Louisiana Town Makes ‘Towns with Strangest Names’ List

What's in a name? The poets have tried to decipher the answer to that question for centuries now and while we know that roses would still smell just as sweet if we called them something else, a good name can make all the difference in the life of a person or the survival of a town.

Studies have shown the effects of interesting or "unique" names on children. That's why parents spend so much time choosing just the right name for their offspring. Some names tend to have positive effects on children, while other names and unique spellings of those names have been shown to be connected with behavioral issues as the child matures.

But what about town names? They can have a similar effect on how a community is perceived by those who are not from around there. I know of a community in Mississippi that's called Soso. Just from the name you wouldn't think that town had too much to offer and you'd be wrong. Soso was the hometown of multi-platinum recording star Paul Davis who actually chronicled what it was like to be from a small town called Soso in his song Sweet Magnolia Blues. 

Oddly enough in the list of Strangest Town Names in America compiled by 24/7 Tempo Soso wasn't the selection they made for Mississippi. They opted to go with Chunky. Which certainly fills the bill. The Texas choice for the list was Cut N Shoot, yeah that's a real place. Arkansas was represented by the always-popular Toad Suck.

But the town 24/7 Tempo chose as the town with the strangest name was the Grant Parish community of Dry Prong. While in the vernacular of today the words "dry" and "prong" sound like a sexual malady that you should really talk to your doctor about when the town was named the words had a different meaning.

The town is reported to have earned its name back in the 1870s when a family moved to the area to build a sawmill. The sawmill was constructed on the banks of a creek whose water would be used to power the mill's waterwheel. But alas, the creek ran dry every spring, and that foiled the attempts to run the sawmill. In the vernacular of the day that creek was described as being a "dry prong".

If you'd like to see 24/7 Tempo's complete list of Strange Town Names in America, you can view that right here. And remember when you're choosing a name for anything, be careful, you never know how your choices will go down in history.