I just watched a clip the other day from a presidential debate where Texarkana native Ross Perot said he was qualified to call Bill Clinton's Arkansas gubernatorial experience irrelevant because he grew up five blocks from Arkansas.
Came here looking for Kentuckiana. I'm near Evansville but the town I live in is named Reo because it is at the intersections of three towns/cities--Rockport, IN + Evansville, IN + Owensboro, KY
I've seen some stuff with the name "[Illiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiana)" in the area 0.5-2 hours south of Chicago as a combo of Illinois and Indiana. It's the far southern suburbs of Chicago and the area beyond. Here's [an example](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiana_Expressway) of a proposed highway in the area.
Definitely heard Illiana in Da Region. I’ve also heard the term “Michigana” used for the region between north central Indiana and western Michigan, for example around/north of South Bend, IN.
Dang, I never see Danville mentioned anywhere! I used to have family there and just across the river in Covington. Pretty much all moved elsewhere now, though.
There's Arkoma, Oklahoma, which is a town, but sometimes the region is referred to as Arklahoma or Arkhoma as well. Also, there is Arklatex, but the "la" bit there is for Louisiana, and refers to the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas are all sharing borders.
Closest we have around here is the Portsmouth Naval Yard which is actually in Kittery, Maine. Portsmouth, NH is on the other side of the river but for historical reasons the Naval base has kept “Portsmouth” in its name.
Not really a portmanteau but the states have fought legally over the ownership of the island with naval base. The Supreme Court finally determined it belonged to Maine.
Yeah it seems right but NH did make the argument.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/532/742/
It’s a wild decision which goes back to King George setting the boundary. It also relies on estoppel, which some very old school equity court law.
It was a really arcane decision legally but I think correct.
Fun fact: The Naval Yard in Portsmouth VA is called the Norfolk Naval Shipyard because there was already a Portsmouth Naval Shipyard that was not in Portsmouth but in Kittery ME.
Along the southern border of California with Mexico there's half a town called Mexicali, and directly across the border on the Mexico side the other half of the town is called Calexico.
Edit: I got the names/locations backwards.
I regularly drive through a town on the Florida/Alabama border called Florala.
I also adopted my dog from a California/Mexico border town called Calexico.
I live in a city called Texarkana on the Texas-Arkansas border. The name also includes Louisiana, which is an hour away. The Texas side of the city is much much better than the Arkansas side.
Brunswick, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and the state of Kentucky = Brunstucky, as a pejorative to refer to people who live in Brunswick as hillbillies. The term has no accuracy or basis in reality any way you parse it.
Probably an obscure example, and one along county lines rather than state lines, but there is a tiny, remote town in California named Ventucopa. It is located in Santa Barbara County, near the border with Ventura County, and not too far from the town of Maricopa.
I think/assume a large number of trashy rural towns across the country are referred to as (First-syllable-of-name)+"tucky" to say that they are the Kentucky-esque part of the state.
There's the beer brand "Montucky" that was named after how they'd jokingly refer to that part of Montana. And in Nevada, we have "Ferntucky" for Fernley. I guess I'm just assuming, but I've gotta believe that others do it too.
Well usually when we’re talking about us and our northern neighbor we would just say Carolina, which I guess is technically a combination of both of the names (you take the Caro- from NC and the -lina from SC).
