Tickled by the Names

Hi Bron, we have a Walla Walla here in Washington State too,lol. There claim to fame is their onions.Names I think sound English here are;Kent, Aberdeen, Colfax, Kennewick,and Auburn.Some other unusual or funny names we have here;Sedro Wooley,Puyallup, Hoquim,Cowlitz and my favorite Humptulips,lol.
 

Hmm... There are lots of strange names in Finland:
Kotka: eagle
Joensuu: river's mouth
Tuonela: before christianity that was the place where we Finns went after we died instead of heaven or hell. There is Tuonela also in the States (just check Anne Frasier's blog).
Outokumpu: strange hill
Valtimo: artery
Kolari: car crash
Tuuri: luck
 

Dena and Minna, they all tickle my funny bone as well. My favourites: Humptulips *LOL* and Kolari, which has a nice ring to it. Pity about the meaning, though.

Bron
 

Actually, since Kolari is in Lappland, it's altogether possible that it means totally something else than what I think, because most likely that word is Sami. But in Finnish language kolari means a car crash.
 

Okay, I'm way, WAY behind in reading this, but we do have some interesting local town names in Texas. (Many of them originally Spanish and mispronounced in the distinctively Texan fashion--like Bexar county (where San Antonio is) which is pronounced like Bayer aspirin...).

Out here in the panhandle there is the obvious town of Panhandle, one of the "simple" names, like Happy, Earth, Quail, White Deer, Cactus and Turkey. There's Borger (with a hard G), and Mobeetie (as well as Old Mobeetie, which is perhaps kin to Old Dimebox...) and Floydada (pronounced Floy-day-da) and Idalou. Then there are those towns with Comanche origin names like Quanah and Quitaque (which I usually hear pronounced like Kitta-quay) Of course there is a town named Comanche as well.

My great-granddad used to ride a preaching circuit based at Rising Star (which is a name I love). Oh, and I can't forget Waxahachie (more properly Wox-a-hatch-ee, than Wax...) or Mexia (pronounced Ma-hay-ah) down in Central Texas near Maypearl and Groesbeck (whose high school mascot is the Mighty Goat). Nacogdoches is in East Texas. Dripping Springs is near Austin...There's Arp and Belk and Cut-and-Shoot (near Dallas). Terlingua is an interesting sounding name...but I think I'll just stop now...