Names themselves and the traditions surrounding them. Names abound, and most names
have their lore. For instance, there probably are well over two million unofficial place
names in the United States. These informal names that do not appear on maps truly are
folk names, names that people in any region know and use daily. In every region, there
are imaginative narratives explaining the origins of most of these folk names as well as
many of the 2.5 million official place names in the United States. These fanciful accounts
of place naming are legends—stories that natives often believe but that may or may not
be factual. Usually, even if these stories had some kernel of truth at their inception,
through years of retelling versions have arisen. To the folk who pass them on, placename
legends serve as part of their folk history.
More than any other variety of namelore, place-name legends have been studied by
folklorists. Like place-name histories, place-name legends attribute the origins of place
names to personal names (sometimes spelled backward), random selection from books
(especially the Bible), changes or mistakes made by the post office or others, and
incidents, especially those involving supposed utterances of Native Americans,
foreigners, and drunks. Tensed, Idaho, supposedly was named for the Desmet mission
spelled backward, but, according to local legends, either the post office changed the “m”
to an “n” or the telegrapher who wired the name to the post office made a mistake.
Incident names include Butcherknife Creek (Oregon) and Bad Axe (Michigan), allegedly
named for a knife and broken ax found in those places.
Local pronunciations of place names not only furnish examples of folk speech, but
often also inspire place-name legends, such as those about Hymera, Indiana, named for
the classical city, Himera. Hymera is pronounced HIGH MARY by some residents, and
three legends are based on this pronunciation. One tale says that the postmaster, John
Badders, named the town for his unusually tall adopted daughter, nicknamed “High
Mary.” Another story states that a woman named Mary worked in the post office, and
neighbors pass ing or entering the post office would wave and call, “Hi, Mary!” More
recently, it is said that High Mary was a local prostitute who charged high prices. Alum
Creek (Ohio), according to local legend, was named for its bitter water, though actually
the name comes from the local pronunciation of Elm, which rhymes with “bellum.”
Although place-name legends may not be accurate in the details they preserve, they
reveal other kinds of information. Often they provide an impression of the people who
live in a region and use its names, whatever the origin of the names might be; and
legends, of course, reveal what the names mean to the folk.
Much neglected by folklorists are place-name jokes—humorous accounts of the origin
of names. Lacking contextual information, one can’t be certain that stories about the
origin of names actually are believed by the folk. Unlike placename legends, place-name
jokes aren’t taken seriously by people who pass them along. Accounts of the naming of
such places as Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for example, may
be jokes. Perth Amboy supposedly received its name when an Indian chief saw the earl of
Perth, a Scot, wearing his kilt and remarked, “Perth am girl.” “No, Perth am boy,”
answered the earl. Sheboygan allegedly was named when an Indian with many sons but
no daughters announced at the birth of another son, “She boy again.” A joke involving
Native Americans about the naming of Indianapolis goes: “Do you know how
Indianapolis got its name? Well, there was an Indian who put some apples in his teepee
for safekeeping. One day he went hunting buffalo, and while he was gone another Indian
came by and stole the apples from the teepee. The Indian who did this left the first Indian
appleless.” Such humorous anecdotes have been reported as legends by collectors who
have not determined whether the informant or anyone else in the community believes the
tale.
Another kind of informal name is the nickname, which may be applied to anything—
including people, pets, guns, houses, and vehicles as well as places. Nicknames often are
important for the qualities they attribute to, and the attitudes they reflect about, that which
they name. Place nicknames, for example, may influence, among other things, the
economic development of a community. Terre Haute, Indiana, received the spontaneous
nickname “Sin City” because of its history of gambling and prostitution, and the local
Chamber of Commerce has attempted unsuccessfully to combat this negative image with
a synthetic nickname, “Pride City.” Similarly, “The Big Apple,” meaning “something
special, out of the ordinary, world class,” in the “Empire State” (New York) also was
revived by the New York Convention and Visitors’ Bureau as the nickname of New York
City in 1971 to combat a negative image of the city’s violence and bankruptcy Other
nicknames, such as “The City of Brotherly Love” (Philadelphia) in the “Quaker State,”
project positive images of states and cities. Somewhat related to derogatory nicknames
are blason populaire and slurring adjectives that incorporate ethnic and place names.
Chicken soup is called “Jewish penicillin,” and an old work shirt is called a “Puerto Rico
Pendleton,” for instance.
Place and personal names in other genres—tales, ballads, rhymes, proverbs, sayings,
and beliefs—also provide a field of investigation for the folklorist. The ubiquitous
“Jack,” for example, appears in proverbs, rhymes, and ballads as well as in innumerable
English and American “Jack tales,” though in ballads Jack usually is a sailor or a servant.
In proverbs we find, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” or, more recently, a
pun on the name: “All work and no play makes jack [money].”
Some of the most intriguing examples of namelore are found in name magic.
According to a proverb, “Speak of the devil, and he will appear”; however, in folk belief
naming the devil to his face, as in some versions of the ballad “Riddles Wisely
Expounded” (Child 1), causes him to disappear in a blazing flame. Likewise, in the
familiar tale “Rumpelstiltskin” (Aarne-Thompson (AT) tale type 500, “The Name of the
Helper”), naming the supernatural creature to his face causes him to fall into a rage and
tear himself in two. Discovery of the name gives one power over the supernatural
creature (motif C432.1).
The magic power of names is common in American folk beliefs, especially those
clustering around the main stages of the human life cycle. Thus, to name a child or tell a
child’s proposed name before it is born is bad luck. If a family has all male children and
wants a female, naming the last male “Adam” will assure that the next child will be
female. Generally, it is bad luck to name a child after someone who is living; a child
should be named after someone who has died, although not for someone who has died
tragically or who has died young. If a child is named after a living person, the angel of
death may err when seeking the older person and instead take the younger person with
the same name. Changing the name of an ill child, though, will confuse the angel of death
and spare the child. On the other hand, it is also held in American folklore that a child
will have bad luck or even die if his or her name is changed. Although this has changed
some since the 1970s, it has been customary in American culture for a married woman to
take her husband’s last name, but in folk belief it is bad luck for a woman not to change
her name when she marries. It is also bad luck for a women to marry a man whose last
name begins with the same initial as hers: “Change the name, not the letter/Marry for
worse, not for better.”
Names arise whenever there is a recurrent relationship between human beings or
between human beings and other animals or other things, and lore arises in the same
situations; consequently, though neglected, namelore is a rich field of study for the
American folklorist.
Ronald L.Baker
References
Baker, Ronald L.1972. The Role of Folk Legends in PlaceName Research. Journal of American
Folklore 85:368–373.
——, ed. 1991. The Study of Place Names. Terre Haute, IN: Indiana Council of Teachers of
English/Hoosier Folklore Society.
Duckert, Audrey R.1973. Place Nicknames. Names 21:153–160.
Hand, Wayland D.1984. Onomastic Magic in the Health, Sickness, and Death of Man. Names
32:1–13.
Mieder, Wolfgang. 1976. International Bibliography of Explanatory Essays on Proverbs and
Proverbial Expressions Containing Names. Names 24:253–304.
Names (Journal of the American Name Society) (1953–).
Nicolaisen, W.F.H.1976. Place-Name Legends: An Onomastic Mythology. Folklore 87: 146–159.
——. 1984. Names and Narratives. Journal of American Folklore 97:259–272.
Richmond, W.Edson. 1946. Ballad Place Names. Journal of American Folklore 59:263–267.