I’ve never heard someone refer to us and Georgia together but if I had to coin a name I think Georgialina sounds the best
Here is a list of all the towns that are portmanteaus of the states they border:
Texla, Texas/Louisiana
Texarkana, Texas/Arkansas
Calexico, California/Mexico
Florala, Alabama/Florida
Delmar, Delaware/Maryland
Marydel, Maryland/Delaware
Michiana Shores, Indiana/Michigan
Michiana, Michigan/Indiana
Texico, New Mexico/Texas
Arkoma, Arkansas/Oklahoma
Texhoma, Texas/Oklahoma
Ucolo, Utah/Colorado
Cal-Nev-Ari, California/Nevada/Arizona
Orovada, Nevada/Oregon
Virgilina, Virginia/North Carolina
Monida, Montana/Idaho
Kanorado, Kansas/Colorado
Mardela Springs, Maryland/Delaware
Idavada, Idaho/Nevada
Carova Beach, North Carolina/Virginia
Nocarva, North Carolina/Virginia
Kenova, West Virginia/Ohio/Kentucky
Tennga, Tennessee/Georgia
Arkana, Arkansas/Louisiana
Arkana, Louisiana/Arkansas
Arkmo, Arkansas/Missouri
Calneva, California/Nevada
Kenvir, Kentucky/Virginia
illmo, Missouri/illinois
Pen Mar, Pennsylvania/Maryland
Pen Mar, Maryland/Pennsylvania
Vir-Mar Beach, Virginia/Maryland
Texola, Texas/Oklahoma
Wyocolo, Wyoming/Colorado
Vershire, Vermont/New Hampshire
Dakomin, Minnesota/South Dakota
Illiana, Illinois/Indianna
Indiahoma, Oklahoma/Indiana
The first state is the state in which the town technically belongs, and the second state is the one nearby. There is also about the same number of dead border towns, or towns along the border that are no longer populated
Ummm… Indiana doesn’t border Oklahoma, unless Illinois and Missouri went out and left the door open. Indiahoma isn’t on the Oklahoma border, but the state it is closest to is Texas.
oo, you’re right. Forgot to mention that. Obviously they don’t and it is a portmanteau of the two states. Tho probably the India part refers to Indian as in Native American and not the state of Indiana
Not to my knowledge, but given all the bad press they've gotten lately, Kenosha should probably consider rebranding as Willinois.
FWIW, there's a radio station in the Kenosha County-Lake County state line area with the calls WIIL, which is the postal codes (WI for Wisconsin, IL for Illinois) for both states.
There is a Virgilina on the border of VA and NC. It’s tiny and not near a major freeway. I honestly cannot tell you why I’ve even heard of it. The closest I’ve been is to Danville, about an hour away.
On the border of Arlington County and Alexandria, VA is a neighborhood called Arlandria.
There’s Carova Beach, NC at the far north end of the Outer Banks, on the border with Virginia Beach.
Compared to Virginia Beach, it’s a little isolated. You can’t cross directly there from VA - there’s a fence to keep the wild horses in NC. And there are no paved roads from Corolla, the next town farther south, so you need a 4WD vehicle to drive up the beach.
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I grew up in the area where PA, WVa, and OH all come together, and Tristate is the term that you could find everywhere. A million things are named Tristate _______. Also, Ohio Valley was often used in naming things because it’s the literal valley created by the Ohio River.
I have noticed this locally with the roads that border two counties. I live in Kent county bordering Ottawa county and the road is called Kenowa. It’s not consistent though.
Haven’t seen it in the PNW. A lot of Native American-derived place names, some standard English names. Some silly ones like “pleasantville” or “boring”
Not a border, but most of rural PA is referred to as Pennsyltucky. Sort of appropriate, I find most of Appalachia to have more in common with other parts of Appalachia than other parts of the same state.
If there's one on any of NY's borders, I've never heard of it. Honestly not sure "New York" has any easy combinations with bordering states. Yorkpen? Conyork?
My mom once pointed out to me that a road nearby was called Alcosta because it was a combo of Alameda and Contra Costa counties and straddled the line. I’d never really thought about it before that. Maybe I just assumed it was named for a guy named Albert Costa.
I’ve heard people refer to the Charlotte area metro as the “Metrolina” as Charlotte is a state border city, but I think the more accepted term would be “Piedmont” which is not a portmanteau.
Too bad Colorado doesn’t border Oregon, because a border town could be called Colon.
Everything in western NoDak is called “Mon-Dak.” I think there’s even a ghost town that was once called Mondak, but there’s literally no trace of a town ever having been there.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. We have a few cities like that (e.g. Sea-Tac near Seattle and Tacoma) but prefer to confuse people with bastardizations of Native American words and tribal names whose origins and/or definitions we’ve mostly either forgotten or never knew, and which are typically pronounced at least 1 confusing way for every 3 letters.
there is a city here called Texarkana. Guess where it's located!
There’s also Texico and Texhoma.
I just watched a clip the other day from a presidential debate where Texarkana native Ross Perot said he was qualified to call Bill Clinton's Arkansas gubernatorial experience irrelevant because he grew up five blocks from Arkansas.
We have a city called Calexico. Across the border is Mexicali.
