What’s in a Name: Everything’s

Everything’s bigger in Texas, even the names

By RAY BALOGH | The Municipal

With an inventory of 1,220 municipalities (966 cities, 232 towns and 22 villages), all uniquely named and many deriving from foreign words and phrases, it is no wonder Texas is a treasure trove of the often odd and befuddling.

Bexar: The pronunciation of the city and county of Bexar, Texas, cannot be easily guessed: “BEAR.” Just be sure to pronounce it correctly; the county’s 2.1 million residents will be listening. Waxahachie: You think you know how to pronounce Waxahachie, but the trip-up is on the first syllable, which is pronounced “WAWKS.”

First, for those “hungry” for a little trivia, the Texas towns of Bacon, Noodle, Oatmeal, Orange, Rice, Trout and Turkey should sound downright appealing.

One doesn’t have to leave the Lone Star State to tour the country. Available within its borders: Albany, Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Klondike, Memphis, Miami, Nevada, Newark, Pasadena, Pittsburgh, Reno and Santa Fe.

Those who prefer to travel further might find Athens, China, Dublin, Egypt, Holland, Ireland, Italy, London, Naples, Nazareth, Paris and Palestine to their liking. Or they can cut all geographical ties and visit Earth or even Venus or Mars.

Children would probably enjoy spending time with Elmo, Kermit, Nemo, Sylvester, Tarzan and Winnie, but probably not so much with Bigfoot.

The Old West comes alive with town names like Cut and Shoot, Gun Barrel City, Muleshoe and West.

You can visit these ladies and gentlemen: Alice, Allen, Anna, Anthony, Aubrey, Avery, Barry, Benjamin, Bryan, Celeste, Chester, Christine, Clyde, Dean, Donna, Edna, Joshua, Kyle, Leonard, Leroy, Lindsay, Loraine, Lucas, Melissa, Melvin, Morgan, Natalie, Penelope, Ross, Sherman, Troy, Wilson and couple dozen others.

But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Texas municipality names are those whose pronunciations the “normal” person would never guess on the first—or even second or third—guess.

Try your hand at pronouncing these Texas municipalities:

1. Boerne 2. Marathon 3. Pecos 4. Quitaque 5. Balmorhea 6. Buda 7. Pedernales 8. Refugio 9. Waxahachie 10. Manor 11. Leakey 12. Mexia 13. Zuehl 14. Quihi

1. bur-NEE (or BURN-ee); 2. MAR-a-thin; 3. PAY-cuss; 4. KITuh-KWAY; 5. BAL-more-AY; 6. BYOO-duh; 7. PURR-den-NAL-ess; 8. ref-FURY-oh; 9. WAWKS-uh-HATCH-ee; 10. MAIN-er; 11. LAY-key; 12. muh-HAY-uh; 13. ZEE-uhl; 14. KWEE-hee.