City/town names that are ambiguous in your area

[lepidopteran]

And you also have Washington, PA, because I-70 serves both it and the nation's capital (via I-270, of course.)

One of only a few places that has both the city and state on a BGS to prevent confusion.

Similarly, there used to be a "Columbus, O" (without the H) as a control city on at least some highways around Indianapolis since there's also a Columbus, IN.  The control city -- in both directions -- has since been replaced with Dayton, so I'm not sure if any of those signs are still around.

There is/was a sign on I-95 listing "Rocky Mount, NC", presumably to disambiguate the city by the same name in VA.  The sign's location is/was is in VA, at the 85/95 split, I think where that extra-distant Miami sign used to be.

On I-95, near the MD-DE border, at the Elkton exit, there's a sign reading "Newark, DE".  I presume that's to prevent confusion with Newark, NJ; the city may be kind of far away, but the state is not.  But I remember seeing signs at the same exit that read "Elkton, MD".  I think the state was added there just because it's near a state line, and I might have seen that done in other locations as well.

[lepidopteran]

Ohio has both Warren County and a city called Warren, located in diagonally-opposite corners of the state.

Similarly, I once met a young lady who sometimes wore a shirt that read "Shelby".  Oftentimes when people saw it, they would ask "city or county"?  (they are approximately 100 miles apart)  The answer was neither -- Shelby was her name!

[kevinb1994]

Ohio has both Warren County and a city called Warren, located in diagonally-opposite corners of the state.

Similarly, I once met a young lady who sometimes wore a shirt that read "Shelby".  Oftentimes when people saw it, they would ask "city or county"?  (they are approximately 100 miles apart)  The answer was neither -- Shelby was her name!

Shelby could also be someone's last name.

[briantroutman]

There's a great deal of ambiguity with regard to many place names in Pennsylvania–because of a number of factors.

First, there's the fractured nature of municipal government in the Commonwealth. Municipalities are generally very compact, and adjoining areas which may share the same ZIP code and are colloquially referred to as being part of that town/city are actually in a separate township or borough. Confusing the matter further, some bordering municipalities actually share names, such as the City of Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes-Barre Township.

Then also, there's a great deal of in-state duplication of names, both in terms of incorporated municipalities and of CDPs and other "place names" . Just take "Bradford"  for instance. The best known "Bradford"  is the city in northwestern Pennsylvania that's home to Zippo. Partially surrounding the City of Bradford is Bradford Township–a separate municipality but in the same ZIP code (along with several other townships having different names). Two counties away, there's another Bradford Township–completely unconnected to the first. And in the distant Philadelphia suburbs, there's a pair of twin townships: East Bradford and West Bradford . None of these Bradfords, by the way, are in Bradford County, which is in northeastern Pennsylvania and has no municipalities containing the name "Bradford" .

[Beltway]

Then also, there’s a great deal of in-state duplication of names, both in terms of incorporated municipalities and of CDPs and other “place names”. Just take “Bradford” for instance. The best known “Bradford” is the city in northwestern Pennsylvania that’s home to Zippo. Partially surrounding the City of Bradford is Bradford Township—a separate municipality but in the same ZIP code (along with several other townships having different names). Two counties away, there’s another Bradford Township—completely unconnected to the first. And in the distant Philadelphia suburbs, there’s a pair of twin townships: East Bradford and West Bradford . None of these Bradfords, by the way, are in Bradford County, which is in northeastern Pennsylvania and has no municipalities containing the name “Bradford”.

Many townships names repeat around the state, and some others are the same as a county name.

[DTComposer]

A region rather than a city, but the three largest metro areas in California all have a "South Bay" in common usage:

Bay Area: San Jose/Silicon Valley
Los Angeles: Redondo Beach/Manhattan Beach/Torrance
San Diego: Chula Vista/National City

Since they are generally only used within their respective metro areas, I don't see them causing much confusion, except for people (like me) who have lived/worked/have friends and family in more than one of them.

[Jim]

I live adjacent to the Town of Florida, NY, and previously have lived near Florida, MA, and I would always use and generally recall "Florida" by default meaning the state, and "Town of Florida" for the one near Amsterdam, and "Florida, Mass." or "Florida Mountain" for the one up the hill from North Adams.

[kevinb1994]

I live adjacent to the Town of Florida, NY, and previously have lived near Florida, MA, and I would always use and generally recall "Florida" by default meaning the state, and "Town of Florida" for the one near Amsterdam, and "Florida, Mass." or "Florida Mountain" for the one up the hill from North Adams.

