothing in Spanish)
• Perl, Germany (and those who work with the Web may be amused to find Apach, France adjacent)
• Petting, Germany
• Pettit, Texas, USA
• Philadelphia, Mississippi, USA
• Phuket, Thailand ¹
• Pickle Street, West Virginia (unincorporated, on US 33)
• Picpus (Paris underground railway station)
• Piddle, river in Dorset, England, which runs from near Puddletown to Poole harbour
• Pidley, Cambridgeshire, England ¹
• Pieru, Saarijärvi, Finland (means fart in Finnish)
• Pie Town, New Mexico, USA ⁸
• Pis Pis River, Nicaragua
• Pity Me, County Durham, England
• Placentia, California, USA
• Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada ¹
• Plain Dealing, Louisiana, USA
• Plaster City, California, USA
• Pleasureville, Kentucky, USA
• Point Happy, a geologic feature in La Quinta, California, USA
• Polar, Texas, USA
• Police, Poland
• Poowong, Victoria, Australia
• Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas, USA
• Possum Trot, Kentucky, USA
• Pratt's Bottom, London, England ¹
• Prickwillow, England ¹
• Pride, Kentucky, USA
• Princes End, Tipton, England
• Pringle, Texas, USA ⁸
• Prussia Cove, Cornwall, England
• Pukë, Albania
• Punkeydoodles Corners, Ontario, Canada
• Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, USA
• Pussy, France ¹
• Puzzletown, Pennsylvania, USA

Q

• Quail, Texas, USA
• Queen Camel, Somerset, England
• Quicksand, Kentucky, USA
• Quién Sabe Mountains, California, USA; geographical feature in the Mojave Desert; Spanish for "who knows?"

R

• Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado, USA
• Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, USA
• Ramrod Key, Florida, USA
• Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA ³
• Rancho Mirage, California, USA; possibly the only place name in the world combining words from both Spanish and French
• Re, Vestfold, Norway ²
• Reading, Berkshire, England (pronounced "Redding")
• Reading, Pennsylvania, USA (pronounced "Redding")
• Reading, Massachusetts, USA (pronounced "Redding")
• Rectum, Netherlands
• Rest and be thankful, Argyll and Bute, Scotland
• Rice, California, USA; abandoned small town in the southern Mojave Desert⁸
• Rifle, Colorado, USA
• Ringoes, New Jersey, USA
• Rising Sun, Indiana, USA
• Roach, Missouri, USA
• Robert's Arm, Newfoundland, Canada
• Robert Lee, Texas, USA
• Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile
• Rocket Pool, England
• Ronkonkoma, New York, USA (stress on the second syllable)
• Root, Lucerne, Switzerland
• Rosenhayn, New Jersey, USA
• Rottenegg, Austria ⁸
• Rottingdean, Sussex, England
• Rough and Ready, California, USA
• Royalty, Texas, USA
• Rule, Texas, USA
• Rum, island in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland ⁸
• Rum, Austria ⁸
• Rum Jungle, Australia ⁸
• Rust, Austria
• Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire, England
• Ry, Denmark ²
• Rye, New York, USA
• Ryme Intrinseca, Somerset, England

S

• Saddam Hussein, Sri Lanka (the Iraqi dictator donated money to the town after a destructive 1978 cyclone.)
• Safe, Missouri, USA
• Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec, Canada
• Saint-Tite, Quebec, Canada (pronounced "St Tit")
• Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
• Samendorf, Austria ('town of semen')
• Sandwich, Illinois, USA ⁸
• Sandwich, Kent, England ⁸
• Sandwich, Massachusetts, USA ⁸
• Salsipuedes, California, USA (meaning: "leave if you can" in Spanish)
• Santa Claus, California, USA
• Santa Claus, Georgia, USA
• Santa Claus, Indiana, USA
• Santa Claus, Ohio, USA (There is a Christmas-related theme park there)
• Saracen's Head, Lincolnshire, England
• Satan's Kingdom, Vermont, USA
• Satsuma, Alabama, USA
• Schenectady, New York, USA (pronounced "Ske-NECT-i-dee")
• Scrapfaggot Green, Essex, England
• Scunthorpe, England (causes problems with some child-protection filters)
• Searchlight, Nevada, USA
• Secretary, Maryland, USA
• Seething, Norfolk, England
• Seldom Seen Roadhouse, Victoria, Australia
• Semen, Indonesia ¹
• Seven Corners, Virginia, USA
  • Also the name of an intersection in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (now rebuilt in a more traffic-friendly arrangement)
• Sex Rouge, a mountain in the Swiss Alps ¹
• Sexbierum, the Netherlands
• Sasmuan, Pampanga, Philippines (now renamed Sasmuan) ¹
• Sexsmith, Alberta, Canada ¹
• Shafter, California, USA¹
• Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Shag Island, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indian Ocean (dependency of Australia)
• Shag Island, Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada ¹
• Shag Point, New Zealand ¹
• Shag River, New Zealand ¹
• Shamrock, Texas, USA ⁷
• Shelfanger, Norfolk, UK
• Shellow Bowells, England
• Sheriff Hales, Shropshire, UK
• Shit, Iran
• Shitagoo Lake, Quebec, Canada
• Shitlington Crags, Northumberland, England
• Shitterton, England (near Bere Regis)
• Shittlehope, Durham, England
• Shoulderblade, Kentucky, USA
• Comarca de Siberia, Spain
• Sideview, Kentucky, USA
• Siem Reab, Cambodia (meaning defeat Siam)
• Siesta Key, Florida, USA
• Silica, Minnesota, USA
• Sily, Belgium
• Simmering, Vienna, Austria
• Siren, Wisconsin, USA
• Sissy, France (commune)
• 6, West Virginia, USA (the town has been renamed) ⁵
• Skaneateles, New York, USA (pronounced like skinny Atlas)
• Skookumchuck River, Washington State, USA
• Slaughter Beach, Delaware, USA
• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan, USA
• Slough, England (rhymes with "cow")
• Smackover, Arkansas, USA
• Snafu Lake, Yukon, Canada
• Snapfinger, Georgia, USA
• Snodland, Kent, England
• Solitude, Indiana, USA
• Sommerloch, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany ⁴ (meaning: "summer slump")
• Sort,