Most popular municipal suffix in your state

[Pete from Boston]

I'm on a train, and this is just interesting enough to pass my time:

What town-name suffix is most common in your state?

I think here it's "-ton."  We have 33 of those in Massachusetts, compared to 19 "-ham" towns.  (mmmm.... ham town)

This train of thought started from the mention of "dale" in the street name suffix thread.  Made me think of all the boroughitis towns in New Jersey whose beginnings and endings seem to be drawn out of a hat (Montville, Montvale, Hillside, Hillsborough, Hillsdale, River Vale, Riverdale, etc.).

[vtk]

I think a plurality of cities in Ohio have no recognizable suffix in their name.  But -town and -ville are fairly well represented.

[freebrickproductions]

I'd have to say that -ville is rather popular in Alabama.

[Zeffy]

If "Township" counts, then that is easily the most popular in New Jersey. Otherwise, I'm not entirely sure.

[Pete from Boston]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."   

[Zeffy]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."

That's what I figured. I counted ~54 -tons in New Jersey - and I have to think that it may be the most popular.

[spooky]

Since you already did Massachusetts, I looked to my birth state of Rhode Island.

RI has 6 -tons and 5 -towns within its 39 cities and towns. Sadly, they only have one ham town.

[roadman]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."   

In Massachusetts, 'borough' is a city or town name - like "Westborough".  Usually abbreviated on signs as 'boro' though.

[kurumi]

In Pennsylvania, there's kind of an upset (source):
___burg: 84 -- I thought this would win
___town: 92 -- well, surely this one; but...
___ville: 160. This is Aaron-Rodgers-at-Lambeau dominance.

Best portmanteau names: Burgettstown and Townville.

Are there any towns with all 3 suffixes? Glad you asked. These names hit the trifecta:

Adamsburg
Adamstown
Adamsville

Mifflin (West Mifflin is pretty famous)
Mifflinburg
Mifflintown
Mifflinville

Millersburg
Millerstown
Millersville

Newburg (Clearfield County)
Newburg (Cumberland County)
Newtown
Newville

[spooky]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."   

In Massachusetts, 'borough' is a city or town name - like "Westborough".  Usually abbreviated on signs as 'boro' though.

and some, like Attleboro, have been officially neutered to -boro.

[empirestate]

I can't say they're most popular, but there are some that are relatively common in NYS because of its particular geography. For example, you get a lot of "-port" towns along the Erie Canal: Fairport, Spencerport, Brockport, Gasport, Middleport, Lockport.

And then you have "-hampton" on the South Fork: Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Westhampton–but not, contrary to popular orthography, Binghampton! 

Otherwise, we have a good helping of "-ville": Shortsville, Pleasantville, Amityville; and a fair number of "-burg[h]"s: Ogdensburg, Middleburgh, Remsenburg, Plattsburgh. Probably an average number of "-ton", but very few "-town"s (Morristown comes to mind, but not much else–oh, Cooperstown).

And not a suffix, but due to our military history there's a smattering of "Fort" somethings as well.

[roadman]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."   

In Massachusetts, 'borough' is a city or town name - like "Westborough".  Usually abbreviated on signs as 'boro' though.

and some, like Attleboro, have been officially neutered to -boro.

Attleboro was always 'boro'.

[Pete from Boston]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."   

In Massachusetts, 'borough' is a city or town name - like "Westborough".  Usually abbreviated on signs as 'boro' though.

and some, like Attleboro, have been officially neutered to -boro.

Attleboro was always 'boro'.

Attleboro, in fact, is the ONLY official -boro.  Even its neighbor is "North Attleborough."

[golden eagle]

There are a lot of "villes" in Mississippi: Greenville, Starkville, Coffeville, Abbeville...to name a few.

[US71]

There are a lot of "villes" in Mississippi: Greenville, Starkville, Coffeville, Abbeville...to name a few.

Ditto Arkansas: Fayetteville, Bentonville, Russellville, Berryville, Yellville....

[spooky]

"Township" is really a municipality type, like "borough."   

In Massachusetts, 'borough' is a city or town name - like "Westborough".  Usually abbreviated on signs as 'boro' though.

and some, like Attleboro, have been officially neutered to -boro.

Attleboro was always 'boro'.

Attleboro, in fact, is the ONLY official -boro.  Even its neighbor is "North Attleborough."

Which would leave me to believe that Attleboro was at some point Attleborough.

[hbelkins]

If I counted right, 28 of Kentucky's 120 county seats are -ville's.

There are a smattering of -burgs, -towns, -tons and even some -fields.

There's also a couple of county seats that have the same first part but different suffixes. Morganfield/Morgantown, and Williamsburg/Williamstown. To further confuse those last two, I-75 runs through both of them.

List at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:County_seats_in_Kentucky

And interestingly enough, the only county seat that has "City" as part of its name (Whitley City) is not an incorporated city.

[Alps]

If "Township" counts, then that is easily the most popular in New Jersey. Otherwise, I'm not entirely sure.

No.

I'm tempted to say it's some random Native American suffix like -po or -cong or the like. My actual guess would be "-ton." Someone with more time on his hands can take the list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_municipalities_in_New_Jersey), remove the word Township wherever it appears, and run it through a string reversal algorithm, then sort by name and see where they fall.

[CtrlAltDel]

For Illinois, I've run some quick numbers, and of the 1,300 or so municipalities, the names of 94 end in -ville. This is fiollowed by 77 that end in -ton. Past that, it drops off really quickly, with nothing else having more than 35.

[dfwmapper]

Texas has a few -villes, but the vast majority of cities here are directly named for people, typically someone important to the history of the city (a lot of people associated with the railroads and post offices) or political or military figures.

[briantroutman]

In Pennsylvania, there's kind of an upset (source):
___burg: 84 -- I thought this would win
___town: 92 -- well, surely this one; but...
___ville: 160. This is Aaron-Rodgers-at-Lambeau dominance.

Basing it off municipalities (as opposed to place names) I come up with:

157 _tons
122 _villes
84 _burgs (or _burghs or _bergs)
77 _towns
26 _sters
24 _ports
14 _hams