There are over 200 cities and towns across the Lonestar State. While we’re all aware of Texas’s illustrious cities like Houston and… the other ones. There’s a lot of Texas towns scattered throughout the state that you might not be aware of.
While you probably wouldn’t bat an eye coming across most of these towns on a map, some Texas towns have names that might have you scratching your head or are just plain weird. Read on for more of the towns in Texas with the strangest names.
1. Bug Tussle
Sounding like exterminator lingo for bedbugs. Bug Tussle is an unincorporated community Fannin County. Its name traces back to the 1890s, when a swarm of bugs ruined a town ice cream social.
2. Edcouch
Sounding like a regional furniture outlet by a well-known local salesmen – we see you Mattress Macs – Edcouch is a city in Hidalgo County founded in 1927. Its name is shorthand for the city’s founder, Edward Couch.
3. Falfurrias
Falfurrias in Brooks County, Texas is named after La Mota de Falfurrias, the ranch of founder, Edward Cunningham Lasater.
4. Flatonia
No, Flatonia is not a moniker for Houston. Located in Fayette County, Flatonia’s name is derived from local merchant F.W. Flato, who was also one of the area’s first settlers.
5. Happy
Under the endearing motto: “The Town Without a Frown”, Happy isn’t necessarily named after its residents’ sunny disposition. Its name is however does somewhat derive its name from elation as coming from the joy cowboys felt in the 19th century when coming across a stream called Happy Draw.
6. Yard
The town name of “Yard” comes from a clerical mistake. When the town’s first store owner, Bruce Gray, submitted a list of potential town names, Gray accidentally included a customer’s request in the note for a yard of cloth. Subsequently, the town took the name of “Yard”.
7. Midlothian
Somewhere between a suburb of Mordor and the mythological age of elves, the name of Midlothian in Ellis County comes from – according to local legend – a homesick Scottish train engineer who compared the local land to home’s countryside in Scotland.
8. Ding Dong
Ding Dong is an unincorporated community situated along the Lampasas River on Texas State Highway 195 south of Killeen. The name “Ding Dong” comes from the name of a community-turned-country store, formerly operated by Zulis and Bert Bell in the early 1930s.
9. Uncertain
“Uncertain” might sound like a placeholder for a town name and that’s because is it. Back when the town had submitted its application for township, residents had not yet agreed upon its name so wrote “Uncertain” in the space for name. When its township was accepted, “Uncertain” stuck and thus became its name.
10. Jot ‘Em Down
Located in the northeastern Texas area of Delta County, Jot ‘Em Down gets its name from the then-hit, comedic Lum and Abner radio show. In the show, Jot ‘Em Down was a fictional setting where its tales took place.
11. Bigfoot
This census-designated place (CDP) is located in Frio County. When the area was settled in the 1860s, it went by the name “Connally’s Store” up until 1883. The town now goes by the name “Bigfoot” after former resident A. A. “Bigfoot” Wallace.
12. Tarzan
Situated in Martin County in the Texas Pandhandle, Tarzan was formed in the 1920s. Yes, it does get its name from the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ story The Legend of Tarzan. One of the town’s early settlers was storeowner Tant Lindsay.
In 1927, Lindsay submitted the name “Tarzan” to the post office as a potential town name as a fan of the books. The post office accepted the application and thus the town became Tarzan.
13. Venus
If you think “Venus” is an odd name for the town, Venus was originally called “Gossip” until the late 1880s. At that time, the town underwent a name change after landowner J.C. Smythe redubbed it “Venus” after a the child of a family doctor.
14. Latex
The rural community of Latex is situated in Harrison County 18 miles of northeast of Marshall on Farm Road 1999. According to the Texas State Historical Association, the town’s location on the border of Louisiana and Texas is how it gots its name, hence: LA – TEX.
15. Dime Box
Not to be confused with Old Dime Box, Texas, Dime Box is an unincorporated community in Lee County. The town was originally called “Brown’s Mill” but the U.S. Post Office requested to change its name, worried it would be confused with Brownsville.
The name “Dime Box” originated from a practice among early settlers who used a large wooden box to send and receive mail or order small items from a horseback carrier traveling to the nearby town of Giddings.