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Five Unusually Long Place Names
Tongue twisting place names of extraordinary length.
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Thailand: Krung thep mahanakhon bovorn ratanakosin mahintharayutthaya mahadilok pop noparatratchathani burirom udomratchanivetmahasathan amornpiman avatarnsathit sakkathattiyavisnukarmprasit (167 letters)
The official and poetic name of Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. Usually shortened to “Krung thep,” the name means “The land of angels, the great city of immortality, of divine gems, the great angelic unconquerable land of nine noble gems, the royal and pleasant capital, site of the grand royal palace, eternal land of angels and reincarnated spirit, foreordained and created by the highest devas.”
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New Zealand: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaunga horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (85 letters)
Maori name for a hill in New Zealand. Generally abbreviated to “Taumata,” the name roughly translated means “The brow of the hill, where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the land eater, slid, climbed and traveled about, and played his flute for his loved one.”
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Wales: Gorsafawddachaidraigddanheddogleddollônpenrhynareur draethceredigion (67 letters)
A massive name especially made up by the Fairbourne Steam Railway in Gwynedd in North Wales to exceed the length of its rival’s name (see number four below). The name is translated as “The Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn Road on the golden beach of Cardigan Bay”.
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Wales: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (58 letters)
The name of a town on Anglesey, an island of Wales. It was especially formulated for the sole purpose of making it the longest name in all of Britain. Commonly reduced to “Llanfairpwllgwyngyll” or “Llanfair PG,” the name is Welsh for “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cave.”
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Massachussetts, USA: Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaug (45 letters)
The name of a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. Often shortened to “Lake Webster” for obvious reasons, the name is Nipmuc Indian’s dialect for “Englishmen at Manchaug at the Fishing Place at the Boundary,” but is sometimes humorously translated as “You fish on your side of the water, I fish on mine, no one fishes the middle.”
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fantastic
Thank you for sharing this with us. I have never thought about this.
As a child I was told of a place in Holland/Netherlands by the name of Gilly gilly senpeppercatsen ellenbogen bythesea.Can`t find it anywhere…was I having my leg pulled?
cool thanks got home work helped a lot 5 llongest welsh names thax
Nice…and you even have the images as proof. Cool!
interesting…
Note that every one of these places has a short form, as well. I’d like to see what are the longest “normal” names of places, which don’t have a shorter form.