Ambiguous City Names

[webny99]

Another one that I don't think has been mentioned: Murfreesboro, AR vs TN.
The TN one is much bigger population-wise, but the AR one is much more famous.

I can't say I'd ever heard of the one in Arkansas before this post. Tennessee, sure.

Same here.

I've known about the existence of Murfreesboro, AR for as long as I can remember. Come to think of it, I think it was mentioned/pictured (as the home of the only diamond site open to the public in the nation) in a book about the 50 states that I used to pore over as a little kid.

It's funny, the stuff that sticks in your memory and you just assume is common knowledge after you've seen it enough times. It used to baffle me when I was about 10 or 11 that there were grown adults that didn't know all 50 state capitals.

[US 89]

Murfreesboro is one of those city names that I’ve heard of but have no clue where it is. If somebody asked me what state it was in, I probably would say Tennessee...but that would mostly be a guess.

[empirestate]

Another one that I don't think has been mentioned: Murfreesboro, AR vs TN.

The TN one is much bigger population-wise, but the AR one is much more famous.

I can't say I'd ever heard of the one in Arkansas before this post. Tennessee, sure.

Same here.

Me too, it's definitely a Tennessee city in my mind. I know there's more than one, but I don't think I'd even come up with Arkansas if you asked me out of the blue.

[Roadgeekteen]

Another one that I don't think has been mentioned: Murfreesboro, AR vs TN.

The TN one is much bigger population-wise, but the AR one is much more famous.

I can't say I'd ever heard of the one in Arkansas before this post. Tennessee, sure.

Same here.

Me too, it's definitely a Tennessee city in my mind. I know there's more than one, but I don't think I'd even come up with Arkansas if you asked me out of the blue.

I didn't know that Arkansas had one.

[1995hoo]

I think the only reason I knew of the Murfreesboro in Tennessee is that Middle Tennessee State is located there, which I knew because UVA played a football game against them a few years ago.

[ozarkman417]

I've been to both Murfeesboro, TN and AR, and the AR one is famous because of the nearby Crater of Diamonds State Park. Despite being there before, I had to look up where Murfeesboro, AR was because the town itself isn't very significant.

[golden eagle]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Jackson. If you're in Memphis, you would have to differentiate between Tennessee or Mississippi.

Another one would be Arlington. Are you speaking of Texas or Virginia?

[webny99]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Jackson. If you're in Memphis, you would have to differentiate between Tennessee or Mississippi.

If you're in Memphis is the key. The rest of the country mostly only knows about the Mississippi one, although Michigan also has a decent-sized city named Jackson, and there could be potential confusion with Jacksonville, Florida.

Another one would be Arlington. Are you speaking of Texas or Virginia?

Virginia. I don't think America's Team is as famous as America's Cemetery.

[KEVIN_224]

I've been through, or near, Florida, MA (along MA Route 2 - Mohawk Trail) and Worcester, NY (close to I-88).

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

[kphoger]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

The TN one is only population 1200, and it's more than 400 miles from the NC one.  In what context would that be ambiguous?

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Charlotte is more likely to be confused with someone with that given name. In the Dravet syndrome community alone (into which I am through the large running team the DS Foundation in Spain has) there are two relevant Charlottes. One is the syndrome's namesake, Charlotte Dravet, a French epileptologist; and the other is a recently deceased (right on my birthday the anniversary of my birth) Colorado Springs girl, Charlotte Figi, who had that kind of epilepsy and whose family was a pioneer in the use of medical marijuana.

On the chat of a certain streamer I like to follow around the country (BigRigTravels, who else...), I sometimes mention "Belvidere" without saying a state, even though there are a few places with that name. In that case, I'm referring to Belvidere, Illinois, since it is where Steve spends most of his time off the truck (like he is doing right now) and which also happens to be the largest of the Belvideres.

[GaryV]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

And don't forget Charlotte, MI.  Although that one is pronounced char-LOT.

[The Nature Boy]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

And don't forget Charlotte, MI.  Although that one is pronounced char-LOT.

The one in Vermont is also pronounced char-LOT. Charlotte, MI and Charlotte, VT are the only "Charlotte" related ambiguity I can think of and that's largely due to the irregular pronunciation of the city names.

Since we're in New England: How about Lebanon, NH and Lebanon, ME? Or for bonus points, West Lebanon, NH and West Lebanon, ME?

