List of geographic anagrams and ananyms

An animation illustrating the anagrammatical origin of the name of the Florida town El Jobean

These are geographic anagrams and ananyms. Anagrams are rearrangements of the letters of another name or word. Ananyms (also called reversals) are other names or words spelled backwards. Technically, a reversal is also an anagram, but the two are derived by different methods, so they are listed separately.

Anagrams

Place names created by anagramming fall into three distinct groups:

• Single letters swapped Sometimes this is due to a typo that did not get fixed. Others are just to make a different name, but not too different, from the original.
• Syllables swapped Usually based on someone's surname.
• Well mixed combinations When a completely different name was desired.

Name	Anagram of	Notes	Reference
Birson, Saskatchewan [1]	Robins	George Cornelius Robins, early settler; now known as Fir Ridge	[2]
Boncar, West Virginia	carbon	Now known as Alloy, West Virginia	[3]
Carol City, Florida	Coral	name changed after Coral Gables threatened to sue	[4]
Dongola, Wisconsin	Gondola	name misspelled (during post office approval?) and never corrected	[5]
El Jobean, Florida	Joel Bean	developer anagrammed his own name	[4]
Elroy, Wisconsin	Leroy	chosen to avoid post office name duplication	[5]
Garus, California	sugar		[6]
Goliad, Texas	Hidalgo (except silent H)	indirect naming for Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican national hero	[7]
Kinhop, Saskatchewan [8]	Hopkins (minus the S)	William Hopkins	[2]
Landrose, Saskatchewan	Roseland	William Roseland	[2]
Lerado, Kansas	Laredo, Texas	post office clerical error resulted in a swap of the E and A	[9]
Linbro Park, Sandton, South Africa	Brolin	local family name	[10]
Lipona Plantation, Florida	Napoli	owned by Prince Achille Murat, former prince of Naples	[4]
Malesus, Tennessee [11]	Samuels	Samuels was a prominent local who did not want the town named for him. Malesus was a compromise	[12]
Medina, North Dakota	median	name changed from Midway, so named because it's about halfway between the extreme east and west of the continent	[13]
Nada, Kentucky	Dana	Dana Lumber Company, which owned the sawmill	[14]
Neola, West Virginia	Olean, New York		[3]
Romley, Colorado [15]	Morely	Colonel B. F. Morely, mine owner; now a ghost town	[16] :323
Salitpa, Alabama	Satilpa Creek	error when someone apparently crossed the wrong letter (thus switching the L and T) when applying for a post office	[17]
Shallmar, Maryland	Marshall	"a New Yorker who founded the community"	[18]
Sury Basin, London, England	Sainsbury	street in Kingston upon Thames and location of the town's Sainsbury's supermarket; first part is also a mis-spelling of Surrey, the town's traditional county	[19]
Ticona, Illinois [20]	Tonica, Illinois	a nearby town	[21]
Vadis, West Virginia	Davis		[3]
Vinsulla, British Columbia [22]	Sullivan	Michael Sullivan, early pioneer	[23]
Windber, Pennsylvania	Berwind	Charles and Edward Berwind, mine owners	[24]

Anagram-like constructions of place names

A few places names were constructed by arranging a preselected set of letters in an order that made a pronounceable name.

Name	Notes	Reference
Agloe, New York	the initials of Otto G. Lindberg, director of the General Drafting Co., and his assistant, Ernest Alpers. Initially a copyright trap, but then made real by a store taking the name from an Esso road map.	[25]
Delmita, Texas	seven sons of founder Nicéforo G. Peña, Sr. each drew a letter	[26]
Solina, Ontario	School teacher John Hughes suggested a name be coined from the letters A I L N O and S. Solina was chosen over several other choices such as Linosa and Sinola	[27]

