New York City: we love ya, but your name is just so….boring. Like yeah, it’s cool and all that we live in a city that many people blow their entire savings on just to visit, but at the end of the day the name is, dare we say, uninspired and lacking pizazz.
So we can’t exactly hide our jealousy when we meet an upstate dweller who gets to tell people they live in Butternuts–and yes, that’s a real place and yes, we’re strictly jealous of the name. As it turns out New York is home to some very interesting and downright peculiar town names, and these are some of our favorite ones:
1. Chili
Insert: “Hi, welcome to Chili’s!” (If you don’t get that reference you’re too young). Chili is located near Rochester, and though it’s spelt just like the food it’s apparently pronounced “CHY-ly.”
2. Coxsackie
Though it shares a name with the Coxsackievirus that produces painful mouth sores that blister (gross) Coxsackie is actually apparently pronounced “COOK-sack-ee.” It’s located in Greene County and (thankfully) won’t leave you with any debilitating symptoms like the virus would (can confirm, we’ve been there).
3. Horseheads
Located in Chemung County, New York, this one is just…peculiar, but fun to say nonetheless!
4. Wappinger
Though this town name sounds like something you’d find on the menu at Burger King, it’s actually believed that it got its name from the Algonkian word meaning “easterner.”
5. Butternuts
Now this one is something else. Located in Otsego County (best known for Cooperstown and Oneonta) as of the 2010 census 1,786 lucky residents were able to tell people they live in Butternuts, New York.
6. Triangle
Thankfully there’s no “Bermuda” in front of this town name, and as far as we know the residents don’t go missing–so that’s a plus! Triangle is located in Broome County, New York.
7. Sugarbush
To us this town kind of sounds like you’d find it in a fairytale but in reality nah, you’ll find it in Franklin County, New York!
8. Cheektowaga
We’re not quite sure why this town name gives us major Chewbacca vibes, but it just does. It’s also extremely fun to say (though we doubt we’re saying it correctly)!
9. Bath
It’s believed that New York’s Bath was named after the town in England, but whether that’s true or not it’s still a funny name for a town at the end of the day. Bath can be found out in the Western region of New York.
10. Tuxedo
Another town seemingly named after a random object, Tuxedo is located in New York’s Orange County along the Ramapo River. Similar to Wappinger, however, the name actually comes from “tucseto,” a word used by native Americans indigenous to the region–the Lenni-Lenape tribe, to be specific.