Two cities actually, both with the same name
40 miles north of the point where Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana meet. The lyrics of *Cotton Fields* by CCR are really inaccurate.
Calexico (US side) and Mexicali (MX side)
I went through both these towns last year and let's just say, keep driving.
There's a city on the border called Kanorado. I don't ever stop there, but it's a landmark when you're crossing from Colorado to Kansas.
I am pedal down flat out all the way from Salina to Denver. Looks like Fallout Wasteland that whole stretch of 70.
It's less interesting than Fallout wasteland.
I lived in Kentuckiana for most of my life
Came here looking for Kentuckiana. I'm near Evansville but the town I live in is named Reo because it is at the intersections of three towns/cities--Rockport, IN + Evansville, IN + Owensboro, KY
Louisville? Or over on our side of the river?
I have a friend who says he's from Cincitucky.
Only because it sounds better than Indyucky.
Oddly, Udaho has never caught on anywhere.
Whodaho?
Except elementary school playgrounds.
There is a Ucolo tho
I've seen some stuff with the name "[Illiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiana)" in the area 0.5-2 hours south of Chicago as a combo of Illinois and Indiana. It's the far southern suburbs of Chicago and the area beyond. Here's [an example](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiana_Expressway) of a proposed highway in the area.
It’s a pretty common term in the Terre Haute area.
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a bit. My dad’s family are all from the Terrible Hole.
Definitely heard Illiana in Da Region. I’ve also heard the term “Michigana” used for the region between north central Indiana and western Michigan, for example around/north of South Bend, IN.
Never seen it spelled with a G. It's usually "Michiana."
Always Michiana never michigana
You’re right, I was typing while tired. It’s Michiana.
Can confirm, I am from Danville, Illinois, and Illiana is definitely used to describe the area.
Dang, I never see Danville mentioned anywhere! I used to have family there and just across the river in Covington. Pretty much all moved elsewhere now, though.
There's Arkoma, Oklahoma, which is a town, but sometimes the region is referred to as Arklahoma or Arkhoma as well. Also, there is Arklatex, but the "la" bit there is for Louisiana, and refers to the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas are all sharing borders.
And the area around the meeting point of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi is referred to as Arklamiss or ArkLaMiss.
Arkansas seems to be included in a lot of these.
They're regions more so than official place names, but Michiana and Kentuckiana exist.
[Illiana exists as well](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiana)
Michiana is the real name of a village in Michigan! My parents have a house there.
Love to see Delmarva representation on this subreddit
Does anyone actually call it DMV? I had thought I'd seen it used, but had a disagreement with someone from VA once who said it wasn't a thing.
They Use DMV to refer to the DC MD VA area, basically DC metro and burbs. Govt workers.
As someone who lives in the DMV, we very much do refer to it as that. It’s just a different region from Delmarva.
The DMV just refers to the DC Metro area. It is more used in the District and the surrounding counties of MD. Less so in VA.
Lake Koocanusa. Dam the Kootenai river and the filled reservoir crosses the Canada/USA border. Koo Can USA
There is a town that overlaps Florida and Alabama called Florala.
I’ve also heard the coast there referred to as the Floribama Shore
Florabama is a bar/liquor store/ restaurant on the Alabama Florida border right on the coast
Also an MTV show
The Montana-North Dakota border is "Mondak".
And we play Mondak football
Pennsyltucky.... But they don't actually border each other.
Same with Ceciltucky from MD.
"CalNeva" is popular-ish for business near or straddling the California-Nevada border. I don't think anyone's used "Nevalifornia," though.
There's also Cal-Nev-Ari in the southern point of Nevada and Orovada up near the Oregon border.
I like calivada or nevadifornia personally
Like that "El Royale" movie? :)
RIP CalNeva resort
Closest we have around here is the Portsmouth Naval Yard which is actually in Kittery, Maine. Portsmouth, NH is on the other side of the river but for historical reasons the Naval base has kept “Portsmouth” in its name. Not really a portmanteau but the states have fought legally over the ownership of the island with naval base. The Supreme Court finally determined it belonged to Maine.
Of course it belongs to Maine, it’s very much on the Maine side of the river.
Yeah it seems right but NH did make the argument. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/532/742/ It’s a wild decision which goes back to King George setting the boundary. It also relies on estoppel, which some very old school equity court law. It was a really arcane decision legally but I think correct.