Ananyms

Name	Reversal of	Notes	Reference
Adanac, Nipissing District, Ontario	Canada		[ citation needed ]
Adanac, Parry Sound District, Ontario	Canada	community within Carling, Ontario.	[ citation needed ]
Adanac, Saskatchewan	Canada		[2]
Adaven, Nevada	Nevada	ghost town	[28]
Aksarben Village, Omaha, Nebraska	Nebraska	mixed-use development. Formerly, the Ak-Sar-Ben (arena), a horse race track and indoor arena	[29]
Amabala, Oklahoma [30]	Alabama		[31]
Atokad Park	Dakota	location of Atokad Downs horse racing track in South Sioux City, Nebraska	[32]
Cleo, Oregon [33]	O(regon) E(xport) L(umber) C(ompany)	reversed acronym; railroad stop	[34]
Egnar, Colorado	range		[35]
Ekal, Florida	lake		[36]
Ekoms, Oregon	smoke	post office approved but never established; up river from Ragic (q.v.)	[34]
Enola, South Carolina [37]	alone		[36]
Enola Hill [38]	alone	hill in Oregon, applied by a homesteader whose house was isolated	[34]
Etlah, Missouri	halte	German for "stop"	[39]
Lebam, Washington	Mabel Goodell	daughter of early settler	[40]
Lennut, Kentucky [41]	tunnel	now known as Combs, Kentucky	[14]
Maharg, Oklahoma	Graham	reversed due to postal name conflict; now named Foss, Oklahoma	[42]
Mahned, Mississippi	Denham	community founder name	[43]
Muroc, California	Ralph and Clifford Corum	now the location of Edwards Air Force Base, formerly Muroc Field	[36]
Nagrom, Washington	Elmer G. Morgan	owner of Morgan Lumber Company	[40]
Namorf, Oregon [44]	George Froman	local resident	[34]
Narod, California [45]	Daron	railroad section foreman's name; RR stop south of Montclair, California	[6]
Nedra, Florida	Arden, Pennsylvania	home town of developers	[46]
Nedrow, New York	Worden	town founder
Nikep, Maryland	Pekin	former name arbitrarily reversed to avoid postal confusion	[47]
Nillup, Western Australia	Harold Maughan Pullin	popular local who did not want the place named after him	[48]
Nilrem, Alberta	Merlin		[49]
Nivloc, Nevada [50]	Colvin	mine owner	[28]
Nolem, Florida	melon		[36]
Niton, Alberta	not in		[49]
Notla, Texas	Alton Grocery Company	landowner also owned Alton grocery store in Enid, Oklahoma	[36]
Ocapos, Arizona	SO(uthern) PA(acific) CO(mpany)	reversed acronym; also known as Southern Pacific Railroad	[51]
Orestod, Colorado	Dotsero, Colorado	opposite ends of a short railroad line; Dotsero is derived from dot-zero, origin point of rail line	[35]
Radec, California	cedar		[6]
Ragic, Oregon	cigar	post office on the Rogue River(1898–1900); see also Ekoms	[34]
Redart, Virginia	Trader	early settler's name	[52]
Reklaw, Texas	Margaret Walker	land donor; reversed due to post office name conflict	[36]
Remlap, Alabama	James W. Palmer	first postmaster	[53]
Remlap, Florida [54]	Palmer	Town developers from Chicago	[46]
Remlig, Texas	Alexander Gilmer	owner of the Gilmer Lumber Company	[55]
Remlik, Virginia [56]	Willis Sharpe Kilmer	estate owned by Kilmer, a patent medicine entrepreneur	[57]
Retlaw, Alberta	Walter R. Baker	Canadian Pacific Railway official	[58]
Retlaw, Oregon	H. L. Walter	Southern Pacific Railroad employee	[34]
Retrop, Oklahoma	Ira J. Porter	first postmaster	[31]
Retsil, Washington	Ernest Lister	Washington Governor (1913–1919)	[40]
Retsof, New York	Foster	town founder	[ citation needed ]
Revilo, Tennessee [59]	Oliver	brand name of a plow	[12]
Revloc, Pennsylvania	Colver, Pennsylvania	two company towns, owned by Monroe Coal Company	[ citation needed ]
Robat, South Carolina [60]	Mount Tabor	locality in Union County	[ citation needed ]
Rolyat, Oregon	Taylor	probably the name of a Post Office official in Washington	[34]
Rotavele, California	elevator		[ citation needed ]
Sacul, Texas	Lucas	land owner's name; reversed due to post office name conflict	[61]
Saxet, Texas [62]	Texas	locality in Shelby County	[63]
Saxet Lake Park	Texas	park in Victoria County, Texas	[64]
Seloc, South Carolina	Coles		[42]
Senoj Lake (Oregon)	Jones	person unknown	[34]
Senyah, Florida	Haynes	developer's last name	[46]
Setag, Texas	James T. Gates	company owner	[65]
Silaxo, California	Oxalis, California	Silaxo is a few miles south of Oxalis	[6]
Sniktaw, California	W. F. Watkins	journalist who used Sniktaw as an pseudonym	[36]
Tesnus, Texas	sunset	sunset appearing on a logo of Southern Pacific Railroad	[66]
Ti, Oklahoma	I(ndian) T(erritory)	reversed abbreviation; named before territory was renamed to Oklahoma	[31]
Tinrag, Texas	Garnit	local family name	[67]
Trebloc, Mississippi	Colbert	local family name	[ citation needed ]
Trevlac, Indiana	Colonel Calvert	resort developer; reversed to avoid duplication	[36]
Wabasso, Florida	Ossabaw Island in Georgia		[36]
Yellek, Ontario	R J. Kelley	trainmaster for Canadian Pacific Railway	[68]
Yewed, Oklahoma	Admiral George Dewey	reversed due to post office name conflict	[31]

Imperfect ananyms

Name	Reversal of	Notes	Reference
Enola, Nebraska	T. J. Malone	founder; omitted the M when reversed.	[36]
Lionilli, Kentucky [69]	Illinois	intended to be Sionilli, but name misrecorded by post office clerk	[14]
Nonnell, Kentucky	John Lennon	L&N RR maintenance supervisor; extra L	[14]
Revelo, Kentucky	Oliver	railroad construction engineer; formerly spelled Revilo; name changed for unknown reasons	[14]
Revillo, South Dakota	J. S. Oliver	railroad man; extra L added.	[36]
Samoth, Illinois	John R. Thomas	Congressman from Illinois; TH kept intact for pronunciation	[21]
Sarben, Nebraska	Nebraska	omitting the KA	[70] :85
Mount Sniktau, Colorado	Watkins	"Sniktau" was a pen name of journalist E. H. N. Patterson, who borrowed and modified W. F. Watkins's nom de plume; see Sniktaw above	[35]
Tensed, Idaho	Pierre-Jean De Smet	Belgian missionary; reversed due to post office name conflict, and then misspelled during name approval process	[36]
Yelrome, Illinois	Isaac Morley	Mormon elder; E added for pronunciation; town burned down by anti-Mormon mob in 1845	[21]
Yesmar, Alabama	Ramsay	local family name, but with an E replacing an A.	[36]

See also

• Anagram
• Ananym
• List of geographic acronyms and initialisms
• List of geographic portmanteaus

References

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