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Weird Florida city names: 100+ real towns with odd names

118 names · Updated · By The Nomezo Editors · Save to Pinterest

The weirdest real Florida town names include Two Egg in Jackson County, Yeehaw Junction in Osceola County and Frostproof in Polk County, and the state has dozens more just as odd.

Every place below is a real Florida city, town or community. Each one has a short note with its county and, where the record is clear, how it got its name. Where nobody knows the origin, we say so instead of guessing. The list is grouped by type: food names, sunny names, names that sound like jokes, names borrowed from faraway places, animal names, tongue twisters and towns with surprising namesakes.

Can't decide? Shuffle 6 random picks

  • Howey-in-the-Hills

    Lake County; its developer nicknamed the area the Florida Alps

  • Sneads

    Jackson County town that was once called Gloucester

  • Ebro

    Washington County town likely named after a river in Spain

  • Lake Placid

    Highlands County; renamed at the urging of Dewey Decimal creator Melvil Dewey

  • Atlantis

    Palm Beach County city that began as a ranch called Mulberry Farms

  • Sopchoppy

    Wakulla County city famous for its yearly Worm Gruntin' Festival

Want endless ideas? Try the town name generator and generate new names in one click.

Florida towns named like food

Snack-sized place names, many of them left over from Florida's farming and citrus history.

  1. Two Egg: Jackson County crossroads; may trace to Depression-era egg trading
  2. Spuds: St. Johns County farm community in potato-growing country
  3. Cocoa: Brevard County city; several competing stories explain the name
  4. Cocoa Beach: Brevard County beach city, known as Oceanus before incorporation
  5. Mango: Hillsborough County community with about 12,700 residents
  6. Tangerine: Orange County; renamed for the fruit tree by a settler's door
  7. Satsuma: Putnam County community that shares a name with a mandarin orange
  8. Citra: Marion County; home of the pineapple orange variety
  9. Orange City: Volusia County; named for the orange groves around it
  10. Orange Springs: Marion County community that reaches into Putnam County
  11. Fruitland Park: Lake County city that was briefly renamed Gardenia
  12. Sugarloaf Key: Lower Keys island; named for a mound or a pineapple variety
  13. Picnic: Hillsborough County; named for a popular riverside gathering spot
  14. Apopka: Orange County city; the name may mean potato eating place

Sunny, breezy and feel-good Florida town names

Florida developers loved a cheerful name. Some of these were pure marketing.

  1. Frostproof: Polk County; named to assure citrus buyers it would never freeze
  2. Niceville: Okaloosa County city once called Boggy; the postmaster's daughter chose it
  3. Sunrise: Broward County; residents thought the planned name Sunset sounded too final
  4. Balm: Hillsborough County; reportedly named for its mild, soothing air
  5. Cloud Lake: Palm Beach County town named for a Seminole chief called The Cloud
  6. Briny Breezes: Palm Beach County town made up of about 488 mobile homes
  7. Lazy Lake: Tiny Broward County village named after a remark about its calm water
  8. Gulf Stream: Palm Beach County town named for the warm ocean current offshore
  9. Zephyrhills: Pasco County city; the name nods to its rolling hills
  10. Panacea: Wakulla County; named after the goddess of cures for its healing springs
  11. Harmony: Osceola County master-planned community near St. Cloud
  12. Celebration: Osceola County town originally developed by the Walt Disney Company
  13. Christmas: Orange County; soldiers began building a fort here on December 25, 1837
  14. Holiday: Pasco County; borrowed from a bank branch named for a local street
  15. Sunny Isles Beach: Miami-Dade barrier island city, once called North Miami Beach
  16. Lake Placid: Highlands County; renamed at the urging of Dewey Decimal creator Melvil Dewey
  17. Homeland: Polk County community that was originally called Bethel

Florida town names that sound like jokes

Real places, real mailing addresses, and names that make every road trip better.

