place names generation

[derien]

I pretty much love this idea...(from Futility Closet):

Architect Stedman Whitwell thought it illogical and confusing that different towns sometimes have the same name. He suggested assigning a unique name to each location based on its latitude and longitude. He published this table in the New Harmony, Ind., Gazette in 1826:

Insert an S to indicate south latitude and a V for west longitude; omit them for north and east. Thus New Harmony (38°11′N, 87°55′W) would be rechristened Ipba Veinul; New York would be Otke Notive, Washington D.C. Feili Neivul, and Pittsburgh Otfu Veitoup.

What these names lack in poetry they make up in utility: a traveler given the name of a town can immediately infer its location. Unfortunately, Whitwell’s scheme never caught on — and today the United States has 28 Springfields, 29 Clintons, and 30 Franklins.

These names lack poetry? Not quite as cool as the tongue twister native names in Maine, I suppose (most of which have to do with the characteristics of areas of water, like where it's best to spear fish), but the latitude/longitude naming system generates exotic sounding names.

For added fun, here's a Latitude and Longitude finder site (though it does give popups, so if you know a less annoying site to use let me know):
http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/latitude-longitude.html

Comments

[cygny.livejournal.com]

Oh oh oh!!! This is fun! I need to remember this and do this for my own town. Maybe best to do it from home though, cause pop ups at work might not be a very good idea. And what with sites being blocked, I wouldn't be happy if LJ got blocked as well! Thanks for this, I never heard of it before!

[lifeofmendel.livejournal.com]

neeeeeat.