Unalaska has more than 4500 residents, and is the largest city in the Aleutian Islands. Unangan residents named it Agunalaksh originally, a word that means “near the peninsula.”

Then Russian fur traders arrived, so the spelling turned into Ounalashka, which then became Unalaska.

“Why?” Because this small community near the U.S.-Mexico border is named after the Y-shaped intersection of two highways near it.

Arizona law requires a place name to have at least three letters, so “Y” became “Why.”

This town of 1800 people was settled by French trappers in the early 19th century. Smackover may have originated from the French name for the local creek, Chemin Couvert, which means “covered way”, and “sumac couvert” meaning a covering of sumac trees, a local plant.

There is a theory from the legend of oil streaming “smack over the derrick” or a settler jumping “smack over the creek,” according to the state’s website since they were once the nation’s largest oil producers.

Early residents of Rough and Ready, California, were more than willing to get down and dirty for their independence. The place was named after a mining company with the same moniker.

With a current population of about 158, this town was the first to secede from the Union, becoming its own “republic” in 1850 as a protest against mining taxes, prohibition mandates, and laws that were not being enforced.

The rebellion was laughably short-lived since they rejoined the United States three months later, but residents still pay homage to Rough and Ready’s spirited past.

There is a celebration on the last Saturday of June.

It was meant to be a temporary solution but locals, fewer than 200 in number, have become proud of No Name, Colorado.

Reports say that a government official first marked a newly constructed exit off I-70 with a sign that read “No Name” as a placeholder.

When the officials got around to officially labeling it, “No Name” had the support of the people so it stuck.

Tourists can find the spot near the No Name tunnels, No Name Creek, and the No Name hiking trail.

Hazardville, Connecticut was once a 19th-century industrial village that made gunpowder. That’s not how the name came to be though, as the town was named after Colonel Augustus George Hazard.

He was the man who purchased and expanded the company in 1837.

Corner Ketch, an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, was said to have gotten its name from a rough-and-tumble local bar, with patrons so quarrelsome that townspeople would warn strangers and visitors, “They’ll ketch ye at the corner.”

Two Egg, Florida got its unique name during the Great Depression. According to local lore, two young boys needed cash so bad they paid a local shopkeeper for sugar with two eggs.

Make-do business transactions like these happened regularly so people began referring to the place as a “two egg store.”

Traveling salesmen caught on to the name and spread it to other towns.

This town was founded in the 1880s. Climax, Georgia got its name since it finds itself at the highest point on the railroad just between Savannah and the Chattahoochee River.

This cozy little town near Hilo, Volcano is adjacent to many volcano hot spots. Walk the dormant Kilauea Iki Trail, which was the site of a 1959 eruption.

Stop by the Lava Rock Café afterwards for some coffee before visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The multiple-house assembly of Slickpoo is near Culdesac, Idaho. It barely qualifies as a town but it was once a bustling village.

It was originally the site of a Catholic mission, and was said to have been gifted to the missionaries by landowner Josiah Slickpoo.

The town was originally called Almon after land developer Almon Cage founded it in 1855.

Sandwich got the name from a train stop liaison who named it after his hometown of Sandwich, New Hampshire. And yes, the town holds a Sandwich Festival annually.

It may feel festive in Santa Claus, Indiana all the time, but the origin of the name wasn’t as festive.

The town was first named Santa Fe, and in 1896, the town wanted to secure a post office but postal officials had them pick another name since Santa Fe was already taken.

Santa Claus was suggested as an acceptable alternative, and the post office agreed but to their dismay, children began mailing letters to Santa Claus, Indiana, regularly.

This was a former coal mining town in the southeast of the state, christened Petersburg by Peter Britton who settled here in the 1850s.

Enterprising shop owner Joseph Andrews created the town post office, and he suggested calling it What Cheer, perhaps basing it after an old English greeting.

Britton protested, but the name remained, and today, What Cheer has around 600 residents. That used to be 5000, with the town hosting a seasonal flea market and musical events at its opera house.

Gas folks know what you’re thinking. “You just passed Gas.” “Gas Kan.” “Get Gas!”

