Welcome to What’s In A Name Week, where we’re going to tell you the stories behind some of the most memorable names in the world.
And we’ve got some really unforgettable names in the US.
There’s Cucumber, West Virginia, Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, and Blue Ball, Delaware.
North Carolina has a town called Welcome, and yes, there are welcome signs in Welcome.
And if you’re feeling lucky, try Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, or Peculiar, Missouri, where they have a motto: “where the ‘odds’ are with you.”
One of the most interesting stories of how towns got their name is from a town that sort of didn’t have one.
Nameless, in the Texas Hill Country, was founded in the late 1860s, and as the community grew, the people there petitioned the federal government for a US Post Office.
The feds said, what’s the name of the town?
They thought up a name and sent it out east.
For whatever reason that name was rejected.
They tried again, and got another no.
Six times they sent in names for the post office of their town without a name, and six times the postal authorities turned them down.
Finally, the town sent a letter back literally cursing out the whole process, saying, “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!”
Either the postal leadership was trolling the townspeople or misunderstood how angry they were, because they opened the Nameless post office in 1880.
It stayed open for about a decade, and the town eventually wound down too, but today you can still visit the historic Nameless School or drop by the Nameless cemetery.
Lizard Lick, North Carolina, east of Raleigh, has been the site of a reality TV show and a publicity event for a video game featuring Yoshi.
Where did the name come from? The story goes that someone passing through the area noticed a lot of lizards out in the sun licking themselves.
Sometimes it’s just that simple.
Nameless, TX (Hill Country Explorer)
What’s In A Town Name? Pure Americana (WFMY)
Most People Don’t Know The Meaning Behind These 10 North Carolina Towns (Only In Your State)
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Nameless School photo by QuesterMark via Flickr/Creative Commons