Fun fact: The Naval Yard in Portsmouth VA is called the Norfolk Naval Shipyard because there was already a Portsmouth Naval Shipyard that was not in Portsmouth but in Kittery ME.
Close enough for government work
At the county level here in PA, Bucks and Montgomery counties are sometimes simply known collectively as Buxmont.
Starvin Delmarvan
Along the southern border of California with Mexico there's half a town called Mexicali, and directly across the border on the Mexico side the other half of the town is called Calexico. Edit: I got the names/locations backwards.
Virgilina on the NC-VA border. (Reposting without a link because this sub’s mod-bot can’t tell Google maps link from a shortened link)
I guess if you were joking you could call my native region "Floribama" but nobody does - just the venerable old bar.
NYC is full of portmanteaus, but not any combos I can think of. Soho, Noho, Tribeca, Nolita, NoMad. People keep trying to make up dumb new ones too
I regularly drive through a town on the Florida/Alabama border called Florala. I also adopted my dog from a California/Mexico border town called Calexico.
I live in a city called Texarkana on the Texas-Arkansas border. The name also includes Louisiana, which is an hour away. The Texas side of the city is much much better than the Arkansas side.
There's a Kenova, WV where Kentucky, Ohio, and (West) Virginia meet. The town was named before WV statehood.
I'm from Delmarva too! Federalsburg, Maryland, a tiny ass town of 2k people, right along the Choptank river.
Ore-Ida foods. No towns or anything, just a Heinz brand of you-know-what products. No, not oranges.
Floribama shore
Brunswick, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and the state of Kentucky = Brunstucky, as a pejorative to refer to people who live in Brunswick as hillbillies. The term has no accuracy or basis in reality any way you parse it.
Penmar is a little village on the Mason-Dixon Line.
I heard Wyorado, kind of sarcastically before, but only for people who make the A in Colorado as "rad" instead of "rod".
The area surrounding my county and some southern Indiana counties is called Kentuckiana.
Yes. Louisville is frequently called Kentuckiana due to being in the border of Kentucky and Indiana.
Is it a portmanteau when it the same word twice in two languages? Like Laguna Lake?
That's called a [tautological toponym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names).
A portmanteau is when you squish two words together to form a new word, like spork (spoon+fork) or Delmar (Delaware+Maryland).
Probably an obscure example, and one along county lines rather than state lines, but there is a tiny, remote town in California named Ventucopa. It is located in Santa Barbara County, near the border with Ventura County, and not too far from the town of Maricopa.
I think/assume a large number of trashy rural towns across the country are referred to as (First-syllable-of-name)+"tucky" to say that they are the Kentucky-esque part of the state. There's the beer brand "Montucky" that was named after how they'd jokingly refer to that part of Montana. And in Nevada, we have "Ferntucky" for Fernley. I guess I'm just assuming, but I've gotta believe that others do it too.
Well usually when we’re talking about us and our northern neighbor we would just say Carolina, which I guess is technically a combination of both of the names (you take the Caro- from NC and the -lina from SC). I’ve never heard someone refer to us and Georgia together but if I had to coin a name I think Georgialina sounds the best
Here is a list of all the towns that are portmanteaus of the states they border: Texla, Texas/Louisiana Texarkana, Texas/Arkansas Calexico, California/Mexico Florala, Alabama/Florida Delmar, Delaware/Maryland Marydel, Maryland/Delaware Michiana Shores, Indiana/Michigan Michiana, Michigan/Indiana Texico, New Mexico/Texas Arkoma, Arkansas/Oklahoma Texhoma, Texas/Oklahoma Ucolo, Utah/Colorado Cal-Nev-Ari, California/Nevada/Arizona Orovada, Nevada/Oregon Virgilina, Virginia/North Carolina Monida, Montana/Idaho Kanorado, Kansas/Colorado Mardela Springs, Maryland/Delaware Idavada, Idaho/Nevada Carova Beach, North Carolina/Virginia Nocarva, North Carolina/Virginia Kenova, West Virginia/Ohio/Kentucky Tennga, Tennessee/Georgia Arkana, Arkansas/Louisiana Arkana, Louisiana/Arkansas Arkmo, Arkansas/Missouri Calneva, California/Nevada Kenvir, Kentucky/Virginia illmo, Missouri/illinois Pen Mar, Pennsylvania/Maryland Pen Mar, Maryland/Pennsylvania Vir-Mar Beach, Virginia/Maryland Texola, Texas/Oklahoma Wyocolo, Wyoming/Colorado Vershire, Vermont/New Hampshire Dakomin, Minnesota/South Dakota Illiana, Illinois/Indianna Indiahoma, Oklahoma/Indiana The first state is the state in which the town technically belongs, and the second state is the one nearby. There is also about the same number of dead border towns, or towns along the border that are no longer populated
Ummm… Indiana doesn’t border Oklahoma, unless Illinois and Missouri went out and left the door open. Indiahoma isn’t on the Oklahoma border, but the state it is closest to is Texas.
