Relics from the past

BRAGGADOCIO, Mo. -- The town name begs the question: Are folks from Braggadocio braggarts?

"Naw, we're pretty humble down in these parts, and I know because I've lived here all my life," says farmer Caleb Davis, 59, of Braggadocio, an unincorporated community deep in Southeast Missouri's Bootheel. "It IS a memorable name for a town, though."

Indeed. Missouri has some of the most memorable place names in the United States, from Economy to Tightwad, from Romance to Bachelor, from Sunrise to Sunset.

"Much can be learned about men and places from their names," the late University of Missouri professor Robert L. Ramsay wrote half a century ago in his still-published book, "Our Storehouse of Missouri Place Names."

'Fossil history'

"Names are fossil history," Ramsay went on, likening the search for the story behind a place name to an archaeological dig.

"So the student of language can find in the place names of the state equally priceless relics that are sometimes quite as old, and often even more revealing."

Ramsay noted that Missourians could take a world tour without leaving the state, just by reading exotic-sounding city limit signs: Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Belfast, Dublin, Elba, Versailles, Vichy, Lisbon, Milan, Rome and Venice, to cover just part of the Show-Me State's globe.

There are tributes to natural and mineral wealth, communities called Acid, Galena, Hematite and Crystal City. Some names were drawn from the classics: Alexandria, Athens, Carthage, Hannibal, Ionia and Eolia.

And some names are just silly: Arp, Ink, Ogg and Tea.

Whatever the name, it reflects the culture, education, experiences and prejudices of Missouri's settlers. But nowadays there is a tendency to name new settlements -- or subdivisions -- in cozy-sounding tributes to famous golf courses.

"With the current naming practices, be it towns or subdivisions or streets, Scottish, English, Irish and maybe French-sounding names are in vogue. These tend to be unimaginative stock names," said Walter Schroeder, a retired geography professor and chairman since 1994 of a state commission that is responsible for approving new place names for the sake of consistency.

Braggadocio is a fine example of an imaginative name that conjures an image of boastful inhabitants.

Lifelong resident Caleb Davis said he was always told the hamlet's settlers wanted to pick the longest impressive name they could find when applying to establish a post office.

With 11 letters, they figured Braggadocio "would really impress the folks up in Washington," Davis said with a chuckle.

Name too long

The U.S. Post Office finally sent word to new settlements to keep their names short. Thus a raft of three-letter names, from Odd to Ink.

In all his travels, Schroeder is most amused about an area in far northern Missouri known for its waterway: No Creek.

"Of course, there is a creek there, and a bridge runs over it. I have asked the locals, is there no creek at No Creek? They really don't think it's funny at all."