Interestingly enough there's a Lorida in Florida. Also there's Florida City and both of these place names aren't too far apart from each other in South Florida.

[lepidopteran]

I live adjacent to the Town of Florida, NY, and previously have lived near Florida, MA, and I would always use and generally recall "Florida" by default meaning the state, and "Town of Florida" for the one near Amsterdam, and "Florida, Mass." or "Florida Mountain" for the one up the hill from North Adams.

Similarly, when people in Ohio say they are going to college at Miami, they typically mean Miami at Oxford, OH, rather than in Florida.  For that matter, if they say they go to school at Oxford, they don't usually mean the one in England!  (BTW, Ohio also has a Cambridge.  They do have an Ohio University regional campus there; the main campus is in Athens...  hey waitaminit!)

Along those same lines, folks in Pennsylvania might say they are going to college at either Indiana or California -- and neither are expected to leave the state to get there!

[roadman65]

Fortunately Florida has no repeatsthat I know of but my old state had several Washington's with two municipalities with that name in the same county and neighboring each other. 

[kevinb1994]

Fortunately Florida has no repeatsthat I know of but my old state had several Washington's with two municipalities with that name in the same county and neighboring each other.

NJ aka New Jersey aka Jersey? I'm from there as well and have also since moved to Florida (Jacksonville).

[1995hoo]

....

There is/was a sign on I-95 listing "Rocky Mount, NC", presumably to disambiguate the city by the same name in VA.  The sign's location is/was is in VA, at the 85/95 split, I think where that extra-distant Miami sign used to be.

....

As of this past December 30, there was still one LGS listing Rocky Mount, NC, and Miami; it's on I-95 just south of the I-85 interchange. Street View shows it. I don't know whether it might be replaced with something listing someplace less distant.

https://goo.gl/maps/ZUaUXgRzpnF2

There are a good number of signs on both I-95 and I-295, including north of Richmond, that list Rocky Mount, NC.

[KEVIN_224]

Connecticut headaches:

Plainville, which is directly between the cities of New Britain and Bristol.
Plainfield, which is on the Rhode Island border.

Hartford
New Hartford, which is in eastern Litchfield County.

Milford, which is on the shoreline between Bridgeport and New Haven.
New Milford, which is in greater Danbury.

Canaan, which is in Litchfield County, not far from Massachusetts
New Canaan, which is in southern Fairfield County.

Portland, which is across the Connecticut River from Middletown. Despite having family members who live in Middletown, my family's use of "Portland" is almost exclusively Maine, as some of us have lived in southern Maine twice. My later maternal grandmother was from Biddeford, ME.

Although it's minor, you have another Hartford along I-91...Vermont. The village of White River Junction is part of it. Most signs on that road simply say White River Junction. You would pass through Weathersfield, VT when between there and Brattleboro. Yes, Vermont spells Wethersfield with an extra "a" like with "weather". We in Connecticut do not.

[KEVIN_224]

Fortunately Florida has no repeatsthat I know of but my old state had several Washington's with two municipalities with that name in the same county and neighboring each other.

NJ aka New Jersey aka Jersey? I'm from there as well and have also since moved to Florida (Jacksonville).

I know the Washington in the area of New Jersey Turnpike Exit 7A was renamed as Robbinsville not too long ago.

[kevinb1994]

Fortunately Florida has no repeatsthat I know of but my old state had several Washington's with two municipalities with that name in the same county and neighboring each other.

NJ aka New Jersey aka Jersey? I'm from there as well and have also since moved to Florida (Jacksonville).

I know the Washington in the area of New Jersey Turnpike Exit 7A was renamed as Robbinsville not too long ago.

I remember when that happened in 2007-2008.

[Mr_Northside]

Many townships names repeat around the state, and some others are the same as a county name.

For what it's worth - I don't think boroughs and/or cities can directly match/duplicate.  There are a handful of Mt. Pleasant townships in various counties, but the only borough is in Westmoreland County (directly adjacent to a Mt. Pleasant Township)

[doorknob60]

Vancouver, WA and Vancouver, BC

Both being on the same freeway corridor and Amtrak line makes for their own confusion. During the 2010 Olympics, some international tourists actually booked hotels in Vancouver, WA, which was obviously not the Olympic host city.

The worst thing is that the smaller (WA) Vancouver is much older. There's been proposals to rename it to Fort Vancouver, but locals are too stubborn and point to their longer time with the name.

