Imagine you’re on your Irish road trip. You see the road signs, and you actually reverse to look at them again. Yes, some place names in Ireland are weird.
We have to admit it. Sometimes it sounds like someone was joking when they came up with the names for places in Ireland. They weren’t.
We’ll take you on a little trip around weird Irish place names and tell you what they actually mean. The funny, the rude, the confusing.
Bastardstown, Co. Wexford – (probably) not an insult here
It sounds like you’re swearing every time you say this name, but you’re not. At least we don’t think you’re calling everyone in this town a bastard. Bastardstown in County Wexford actually has a very nice beach.
Hospital, Co. Limerick – you’re not sick
Hospital might be causing a lot of confusion. So make sure people know you’re not going to the place with the doctors, but you’re visiting an Irish village.
The name goes back to the Knights Hospitaller, who built the Hospital Church there in the 13th century.
Newtwopothouse, Co. Cork – a mouthful
This place name would benefit from a couple of hyphens, don’t you think? It goes back to a coaching inn from the 18th century, the Two-Pot House Inn. When a new road was built, a coaching stop was opened and named New Two-Pot-House.
Kill, Co. Kildare – not an order
Kill comes from the Irish word cill, meaning church. So it’s actually way more harmless than it sounds at first.
You come across several place names in Ireland that have Kill as part of the name. Now you know that this is never an order to commit a crime.
Coalspit, Co. Wexford – eww
Granted, this one does sound a bit nasty. It’s right next to Dampstown. We’re not sure if this is a running theme in the area or a mere coincidence. Try looking at it as Coals-Pit instead, and it gets less yucky.
Horetown, Co. Wexford – spelling is important
Why are so many of these weird place names in County Wexford? It’s actually quite the underrated county.
Just make sure you spell it correctly as Horetown and not…well, you know. The name is an anglicised version of the Irish original name Baile an Hóraigh.
Termonfeckin, Co. Louth – not a swear word
This is yet another name that goes back to its Irish roots and then somehow turns rude in English.
The original is Tearmann Feichín, meaning Féchín’s church land. Actually quite harmless again, but it’s a tricky one to pronounce, and often mispronounced.
Muckanaghederdauhaulia, Co. Galway – do you want to give up?
This looks like it’s a word puzzle, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, it’s the actual name, but it looks impossible to say.
Looking at the Irish original name, you can see where it gets its current name from: Muiceanach idir Dhá Sháile. It means “pig-marsh between two sea inlets”.
Two Mile Borris, Co. Tipperary – who is Borris?
It’s believed that Borris comes from the Norman word for a borough or district, so it’s not a person. Two Mile Borris is a small village with just under 600 inhabitants, but aren’t you a little curious to check if a Boris is living in Two Mile Borris?
Our little Irish road trip of weird place names might make you laugh at first. However, when you dig a little deeper, you see that they’re steeped in a lot of history. Which one of these would you pick to send a postcard from on your trip to Ireland?
