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Wednesday 8 March 2017

Place name

Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located off the northern coast of Washington State. Though famous for its resident pods of orcas, the island actually named after Horcasitas, the Viceroy of Mexico, who sponsored an expedition there in 1791. Whereas the animal name "orca" originated in Ancient Rome. So "Orcas Island" is probably the most coincidental place name in the world.

The town of Dull in Scotland has been twinned with the town of Boring, Oregon since 2012. In 2013 the town of Bland, Australia joined them in what has become known as the 'Trinity of Tedium'.

The shortest place name is 'Å'. There are villages with that name located in both Sweden and Norway.

View of the sign at the entrance to the Norwegian village of Å. Wikipedia
The British Isles' shortest place name is I (the Gaelic for Iona). In addition there are three Scottish place names which contain only two letters-Oa, Ae, and Bu.

The longest place name in the world is the poetic Thai name for Bangkok which has 168 letters — ‘Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit’. It is usually abbreviated to a simple ‘ Krung Thep’ — which means City of Angels.

Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg is the longest place name in the United States. Also known as Webster Lake, it is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts.

The longest place name, that is believe it or not still in use, is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaung ahoronukupokaiwhenuakitamatahu. This is the name of one hill in New Zealand.

San José is the world’s most popular place name with over 1,700 listed places.

Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is the only town in the world with two exclamation points in its name. It is located in Quebec, Canada, near the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River.

A Canada Post sign in Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! By Rob Schmidt from Waterloo, Canada 

There is a town/city named Lincoln in every state of the U.S.

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