10 of the strangest town names in the United States and Canada

There are many common names across North America such as Springfield, Fairview, Centerville/Centreville, and Mount Pleasant. Then there are less common names that still don't raise an eyebrow, such as Bismarck or Oxford. Finally, you have truly eccentric toponyms, such as...

Looking for Intercourse? Well, you can travel to Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania, and enjoy this unincorporated community whose signs keep getting stolen.

Right in the heart of Amish Country, Intercourse was founded as Cross Keys in 1754 and changed its name in 1814. There are many theories about it, with one of them being a reference to the proximity of two main roads.

Located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent area, this parish municipality with less than 2,000 inhabitants is in the Guinness Books of Records as the town with the most exclamation marks in its name.

The term “ha-ha” apparently comes from the sunken fence wall used in landscaping that can't be seen downhill, only uphill, creating an optical illusion.

Image: Filipp Romanovski / Unsplash

Rough and Ready is a census-designated area west of Grass Valley, 62 miles (ca. 100 km) from Sacramento, California. For three months in 1850, it broke away from the Union as The Great Republic of Rough and Ready to avoid paying taxes.

The town was named after Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States, whose nickname was Old Rough and Ready.

This town in Southeastern Quebec used to be home to the world's largest asbestos mine back in the day. Of course, the decline of asbestos mining and usage heavily affected this town's economy.

In French, asbestos is known as 'amiante', meaning that the mostly francophone residents didn't associate the town name with negative connotations. Still, after a 2020 referendum, Asbestos became Val-des-sources.

Founded as Hot Springs, the county seat of Sierra County, New Mexico, change its name as part of a radio contest in 1950.

The NBC Radio quiz show 'Truth or Consequences' announced in 1950 that it would be broadcasting its 10th-year anniversary show from any town that changed its name. Hot Springs accepted the challenge and radio host Ralph Edwards visited the town for the next 50 years.

Located in Southwestern Ontario, in the Waterloo-Kitchener area, the main theory about this hamlet's unusual name comes from a German-speaking innkeeper who would mangle the lyrics of 'Yankee Doodle'.

Image: Derek Sutton / Unsplash

According to Wikipedia, the most prominent moment in the history of Punkeydoodles Corner occurred in 1982, when former Prime Minister Joe Clark attended the local Canada Day celebrations. A monument was erected to immortalize the event.

Founded in 1854, this town located in Spencer County, Indiana, originally had the name Santa Fe. However, the US Post Office informed them there was already a Santa Fe in Indiana, so they adopted Santa Claus in 1856, for reasons unknown.

Since then, the town of Santa Claus has lived up to its whimsical name. Here you can see Robert Ripley (from 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' fame) standing with the world's largest Christmas postcard, sent from Santa Claus, Indiana.

This mining town is located between Manitoba and Saskatchewan and was named after Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, the protagonist of the science fiction novel 'The Sunless City' by J. E. Prescott Muddock.

Pictured: Members of the Hoop Dance Troop from Flin Flon greet Queen Elizabeth in 2002.

Prospector Tom Creighton named the mine that the town grew around after the hero of the novel, who discovers gold and silver deep on the Earth's surface thanks to a submarine in a bottomless lake.

Image: National Film Board of Canada

Move over, Salem! The Dark Lord has a new dwelling in Franklin County, Massachusetts.

Image: ABC News

According to local folklore, parishioners from the nearby village of Northfield saw a forest fire on the other side of the river that just seemed infernal and the name stuck.

Medicine Hat is the only place on the list that can be called a city. It has over 60,000 people, making it Alberta's sixth-largest urban center.

The name is an English interpretation of the name the Blackfoot nation gave to a type of headdress worn by traditional healers.