These Two Towns Have the Shortest and Longest Names in Indiana

I believe it was my old pal Willy Shakespeare who once wrote “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” I have no idea what that means, but I figured it would be a good way to start an article about names. I mean, you can't go wrong with Shakespeare, right?

What a Town's Name Can Tell Us

There is almost always some kind of meaning behind a city or town's name. Towns are perhaps most often named after the person who founded them or was an important part of the city's history. For example, my town of Evansville is named in honor of Colonel Robert Morgan Evans, who was a member of the territorial legislature back in 1812. Other names might come from a foreign language or might be some kind of geological reference.

The folks at 24/7 Wall Street have released lots of different lists of city names, including the shortest and longest city names in each state. Maybe I'm a big nerd, but I think that kind of stuff is very interesting.

Indiana City with the Shortest Name

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Just three little letters make up the shortest city name in Indiana - and those letters are AMO. The town was originally known as Morristown in 1850, named after Joseph Morris. The town changed its name to AMO (meaning "I love" in Latin) in 1855.

See the rest of the country's shortest city names here.

Indiana City with the Longest Name

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I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of disappointed with the longest city name in Indiana. I was hoping it would be some sort of long Native American name - something like Aubbeenaubbee, which is a real township in Fulton County, by the way. Instead, the state's longest city name is rather boring - it's COUNTRY CLUB HEIGHTS. Ironically, the state's longest city name belongs to one of the smallest cities. Country Club Heights has just over 100 residents and takes up just a little over a quarter mile.

See the rest of the country's longest city names here.

16 Indiana Towns with Dirty-Sounding Names

A majority of these towns were given their names in the mid-to-late 1800s as settlers making their way across the country found unclaimed plots of land and decided to make them their own. While I imagine they thought the names they came up with were innocent, and perhaps a tribute to something in their lives, pop culture has warped our minds to the point since then that we can't help but think of something about the town that was never intended by its founders. Take a look at this list. I guarantee there's at least one name that will make you chuckle.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

33 Indiana Towns with International Names

From Holland to China, Cuba to Switzerland, and everywhere in between, several towns across the Hoosier State borrow their names from countries and cities around the globe.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

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