[webny99]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

The TN one is only population 1200, and it's more than 400 miles from the NC one.  In what context would that be ambiguous?

Nashville?

And don't forget Charlotte, MI.  Although that one is pronounced char-LOT.

Isn't the NC one also pronounced that way? That's how I've always pronounced it.

[US 89]

Other than the MI and VT examples just mentioned, every Charlotte I've ever known, person or city, has been pronounced SHAR-luht.

[webny99]

Come to think of it, Rochester has a neighborhood called Charlotte... and locally, it's pronounced Char-LOT. "I'm going to the Char-LOT Pier", for example.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

And don't forget Charlotte, MI.  Although that one is pronounced char-LOT.

The one in Vermont is also pronounced char-LOT. Charlotte, MI and Charlotte, VT are the only "Charlotte" related ambiguity I can think of and that's largely due to the irregular pronunciation of the city names.

Since we're in New England: How about Lebanon, NH and Lebanon, ME? Or for bonus points, West Lebanon, NH and West Lebanon, ME?

Or "Lepnin", PA.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

China has several possible ambiguous pairs of cities when spoken, because they only differ in the tone of one of the characters:
玉林 (Yulin in Guangxi Zhuang) vs 榆林 (Yulin in Shaanxi) - Low potential for confusion due to distance.
济宁 (Jining in Shandong) vs 集宁 (Jining district of Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia - basically the city itself) - Again, low potential for confusion, even though they are a bit closer
福州 (Fuzhou in Fujian) vs 抚州 (Fuzhou in Jiangxi) - Even better, Virginia is yet another "Fuzhou" in Chinese (佛州), perfect homphone of the capital of Fujian.
苏州 (Suzhou in Jiangsu, next to Shanghai) vs 宿州 (Suzhou in Anhui) - Both are stops in the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway. To further spice things, there's also a Suzhou district (肃州) in Jiuquan, Gansu which is a perfect homophone of the city in Anhui, but there is low potential for confusion due to distance.
台州 (Taizhou in Zhejiang) vs 泰州 (Taizhou in Jiangsu) - I once fell to this, as they are in the same megalopolis. Fortunately there is no longer a 合州 anywhere (there used to be one in between Chongqing and Sichuan), which would be a written ambiguity to the city in Zhejiang (but pronounced way differently: Hezhou).

However the pair that takes the cake are the neighboring provinces of 山西 and 陕西. Both would be written Shanxi in English, so the latter is spelt Shaanxi instead, a remnant of an earlier romanization system.

[Brandon]

Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte, Tennessee

And don't forget Charlotte, MI.  Although that one is pronounced char-LOT.

Funny enough, having passed by Charlotte, MI many, many times, it's the first one I think of (and then pronounce the other Charlottes the same way).

[Flint1979]

Charlotte is the seat of Eaton County so its a little more known in Michigan at least in the Lansing area so I think of Charlotte, Michigan first when I see Charlotte and also pronounce all of them Char-LOT.

[michravera]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Jackson. If you're in Memphis, you would have to differentiate between Tennessee or Mississippi.

If you're in Memphis is the key. The rest of the country mostly only knows about the Mississippi one, although Michigan also has a decent-sized city named Jackson, and there could be potential confusion with Jacksonville, Florida.

Another one would be Arlington. Are you speaking of Texas or Virginia?

Virginia. I don't think America's Team is as famous as America's Cemetery.

We have a Jackson in California also. It's on the eastern part of CASR-16 which ran very near my house in Sacramento. I believe that it is the seat of the county of Amador.

[lepidopteran]

Ocean City, MD vs NJ.  Both are seaside resort towns, and are really not that far apart, at least as the crow flies -- or more practically, as the ferry sails.

There was a story once on the American Top 40 radio show about someone who sent a letter to Hollywood, CA, but it somehow ended up in Hollywood, FL.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota has Shoreview and Shorewood in the Twin Cities. Shoreview is the junction of I-35W and I-694 while Shorewood is a wealthy community near Lake Minnetonka on the west side.

[The Nature Boy]

Prior to 1930, there was a Potomac, Virginia, not far from Potomac, Maryland. It's now apart of the City of Alexandria and very few people even know it was ever there. That might've been ambiguous in its time and certainly would be today.