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I grew up in a town called Ottumwa and I think it’s pretty safe to say that there aren’t too many of those scattered across the United States. These 10 places, though, are likely to show up more than once on a cross-country road trip.
10 of the Most Common Place Names in the U.S.
1. Franklin - 37, including five in Wisconsin and three in New York.
2. Salem - 36. I wonder which one is home to the Days of our Lives Salem?
3. Washington - 32, including eight in Wisconsin. Wouldn’t that get confusing?
4. Springfield - 32. Guess what? Five in Wisconsin. Springfield, Vermont, was the town chosen to hold the premiere of The Simpsons movie, but in reality, the actual location of The Simpsons’ hometown remains a mystery.
5. Clinton - 31, including three in New York and three in Wisconsin.
6. Georgetown - 27, including two in Georgia (makes sense), two in Indiana, and, yes, two in Wisconsin.
7. Greenville - 26. Three in New York, but only one in Wisconsin!
8. Madison - 26.
9. Fairview - 26. Two each in New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Kentucky… but none in Wisconsin.
10. Manchester - 25. The biggest of these is Manchester, New Hampshire, with about 110,000 people.
Bootsy Collins is from Cincinnati, Ohio.
posted by JD on 5-9-2008 at 2:31 pm
Wow, something in New Hampshire is “the biggest…”! Even if it is just “the biggest Manchester in the US”
(there’s very little to get excited about in NH. I have to find excitement somewhere…)
posted by Meghan on 5-9-2008 at 2:39 pm
ARE THERE REALLY TWO FAIRVIEWS IN NEW JERSEY!?!??
I had no idea!
I knew there was one Fairview, and I believe there is a Fairlawn, but no idea there were TWO Fairviews.
Now I just feel special.
posted by C.Bukowski. on 5-9-2008 at 2:54 pm
How does it happen that there is more than one town in a state with the same name? Were they named before there was any type of naming oversight?
Wisconsin…the most unoriginal state in the union. Maybe they should put that on their signs. :) They either have multiple towns of pronouncable names, or towns with long French names that most people can’t say correctly.
posted by kate on 5-9-2008 at 3:18 pm
Actually, the Simpsons animators did goof once, and inadvertently reveal where Springfield is supposed to be.
As an opening couch gag, they did a parody of “Powers of 10″, where they keep zooming out from the Simpson’s house.
If you compare their map (as they zoom out) to a map of the US, you can see it’s Springfield, Illinois.
posted by gmsc on 5-9-2008 at 3:24 pm
Wait a second, didn’t the “Behind the Laughter” episode of the Simpsons say they lived in Northern Kentucky?
[runs off to check]
Yep! According to the Simpson’s wiki, the narrator says they’re from Northern Kentucky but the wiki goes on to say that Homer mentions in a different episode that he’s never been to Kentucky.
Hmmm.
posted by Rachel on 5-9-2008 at 3:36 pm
I am SHOCKED that Jackson didn’t make the cut. Maybe because it’s split with all the Jacksonvilles. I have to think that combined they make about 48. I spent the fall driving across the country (hitting 43 states), and it seemed everywhere I went, there was a Jackson or Jacksonville.
posted by Reed on 5-9-2008 at 3:40 pm
And, of course, Madison is the capital of Wisconsin.
I’ll have you know WI is a great great state… beautiful, too. I left a piece of my heart there. Did I mention that I love WI? just wondering…
posted by ann on 5-9-2008 at 3:44 pm
I’m very surprised not to see Farmington on the list. I thought there was one in every state. BTW what is with Wisconsin? No originality?
posted by Judy on 5-9-2008 at 3:49 pm
The Springfield the Simpsons live in is a fictional Springfield - its intended to represent the average American city. It’s neither Springfield, IL nor is there an “actual” Sprinfield. It is not a mystery. Rather, it is simply non-existent.
And Bootsy Collins is definately from Cincinnati. Mental_Floss needs to give the Amazing Fact Generator a promotion to the Amazing Fact Verifier.
posted by Florida on 5-9-2008 at 3:58 pm
EIGHT cities with the same name in the same state? Wisconsin: where creativity goes to die…
posted by GTT on 5-9-2008 at 4:32 pm
yay Salem. I live in Salem, Oregon now. Used to live near Salem, Mass., and went to college about 20 miles from New Salem, Mass.
posted by Jenny on 5-9-2008 at 4:47 pm
Hey Rachael: on snpp.com, they indicate:
“In the first airing of this episode, the narrator gives Springfield’s location as northern Kentucky. For the second and some later airings, this changed to Southern Missouri.”
…guess they’re just messing with us.
And I miss Mad-City too, Ann…
posted by TomH on 5-9-2008 at 5:08 pm
I’m from Madison, CT- so crazy to see it singled out!
posted by Alisha on 5-9-2008 at 6:14 pm
Springfield, Montgomery County, PA is about ten miles from Springfield, Delaware County, PA, which causes all sorts of hilarity for out-of-town delivery drivers.
steyn suspend
posted by fixedgear on 5-9-2008 at 8:05 pm
Perhaps Wisconsin has no creativity in place names because it saves its creativity for other things?
posted by Kadie on 5-10-2008 at 3:24 am
I always knew Wisconsin was a little cracked.
(no offense to Wisconsiners^_^)
posted by Allison on 5-10-2008 at 6:52 am
Are these cities or could they be cities or counties?
posted by Nikki on 5-10-2008 at 9:32 am
I would have thought there would be more Washingtons
posted by Megan on 5-10-2008 at 11:04 pm
Being from Wisconsin I’m not all that surprised by all this, though it’s either the common names or the Native American names. Watching tourists attempt to say Minocqua and Waukesha is always good for a laugh. Maybe we’re not unoriginal, but instead, accommodating.
posted by Elly on 5-11-2008 at 2:00 pm
As usual, you guys know your stuff! I did some more research and while a couple of sources said Madison, overwhelmingly the evidence is OH. Anyone know what the deal is there? I couldn’t find anywhere that explained the connection between Bootsy and Madison.
posted by Stacy Conradt on 5-11-2008 at 2:30 pm
1. There AREN’T 8 cities named Washington in Wisconsin. There are 8 civil towns (called townships elsewhere) in 8 different counties in Wisconsin. These are rural jurisdictions, not settled urban areas.
2. People from Wisconsin are called Wisconsinites, not Wisconsiners.
posted by Wisconsinite on 5-12-2008 at 1:53 pm
There are 29 populated places named Berlin in the US.
posted by Berliner on 5-12-2008 at 1:59 pm