The town of Gas got its name when…. natural gas was discovered in 1898. Farmer E.K. Taylor sold 60 acres of his land to industrial interests, subdividing the rest into lots then laying the groundwork for Gas (a.k.a. Gas City).

Today, Gas is home to around 600 people.

The town on this Kentucky-Tennessee border is an homage to the local bug population.

According to the town’s oldest residents, workers helped out during harvest but they would sleep in barns, on hay infested with doodlebugs.

Legend states that the workers stayed so long that the bugs grew large enough to “tussle” for prime napping spots.

The Lake Superior Piling Company established a settlement of model farms in the 1920s, and that brought prosperity to this area of rural Louisiana.

Company owners tweaked their corporate slogan, “you need us,” right into the town’s new name. The feeling was mutual with residents allegedly starting another model farm community nearby, calling it Weneedu.

If you’re wondering where this island off the coast of Maine got its name, just squint at it. It is located near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

Burnt Porcupine has sister islands nearby with intriguing names themselves: Bald Porcupine, Long Porcupine, and Sheep Porcupine.

The village of Boring was originally named Fairview. But there were other Fairviews in the U.S., so a post office established in the village in 1880 requested a rename.

Residents voted, wanting to honor their first postmaster, David J. Boring.

We all hoped that Belchertown was named for the aftermath of a rather tasty meal, but the real story is that it’s named after Jonathan Belcher, a colonial governor of Massachusetts.

Not the aftertaste we were looking for.

Hell on Earth is located 15 miles northwest of Ann Arbor. Many stories go around regarding how this name came about, but the town itself declares the official as this:

In the 1830s, town settler George Reeves made a deal with local farmers to trade his homemade whiskey for their homegrown grain.

The farmer’s wives knew their husbands were off dealing with Reeves, which caused them to remark, “He’s gone to hell again.”

Not a lot of Minnesotans can lay claim to being an official Nimrod. There’s just 69 last counted.

The town takes up one square mile of the Gopher State, but it is the hometown of Dick Stigman, the pro baseball player who pitched for the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox back in the 1960s.

The name is a Biblical reference. In the book of Genesis, Nimrod is described as “a mighty hunter before the Lord” who is credited in overseeing the construction of the Tower of Babel.

In the horse-and-carriage days, the town of Hot Coffee, Mississippi sat at the midpoint between Natchez, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama which were two popular travel destinations.

In the late 1800s, an inn was erected which was a good business opportunity for a man named L.N. Davis. He built a store to replenish the supplies of travelers and he hung a coffee pot outside, advertising “the best hot coffee around.”

He used spring water to brew New Orleans beans, sweetening the drink with molasses drippings.

The store is no longer there, but Davis’s java was so good it became the town’s namesake.

Legends surrounding the town’s name trace it back to a postmaster. He was upset with a cheapskate watermelon farmer. One who sold a promised melon out from under him with an extra 50-cent profit.

The main draw today to this tiny town is its bank. Customers from all over the country open accounts here just to have checks with the Tightwad logo on them.

You may spend more time staring at the heavens in Big Sky Country, the town of Pray, Montana, but it wasn’t named from a religious standpoint.

It was founded in 1907, named for then-state representative Charles Nelson Pray.

After he mapped out a town in northeast Nebraska, settler B.E. Smith had to find a name for it. He wanted it to be attractive for the community so that it would draw visitor, so he christened it Magnet in 1893.

Magnet is home to about 75 residents today.

30 miles south of Elko, Nevada is the small town of Jiggs. Albert Hankins owned the local hotel, dance hall, and general store in 1918,meaning he owned the entire town.

He was looking for a new name for the place, so Hankins took his kids suggestion.

“Jiggs” was the top hat-wearing, Irish-American protagonist of the kids’ favorite comic strip at the time, Bringing Up Father.

Following the town’s name change, the women’s organization dubbed itself Maggie’s Club after the same character’s wife.

The Fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montague, invented more than a lunchtime staple. It was in 1763 when he chartered a town between the Lakes Region and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The town of Sandwich was named after him just like our favorite meal. The earl even allowed the nearby Sandwich mountain range and Sandwich dome to use his title.

The town of Loveladies, New Jersey, was named after a man. It is located on Long Beach Island, beginning as one of the life-saving stations that appeared on the Jersey shore back in the 1870s.

The station got its name from a nearby island owned by Thomas Lovelady, a local hunter and sportsman of the day.

When the community grew, it tested out many new titles, including Club House and Long Beach Park. It was in 1952 when the early name of Loveladies became official.

Candy Kitchen is sandwiched between the Zuni and Navajo reservations in western New Mexico. It reportedly got its name from a local moonshine distiller who needed a front to hide his operations during Prohibition.

To secure the sugar for his barrels of hooch, the moonshiner put up a confectionery that produced pinion nut candy.

Candy Kitchen isn’t the only sweet-toothed locale either as 85 miles down the dusty trail is a place called Pie Town.

The old town of Neversink is actually sunk below 175 feet of water. It is named for the Neversink River, which is the longest tributary of the Delaware River.

They’re one of the unlucky Catskill towns flooded in the 1950s to create reservoirs in order to provide water to New York City.

The town relocated in the 1950s after its old Main Street sunk for good. Not all neighboring locales were so fortunate to do so.

The flooding had locals bidding a bittersweet goodbye to the now-underwater town of Bittersweet.

In 1860, residents living in central North Carolina had no name for their home. So when the United States Post Office planned to put down roots in the place, the townspeople met to decide on a name.

A debate ensued: Why not name it this? Why not name it that? The discussion dragged on until one frustrated local butted in and said, “Why not name the town Why Not and let’s go home?”

So yes, ambivalence won the day and it stuck.

Cannon Ball, North Dakota got its name from geological curiosities called concretions.

Millions of years ago, sediment cemented around plants or shells in the Peace Garden State. They hardened into rock, forming perfect spheres tha looked like cannonballs.

Those rocks can be found around the local Cannonball River, but drive 170 miles west to the northern stretches of Theodore Roosevelt National Park if you want to see more.

Most of the stories regarding the name’s origins involve bar brawls, moonshine, and other forms of delinquency. But the most famous origin tale focuses on the advice of a preacher.

He was approached by a woman with a cheating husband, and the preacher gave this advice: “Knock ‘em stiff.”

Knockemstiff received mainstream attention in 2008 thanks to author Donald Ray Pollock, a native of Knockemstiff, who published a book of 18 short stories that spoke of life in this rough Midwestern community.

The community was formerly known as Berwyn, Oklahoma. They took on the name of the famous singing cowboy after Autry came to town and bought a 1200-acre ranch which became the headquarters of his Flying A Ranch Rodeo.

Cecil Crosby, the deputy sheriff of Carter County where Berwyn was located, was the one who suggested the town change its name to honor Autry.

The town’s 227 residents signed a petition in favor of the change, with the post office and railroad altering their names after.

It was on November 16, 1941 when the town of Berwyn officially became Gene Autry, Oklahoma.

Autry sold the Flying A Ranch after World War II, but the town still recognizes him with a museum and film festival in his honor.

Scenic Zigzag, Oregon rests in the middle of Mount Hood National Forest. It was named after the Zigzag River, which drains from the Zigzag Glacier.

The history of the name is unknown, but it could be traced back to Joel Palmer, a pioneer of the Oregon territory.

Describing the erratic movements needed to descend a ravine near Mount Hood, he said:

“The manner of descending is to turn directly to the right, go zigzag for about one hundred yards, then turn short round, and go zigzag until you come under the place where you started from; then to the right, and so on, until you reach the bottom.”

It was one ravine but the name stuck, and it turned into a local community.

Zigzag also lends its name to a volcanic mountain and canyon.

The Lancaster County, Pennsylvania village knows you’re giggling. The village’s website even says. “We’re happy with our name. It’s the perfect conversation starter.”

There are several possibilities for the name’s origins. According to one theory, the town, which was originally called Cross Keys after a local tavern founded in 1754, was at the intersection of two major roads.

