14 Places That Had to Change Their Names for Embarrassing Reasons
You have to understand: “Gropecunt” used to mean… well, exactly what it sounds like.
Sexmoán, Philippines
As Spain was in the process of colonizing the Philippines, friars misspelled the name “Sasmuan,” and the new typo stuck for a long, long time. In 1991, the town finally decided to have it officially changed back to Sasmuan.
Vomit Regret, Sweden
The village of Kräkånger finally decided to do something about their name, which can be translated as “vomit regret,” in 1951, changing it to Lövsele.
Schnappsville, USA
Granville, North Dakota changed its name in the ‘90s, temporarily but still embarrassingly, to McGillicuddy City, to promote Dr. McGillicuddy’s schnapps.
DISH, Texas
The Dish Network promised to give Cark, Texas’ 200 residents free satellite TV in 1999 if they changed their name to DISH, and they enthusiastically agreed.
Half.com, Oregon
Half.com offered up a similar deal to what had previously been known as Halfway, Oregon. In return for changing their name, the town would get 20 computers and $110,000 for their school system.
Fucking, Austria
Founded in the 6th century, AD, they got an influx of English speaking tourists after World War II, who would cruise through town to take pictures with, steal and, of course, fuck in front of the town sign. They finally had enough and changed their name to Fugging in 2021.
Fjuckby, Sweden
A few Fjuckby-ites filed an official application to change the name of the village in 2006, on the grounds that tourists were causing them “weariness, embarrassment and conditioned shame.” But only 15 of the 65 residents agreed, so it remains Fjuckby to this day.
Fucking Grove, England
A random field was named Fockynggrove in the Middle Ages, but a 14th century typo in a legal document officially transformed it to Fucking Grove. As the word “fucking” came to enjoy wider recognition as a horny hobby, squeamish officials would quietly replace the “F” with a “P” in surveys, but the Grove remains, officially, Fucking.
Kinki University
Kinki University in Japan was pressured to change its name because of pervy Americans. Everything was perfectly fine for 65 years, but in 2014, they changed it to Kindai University, so as not to scandalize pervy Americans.
Jess ‘The City’ Ventura
When Jesse “The Body” Ventura was the governor of Minnesota, there was a proposal for the city of Saint Cloud to annex the city of Saint Augusta. To show his protection of Saint Augusta, the name of the city was changed temporarily to Ventura.
Gay Head, Massachusetts
This small town was incorporated in 1870 as Gay Head, a reference to its gorgeous, colorful cliffs. Those two words came to mean extremely different things, and they renamed themselves Aquinnah in 1997.
Swastika, Ontario
This Canadian town was around way before the Nazis, but the local government nonetheless renamed it “Winston” in the midst of World War II. The townspeople weren’t having it though, and replaced the government-issued “Winston” signs with their own, reading “To hell with Hitler, we came up with our name first.”
Topeka, Kansas Is the Ultimate Corporate Shill
Topeka cannot stop selling itself out. They temporarily renamed themselves “Google” at the first whiff of an opportunity to get fiberoptic cable installed in 2010. It’s unclear if Google ever even recognized their bizarre bootlicking. And in 1998, they temporarily went by “ToPikachu” as part of the North American launch of the Pokemon franchise. They did it again for one day in 2018 for the launch of Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!
Gropecunt Lane
In the Middle Ages, this was a pretty common name for British roads inhabited by brothels and prostitutes. The c-word was meant more anatomically than derogatorily at the time, but the “grope” part still makes the whole thing quite icky. Most of these roads were renamed over the centuries, to some variation of “Grove Lane” or “Grape Lane.” Some still bear the moniker “Grope Lane,” which, like… come on, lads.
