Worst fantasy names in our Real World

[Siberys]

And of course, Hell, in Norway.

There's a Hell here in Michigan, too. Cue terrible jokes about Hell ALWAYS being frozen over...

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[InVinoVeritas]

Creighton University has an honorary chair (as in professorship) in its medical school named for the famed surgeon, Dr. Claude Organ.

Outer Banks has bad names? Like Cape Fear? I hear Strahd keeps a beach house there.

Note that next to Intercourse, PA are the towns Bird-In-Hand and Paradise.

Also, near the Austrian village I cannot name, are the German towns of Kissing and Petting.

The Wikipedia article points out the following:

Putting the problem in context, however, tz-online notes that numerous villages across the border in Germany have names that are "unfortunate" even in German, including Affendorf (Monkey Village), Faulebutter (Putrid Butter), Fickmühlen (F*** Mill), Himmelreich (Kingdom of Heaven), Katzenhirn (Cat Brain), Plöd (Stupid), Regenmantel (Raincoat), Sklavenhaus (Slave House) and Warzen (Warts).

I always liked the name of Cut Off, Louisiana.

If you think that there are too many Kingstons, there are fifty-one places named Springfield in the United States alone.

You could never get away with Blackness Castle in a game.

 

[dvvega]

Best dentist name I have ever encountered is Dr Fang.

Of course here in Australia you cannot go past the racism that existed during settlement ... Blacktown ... I know fairly certainly that there is no Whitetown.

D

 

[Al'Kelhar]

Creighton University has an honorary chair (as in professorship) in its medical school named for the famed surgeon, Dr. Claude Organ.

I once had a surgeon called Dr. Cutter.

IIRC the former Archbishop of Manila was called Cardinal Sin.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Anything that involves the Welsh

 

[Dragonhelm]

For all I know, there is a Kansas City in Kansas. But, *the* Kansas City is in Missouri. (It's close though)

As Xeterog mentions, Kansas City is split between Kansas and Missouri. So we have Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS. There's also North Kansas City.

What might be cool to take from KC to a fantasy setting is that KC is the "city of fountains". I think a fantasy city with fountains, perhaps even magic ones, would be cool.

We're also a big BBQ mecha.

-Trampas
Kansas City area native

 

[Orius]

Pie Town, New Mexico - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Naturally, the D&D verson is inhabited by orcs.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Humptulips... I mean common thats just lame, it couldn't be a real town at all.

fficial&client=firefox-a&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Humptulips,+WA&gl=us&ei=azdsTNPOLsOblgfi88mJAg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ8gEwAA" target="_blank">humptulips+washington - Google Maps

To say nothing of Sequim, Puyallup, and Snoqualmie, Washington; the Skookumchuck and Stillaguamish rivers, or a dozen other cities and terrains given NW Indian names.

Note in particular that those first two are correctly pronounced:
skwim, and
pyoo AL up.

My understanding is that the NE areas of the US have a similar problem. Massapequa? Schenectady? Poughkeepsie? Yonkers? At some point you gotta assume that people were just making this stuff up.

 

[SiderisAnon]

We also have Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.


There was a short story I read where the Roman characters were discussion the names of things on maps as they explored/expanded. One guy pointed to a point on the map and wondered what the native name meant. The other responded, "I don't understand you," or something similar. He pointed out that they were constantly asking people in perfect Latin what things were named, and none of the natives actually spoke Latin.

I'm personally surprised more place names don't translate as things like, "What? You never seen a river?", "What are you pointing at?", or, "That's a mountain, idiot."

 

[Zelligars Apprentice]

Around here we have Mount Diablo (The Devil's Mountain). There is also a Diablo Canyon.
Then there are the plain ones like Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Gatos (The Cats) and Morgan Hill.
I still kinda like Edenvale, though.
One that gives funny visuals is Lick Observatory.
Then there is the shopping center that is called the Pruneyard.
Come to think of it, the Bay Area is full of bad fantasy names ("Livermore? What, the GM was hungry when he thought of that?")

RE: Dentists: I know about two dentists whose names are Dr. Payne and Dr. Comfort. Wonder which one gets more business?