This was the first one that came to my mind. This one is ambiguous across the entirety of Washington and Oregon, I would say. Unless you're in the Portland/Vancouver metro, then you assume Vancouver, WA, and if you're around Bellingham, you probably mean Vancouver, BC. But across the rest of the two states, it's ambiguous. Outside of those 2 states, I'd say people assume BC if you just say "Vancouver". Though since I grew up near Portland, it will always be ambiguous to me (even though people in Idaho probably don't really know about Vancouver, WA).

Also, someone mentioned "Ontario" being ambiguous in some contexts, but I think it can be even more confusing when you see simply "Ontario, CA". Because that can mean "Ontario California" or "Ontario Canada". Yes one is a city and one is a province, but like Washington State vs DC, there's not always enough context clues to be sure.

And if you're in Oregon or SW Idaho, "Ontario" probably means Ontario, OR, so now that I think about it, "Ontario" is definitely the most ambiguous name for people around Boise (and I'd imagine as you get further from the Treasure Valley, eg. you're in Twin Falls, where none of the "Ontarios" are very locally important, it can be totally ambiguous).

[jp the roadgeek]

Connecticut headaches:

Plainville, which is directly between the cities of New Britain and Bristol.
Plainfield, which is on the Rhode Island border.

Hartford
New Hartford, which is in eastern Litchfield County.

Milford, which is on the shoreline between Bridgeport and New Haven.
New Milford, which is in greater Danbury.

Canaan, which is in Litchfield County, not far from Massachusetts
New Canaan, which is in southern Fairfield County.

Portland, which is across the Connecticut River from Middletown. Despite having family members who live in Middletown, my family's use of "Portland" is almost exclusively Maine, as some of us have lived in southern Maine twice. My later maternal grandmother was from Biddeford, ME.

Although it's minor, you have another Hartford along I-91...Vermont. The village of White River Junction is part of it. Most signs on that road simply say White River Junction. You would pass through Weathersfield, VT when between there and Brattleboro. Yes, Vermont spells Wethersfield with an extra "a" like with "weather". We in Connecticut do not.

Couple of other CT ones:

Preston: A town in the southeastern part of the state not too far from Foxwoods casino
New Preston: A CDP within the town of Washington in the western part of the state.

Norwalk: City in Fairfield County
Norwich: City in New London County

Waterbury: A city in northern New Haven County
Watertown: A town in Litchfield County which shares a border with Waterbury
Waterville: A neighborhood of Waterbury along CT 73 which connects Waterbury and Watertown
Waterford: A town in New London County

Middletown and Middlefield: One is a small city, the other is more of a farming town.  They share a border and CT 66 and 217 

Stratford and Stamford can sometimes be confused, considering there are both on I-95 in Fairfield County.

2 homophone towns (the latter is also a county): Hamden, CT and Hampden, MA.

Granby, CT and Granby, MA are about 30 miles apart on opposite sides of Springfield, and are both served by US 202

There's also Windsor, CT and Windsor, VT (the town and county) along I-91 

A couple more out of state ones:

Farmingdale vs Farmingville on Long Island.  One is in Nassau County, the other is farther out in Suffolk County on the edge of the Pine Barrens.

Pottstown vs Pottsville, PA.  One is on US 422 between Philly and Reading, the other is up in the Poconos and is the home of Yuengling.

[briantroutman]

Pottstown vs Pottsville, PA.  One is on US 422 between Philly and Reading, the other is up in the Poconos and is the home of Yuengling.

Yes, the two Potts-es–both being along the same river and in the same quadrant of the state–are a source of perpetual confusion for many in Pennsylvania.

But, speaking of confusion: Pottsville isn't in the Poconos. Neither are Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, or Scranton, for that matter. Very roughly speaking, the Pocono Mountain region is the area east of I-476, north of US 209, and south of I-84–with the true Pocono Mountain region being the area just north of the I-80/I-380 interchange where you see a cluster of Pocono names–Mount Pocono, Pocono Summit, Pocono Lake.

[ixnay]

Kansas City MO/KS.  Trying to tell non-locals which one is which is incredibly difficult at times.

I spend a decent amount of time in the St. Louis area, where there is an O'Fallon in Missouri and Illinois, although they're not right next to each other.

O'fallontoo'fallon would make a great race horse name (horse naming restrictions warrant the one-wording).  Although it would be challenging to the guys at TVG.

Many townships names repeat around the state [of Pennsylvania]

Delaware County, PA, the county of my birth and breeding, has townships called Middletown, Newtown, Springfield, and Tinicum.  So does Bucks County which is on the other side of Philadelphia from "Delco".  Delaware County also has a pair of townships called Providence (Upper and Nether).  Montgomery County OTOH has townships called Upper and *Lower* Providence (as well as a Springfield Township [like Delco and Bucks]).

ixnay

[DandyDan]

At my old auto parts warehouse job in Omaha, they dealt with store in Maryville, MO and Marysville, KS, which obviously got screwed up a lot because the Maryville store ended up with a different tag color than every other store we dealt with.