Another theory says it evolved from “Entercourse” since the town was located next to the entrance of a racetrack.

The final theory focuses on the original meaning of the word intercourse: “connection or dealings between persons or groups; exchange especially of thoughts or feelings.”

The word’s sexual meaning didn’t come into popular use until the late 18th century.

Intercourse isn’t the only Pennsylvania town name that has adults giggling: Drive 20 minutes up the road and visit the town Blue Ball, which was named after an 1850s inn.

Historically known as la ville la plus française aux États-Unis, the sixth largest city in the state is the “the most French city in the United States.”

It was during the Depression when three-quarters of Woonsocket’s residents were of French-Canadian descent, but by the 2000 census, the number has dropped to 46.1 percent.

“Woonsocket,” does not come from French. Historians say that it’s a corruption of a word from a Native American language, though they don’t agree on the language or the word from which it derives.

This Horry County town was named after a country store built by Herbert Small in 1927, though not because of the condiments stocked and sold.

Every week, farmers would go to Small’s store to “catch up” on the latest news and gossip. So as the town grew up around the store, the name stuck and remained to this day.

Mud Butte got its name from a nearby barren butte. Basically an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top.

Archeologists in 1981 unearthed the sixth Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, after a local rancher finally called a museum about the dinosaur bones he’d seen jutting out of a cliff on his property for many years.

There are many theories regarding the origins of Difficult’s name. One is that when residents applied for a post office, the U.S. Postal Service responded with, “your name is difficult,” either talking about its pronunciation, spelling, or the handwriting on their application.

Residents took the letter as an order, accepting the name Difficult.

The other is that the town named itself Difficult out of spite when the postal official said the name was too challenging to pronounce.

The town of Ding Dong is located in Bell County, Texas, so people quickly conclude that the two are related. But the community was really named after its founders, the Bell family.

Completely unrelated to Governor Peter Hansborough Bell, in whose honor the county was named.

Visitors and tourists who travel to Mexican Hat, Utah, don’t need to wonder how the community got its name. The answer is a 60-foot-wide, sombrero-shaped rock formation on the northeast side of town that people love to take pictures of.

New England town names seem to be the dark prince’s business locations, with franchises in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont.

The latter was supposedly named by a resentful settler who “expected fertile, rolling acres and had received rocks and hills instead.”

It’s pronounced “bump-iss” if you ask the locals should you find them in a chatty mood. Many Bumpass residents have a no-talking-to-strangers policy. They must be tired of being the butt of every joke from visitors.

This tiny town 25 miles north of Aberdeen was once a major logging center. Today, it’s known for its unusual name, which came from a local Native American word meaning “hard to pole.”

It’s a reference to the nearby Humptulips River, the one Native Americans used to canoe by propelling themselves with poles.

The term has brought the area fame as Humptulips is mentioned in the books Another Popular Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins and The Long World by Sir Terry Pratchett.

This unincorporated community was likely named for a nearby salt lick, which was more appealing to horses and wild animals than visiting humans.

You’ll find a Lick Fork creek, road, and more nearby, so you and other visitors will have a lot of photo opportunities.

The Richland County, Wisconsin community has supposedly taken its name from William Henry Dosch. Nickname: Boss.

The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names says Dosch was sick as a boy who got used to the attention he received that he soon became bossy with his family. He came to own a store on the site of an old saw mill, apparently.

Remember that it’s Chug-water, not Chug-water. The land was once the territory of the Mandan tribe, whose chief was injured during a buffalo hunt so he sent his son to lead the hunting party instead.

Chugwater’s website says the son found that the easiest way to kill buffalo was to drive them off the local chalk cliffs.

“The word ‘chug,’” the website notes, “is said to describe the noise that the buffalo or the falling chalk made when it hit the ground or fell into the water under the bluff, depending on which version of the legend you wish to believe. Indians began to call the area ‘water at the place where the buffalo chug.’”

So when white settlers arrived, they used the Native American terminology for the land, calling it Chug Springs. A local stream was also named Chugwater Creek, and that’s where the town gets its name from.