Kentucky Names

Kentucky has some cool names. I was reminded of that as I passed signs for the towns Dwarf and Fisty - Yes, real names.

A number of towns have names from England as most of the settlers were from there - Manchester, London, etc.

Kentucky was getting established about the time of the Revolutionary War. Lexington got its name honoring the recent fighting at Lexington and Concord. France helped us in our revolution and so Kentucky has Versailles, Louisville (after King Louis the 16th, Paris, and Fayette County (after the LaFayette). However, in Kentucky its pronounced "Versayles". The French would probably have a problem with that.

I bought a book for about a dollar called Kentucky Place Names. Its fun to browse through. Anyway, here are my favorite names along with explanation from the book:

Dwarf: Honoring Jeremiah Combs, called "Short Jerry" for his short stature.

Fisty:  Named after "Fisty" Sam Combs, who suggested the town be named after him.

Monkey's Eyebrow:  The most plausible explanation is the appearance of a crescent shaped elevation whose tall grass seemed to resemble in someone's imagination the eyebrows of a monkey.

Oddville: Orginally planned to be named to honor George Washington. When informed that there were already too many Washingtons in the country and that a unique name should be selected instead. Oddville was suggested.

Pig: Some local residents assembled to named the new post office. They could not agree on what to call it, for each wanted it named for himself. Finally when the deliberations seemed about to break down, one man said in in disgust, "I see a small hog outside on the road and that prompts me to suggest that we name the post office Pig."

Whoopflarea:  One theory identifies Larry as a moonshiner whose customers would "Whoop for Larry".

Tough to pick a winner from that list.