  1. Yeehaw Junction: Osceola County; took its name from an old Florida East Coast Railway stop
  2. Golf: Palm Beach County village named by settlers from an Illinois namesake
  3. Sopchoppy: Wakulla County city famous for its yearly Worm Gruntin' Festival
  4. Mossy Head: Walton County; sits at the source of a small Shoal River tributary
  5. Fort Lonesome: Rural Hillsborough County area 36 miles southeast of Tampa
  6. No Name Key: Lower Keys island with only about 43 homes
  7. Medulla: Polk County; named for linking stagecoach routes like the brain stem
  8. Lorida: Highlands County; the state's name with its first letter dropped
  9. Wabasso: Indian River County; Ossabaw, Georgia, spelled backward
  10. Okeelanta: Palm Beach County; a blend of Okeechobee and Atlantic
  11. Day: Lafayette County community with 89 residents in 2020
  12. Lulu: Columbia County; named for the first postmaster's love interest
  13. Muse: Glades County; misspelled on federal maps until a 2019 fix
  14. Intercession City: Osceola County; first planned as a canal resort called Interocean City
  15. Chosen: Palm Beach County ghost town near Belle Glade
  16. Lutz: Hillsborough and Pasco County community 15 miles north of Tampa
  17. Ochopee: Collier County; from the Seminole word for farm, with America's smallest post office
  18. Cinco Bayou: Okaloosa County town; Spanish for five, after the bayou's branches
  19. Weeki Wachee: Hernando County mermaid-show community with 16 residents in 2020
  20. Indian Creek: Miami-Dade island village nicknamed the Billionaire Bunker

Florida towns borrowed from faraway places

You can visit Baghdad, Havana, Odessa and the planet Venus without leaving Florida.

  1. Bagdad: Santa Rosa County; named after Baghdad, Iraq, by a lumber businessman
  2. Havana: Gadsden County town named after the Cuban capital
  3. Sumatra: Liberty County community with 148 residents in 2020
  4. Odessa: Pasco County; named by Russian immigrant developer Peter Demens
  5. Gotha: Orange County; named for its founder's German birthplace
  6. Oviedo: Seminole County city named after a city in northern Spain
  7. Interlachen: Putnam County town; the name means between the lakes
  8. Umatilla: Lake County city named after a town in Oregon
  9. Panama City: Bay County seat renamed during Panama Canal excitement
  10. Beverly Hills: Citrus County community, not the famous California city
  11. Shalimar: Okaloosa County town built in the 1940s to house military officers
  12. Ebro: Washington County town likely named after a river in Spain
  13. Masaryktown: Hernando County; named after Czechoslovakia's first president
  14. Paisley: Lake County community named after a town in Scotland
  15. Lake Buena Vista: Orange County; named after the Burbank street where Disney is headquartered
  16. Venus: Highlands County community south of Lake Placid
  17. Jupiter: Palm Beach County; a mapmaker's mix-up of the native name Hobe
  18. Juno Beach: Palm Beach County; named for the Roman god Jupiter's wife
  19. Atlantis: Palm Beach County city that began as a ranch called Mulberry Farms
  20. Trilby: Pasco County; named after the heroine of a popular novel
  21. Grant-Valkaria: Brevard County town; part of the name comes from Valkyrie

Florida places named after animals

Birds, fish, reptiles and a bear, all on the Florida map.

  1. Osprey: Sarasota County community just north of Nokomis
  2. Duck Key: Middle Keys island community in Monroe County
  3. Conch Key: Small Middle Keys island next to Duck Key
  4. Pigeon Key: Five-acre Keys island with eight historic buildings
  5. Alligator Point: Franklin County community on St. James Island
  6. Lake City: Columbia County seat; settlers first called it Alligator
  7. Eagle Lake: Polk County city; its founder named it after a bird nesting nearby
  8. Bee Ridge: Sarasota County community with about 10,000 residents
  9. Buckhead Ridge: Glades County community with about 1,500 residents
  10. Turkey Creek: Rural Hillsborough County area west-southwest of Plant City
  11. Tarpon Springs: Pinellas County; early visitors saw big fish leaping in the water
  12. Narcoossee: Osceola County; from the Creek word for black bear
  13. Istachatta: Hernando County; from a Seminole word meaning man snake

Florida tongue twisters from Native American words

Many Florida names come from Seminole, Creek (Muskogee) and Hitchiti words. Practice these before you ask for directions.