Going back further to the courier job I had before that, Oakland, IA and Oakland, NE would be confused.

[J3ebrules]

Just tossing in Hamilton - there are two in Jersey. Hamilton Township and the Township of Hamilton.
2 Washington Townshlps in Jersey - one in North Jersey, the other in South Jersey.

And, don't know if this counts, but we have a Gloucester City, Gloucester Township, and Gloucester County.

Gloucester Township has a small piece of it in Gloucester County (Sicklerville, to be exact). The rest of it is in Camden County.
Gloucester City is in... Camden County.

[ftballfan]

Manistee and Manistique in Michigan get confused a lot. Both are on Lake Michigan. When I have told people I'm from Manistee, people have mentioned that I was coming from the UP.
Fun fact 1: I have never been to Manistique.
Fun fact 2: A recent school superintendent in Manistee came there from Manistique

[wanderer2575]

Sheboygan WI (on the western shore of Lake Michigan) and Cheboygan MI (on the western shore of Lake Huron) probably generate some confusion.

Others in Michigan:

There's a Mason County, while the city of Mason is the county seat of Ingham County.  They're about 175 miles apart by road.

Houghton is in the northwestern Upper Peninsula, while Houghton Lake is near the central Lower Peninsula.  They're about 375 miles apart by road.

And a lot of people can't keep straight that the correct spelling of the island, the straits, and the bridge is Mackinac, but the correct spelling of the city is Mackinaw.

[michravera]

Ambiguous enough that any mention will require the state name (or other region) to avoid being asked "which one".

Note that in most cases, this is extremely local to where you live.

Here, there are a few that are ambiguous, plus two that would be if I moved a few miles.
Concord (MA vs. NH)
Hudson (also MA vs. NH)
Birmingham (AL vs. UK)
Rochester (NH vs. NY; MN is not a contender)
Washington (the state itself vs. the country's capital)
Amherst (MA vs. NH)

Where I live, Salem without a state name refers to Salem, NH, but moving ≈5 miles south or southeast (the number 5 is a guess) would make it ambiguous enough, with the other option being Salem, MA. I frequently go places where Salem, MA is the default meaning.

Newton without a state name refers to Newton, MA, even though Newton, NH is much closer. My guess is that going north into New Hampshire will result in Newton, NH being the default meaning as soon as you cross the state border; to find an area where it is ambiguous, I would have to go into Haverhill, MA (which is adjacent to Newton, NH).

Others that might seem ambiguous where I live, but are not:
* Portland refers to ME, not OR. People will talk about the other Portland, but they'll almost always apply the state name.
* Dover refers to DE, not MA or NH. Crossing the state border probably changes this to NH without any region of ambiguity, but there has to be a region of ambiguity somewhere for MA vs. DE.
* Springfield refers to MA, which makes sense since the three major ones are somewhat similar in population, and the one in Massachusetts is much closer than the other two.
* Franklin refers to MA, not NH.
* Brookline: Same as Newton; the one in New Hampshire is closer, but the one in Massachusetts is always meant.
* Groton: MA, even though CT is larger.
* Kingston: Could be 4-way (NH, MA, NY, Jamaica), but "Kingston" by itself refers to NH here.
* Burlington: MA, not VT.
* Bedford: MA, not NH; probably changes immediately upon crossing the state border.
* Rutland: VT, not MA.
* Greenland: Refers to the dependency of Denmark, despite the one in New Hampshire being within 30 miles.

Haven't encountered Milford enough to know (if it was ambiguous, it would be MA vs. NH). Same with Augusta (ME vs. GA) and Orange (MA vs. CA).

In California, there are at least two or three cities or towns that sound like Arcata, Arcadia, or similar. There are two with the same exact name one on the North Coast and one in the LA area.

The term "The Valley" usually refers to "San Fernando" south of Santa Barbara, but to "The Great Central Valley" (often Fresno, Bakersfield, or Tracy, Stockton, Sacramento, Chico, or Redding, depending upon what part of the coast) north of there.

San Marcos refers both to a suburb of San Diego and a pass near Santa Barbara.

"Grapevine" is a small town at the extreme south end of the San Joaquin Valley, but is often used to refer to the entire grade on the Valley side of Tejon Pass (and sometimes to the entire section of freeway between Grapevine and Santa Clarita.