What’s in a Name?
N 1950, the small town of Hot Springs, New Mexico, held a special election. The issue on the ballot had nothing to do with school bond issues or electing a new mayor. The question before the town’s inhabitants was whether or not to change the town’s name. Earlier that year, a very popu- lar radio show had celebrated its tenth anniversary on the air. The show was called Truth or Con- sequences, and its host, Ralph Edwards, had announced that NBC would broadcast an edition of the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show. When this news reached Hot Springs, New Mexico, the Cham- ber of Commerce saw an opportu- nity to distinguish the town from all the other towns called Hot Springs in the United States. Hot Springs, New Mexico, was a spa town built around hot mineral wa- ters, but its remote location in the
I
southwest of the state contributed to low levels of tourism. So it was that the town’s leaders decided to ask the citizens to vote on chang- ing the name from Hot Springs to Truth or Consequences.
The first ballot produced a vote in favor of the change, but there were a sufficient number of “no” votes to force a second ballot. This time the citizens voted more than four to one in favor of the change, and so the town of Truth or Conse- quences, New Mexico, made its ap- pearance on the map.
Ralph Edwards shakes the hand of a young resi- dent of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, during the thirty-fifth annual Ralph Edwards Pa- rade in 1984.
Ralph Edwards kept his side of the bargain by hosting a live, coast- to-coast broadcast of the radio show Truth or Consequences from the town that now had the same name. And every year for the next fifty years, Edwards returned to the town to celebrate the anniversary of one of the most offbeat name changes in American history.
—PH
If you drive across the United States, you will often see signs for towns with amusing or unusual names such as this one in Oregon.
But perhaps the language that had the most widespread influence on the choice of place-names in the nine- teenth century was German. From New Palz in New York to Fredericks- burg in Texas, and from Germantown,
44
Pennsylvania, to New Polk in Wiscon- sin, the vast migrations from German- speaking lands left their mark on the map of America. This is hardly surprising, considering that at one time 30 to 60 percent of the population of most cities in the Midwest was made up of German immigrants.
Curiosities Finally, there are the place-names that are curious, outlandish, and amusing. Many of them may have perfectly logical etymologies, and the origin of others may be lost in the mists of time. In either case, the following place-names should be savored for their quirkiness: Boring, Oregon; Burnt Corn, Alabama; Frankenstein, Missouri; Hungry Horse, Montana; Looneyville, Texas; Nine Times, South Carolina; Normal, Illinois; Skidoo, California; Tacky Town, Kentucky; Toadtown, Califor- nia; and Yeehaw, Florida. American place-names, whether descriptive or poetic, plain or fancy, provide a record of the multicultural origins of this unique nation’s people and the lives that they made for themselves. It is this rich cultural tapestry that the poet Stephen Vin- cent Benet, quoted at the beginning of this article, had in mind when he wrote that he had “fallen in love with American names”: the sounds of the words reminded him of the rich history of a varied and wonderful country. ■
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 1
PHOTO: CHARLES GULLUNG/GETTY
PHOTO: EUGENE BURTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60