  1. Wewahitchka: Gulf County; Seminole for water eyes, after two round lakes
  2. Thonotosassa: Hillsborough County; from Creek words for a place with flint
  3. Hypoluxo: Palm Beach County town; the origin of the name is disputed
  4. Loxahatchee: Palm Beach County community named after the nearby river
  5. Chuluota: Seminole County; possibly the name of an old Seminole village
  6. Micanopy: Alachua County town named after a Seminole chief
  7. Chokoloskee: Collier County island village at the edge of the Ten Thousand Islands
  8. Homosassa: Citrus County; Seminole name meaning river of fishes or pepper ridge
  9. Ocklawaha: Marion County community named for the nearby river
  10. Opa-locka: Miami-Dade city; short for a Seminole name for a wooded hummock
  11. Hialeah: Miami-Dade city; most often explained as Muskogee for pretty prairie
  12. Pahokee: Palm Beach County; Creek for grassy waters, on Lake Okeechobee
  13. Immokalee: Collier County community once known as Gopher Ridge
  14. Holopaw: Osceola County; Creek word meaning walkway or pavement
  15. Bithlo: Orange County; from the Muskogee word for canoe
  16. Kissimmee: Osceola County seat; Native American origin, exact meaning debated
  17. Okeechobee: County seat north of the big lake; from Hitchiti words for big water
  18. Steinhatchee: Taylor County Gulf community on a river sharing its name
  19. Tallahassee: State capital; a Muskogean word often translated as old fields
  20. Chattahoochee: Gadsden County city; Creek for marked rocks
  21. Aripeka: Pasco-Hernando border community named after Seminole leader Abiaka
  22. Wauchula: Hardee County seat once called the cucumber capital of the world

Florida towns with surprising namesakes

Daughters, nieces, novel heroines and one famous department store founder.

  1. Wimauma: Hillsborough County; blends the names Will, Maude and Mary
  2. LaBelle: Hendry County seat; named for daughters Laura and Belle Hendry
  3. Carrabelle: Franklin County; named for the founder's niece, Caroline Arabella Hall
  4. Kenansville: Osceola County; honors Henry Flagler's third wife, Mary Lily Kenan
  5. Penney Farms: Clay County town founded by retailer J.C. Penney
  6. Howey-in-the-Hills: Lake County; its developer nicknamed the area the Florida Alps
  7. Yankeetown: Levy County; a mail carrier's teasing nickname became official
  8. Mount Dora: Lake County city named for a lake honoring an early settler
  9. Ponce de Leon: Holmes County town named after the Spanish explorer
  10. Ruskin: Hillsborough County; named after an English writer and social critic
  11. Sneads: Jackson County town that was once called Gloucester

How to pick the right name

Check the map before you drive

Many of these places are unincorporated crossroads with no downtown. Florida Memory once described Two Egg as a wide spot on a curve of State Road 69, so go for the photo and the story, not the shopping.

Plan a quirky road trip

Some odd names cluster together. Two Egg, Sneads and Chattahoochee sit close together in the Panhandle, and Yeehaw Junction, Kenansville and Holopaw share a stretch of Osceola County.

Learn the local pronunciation

Locals say MIK-uh-NOH-pee for Micanopy, STEEN-hatch-ee for Steinhatchee and choo-lee-OH-tuh for Chuluota. Getting it right earns instant goodwill.

Borrow the flavor for fiction

Real Florida names make a story setting feel authentic. If you need a fictional town, mix the patterns here, such as a food word plus Junction or a breezy word plus Springs, and keep real towns out of anything unflattering.

Weird Florida city names: 118 ideas from Nomezo

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Frequently asked questions

What is the weirdest town name in Florida?

Two Egg in Jackson County and Yeehaw Junction in Osceola County top most lists. Frostproof, Niceville, Spuds, Sopchoppy and Lorida are close behind.

How did Two Egg, Florida get its name?

Nobody knows for sure. The most common story says Depression-era families traded eggs for goods at the local store, and the name was on state maps by the 1940s.

Is Yeehaw Junction a real place?

Yes. It is a census-designated place in Osceola County with 235 residents in 2020. It took its name from the Yeehaw station on an old Florida East Coast Railway line.

Is there a town called Christmas in Florida?

Yes. Christmas is in Orange County east of Orlando. Soldiers began building Fort Christmas there on December 25, 1837, and people still mail holiday cards from its post office for the postmark.

Why do so many Florida towns have Native American names?

Seminole, Creek (Muskogee) and Hitchiti speakers named many Florida rivers, lakes and villages, and settlers kept those names. Okeechobee means big water and Tallahassee is often translated as old fields.

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