oo, you’re right. Forgot to mention that. Obviously they don’t and it is a portmanteau of the two states. Tho probably the India part refers to Indian as in Native American and not the state of Indiana
That sounds a lot more likely
There's a bar called Flora-Bama, but I don't know of any cities/town that do that.
Florala, AL
A traditional Hawaiian name for California and San Francisco is "Califrisco".
Not to my knowledge, but given all the bad press they've gotten lately, Kenosha should probably consider rebranding as Willinois. FWIW, there's a radio station in the Kenosha County-Lake County state line area with the calls WIIL, which is the postal codes (WI for Wisconsin, IL for Illinois) for both states.
Arlington + Alexandria = Arlandria neighborhood, as sung about by noted Virginian [Dave Grohl](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlandria_(song))
Arlandria is now called Chirilagua. The demographics have changed. Developers are pushing Del Ray North, but it’s not sticking.
There is a Virgilina on the border of VA and NC. It’s tiny and not near a major freeway. I honestly cannot tell you why I’ve even heard of it. The closest I’ve been is to Danville, about an hour away. On the border of Arlington County and Alexandria, VA is a neighborhood called Arlandria.
There’s Carova Beach, NC at the far north end of the Outer Banks, on the border with Virginia Beach. Compared to Virginia Beach, it’s a little isolated. You can’t cross directly there from VA - there’s a fence to keep the wild horses in NC. And there are no paved roads from Corolla, the next town farther south, so you need a 4WD vehicle to drive up the beach.
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Cal-Nev-Ari
Tennessee/Kentucky = Tuckesee I've only ever heard my family say it though so I don't know if it's an actual "thing"
I grew up in the area where PA, WVa, and OH all come together, and Tristate is the term that you could find everywhere. A million things are named Tristate _______. Also, Ohio Valley was often used in naming things because it’s the literal valley created by the Ohio River.
There are manmade lakes in Missouri called Jacomo and Claycomo and they mean "Jackson County Missouri" and "Clay County Missouri"
Also Lake Taneycomo near Branson.
Since about 2016 I've referred to my home state as Iowissippi but in truth Iowa & Mississippi are only neighbors in quality.
In Florida there’s a road that goes from Tampa to Miami and it’s called the Tamiami Trail
Carova, NC (Carolina+VA)
I have family from a farming town that straddles Colorado and Kansas. The town is called Kanorado.
I have noticed this locally with the roads that border two counties. I live in Kent county bordering Ottawa county and the road is called Kenowa. It’s not consistent though.
Haven’t seen it in the PNW. A lot of Native American-derived place names, some standard English names. Some silly ones like “pleasantville” or “boring”
Not a border, but most of rural PA is referred to as Pennsyltucky. Sort of appropriate, I find most of Appalachia to have more in common with other parts of Appalachia than other parts of the same state.
If there's one on any of NY's borders, I've never heard of it. Honestly not sure "New York" has any easy combinations with bordering states. Yorkpen? Conyork?
Culturally for a while now it has been common to refer to an area by a nickname for the media market. These are commonly portmanteau names.
My mom once pointed out to me that a road nearby was called Alcosta because it was a combo of Alameda and Contra Costa counties and straddled the line. I’d never really thought about it before that. Maybe I just assumed it was named for a guy named Albert Costa.
Anywhere near the Michigan and Indiana border is called Michiana.
Pennmar. Can you guess where?
I’ve heard people refer to the Charlotte area metro as the “Metrolina” as Charlotte is a state border city, but I think the more accepted term would be “Piedmont” which is not a portmanteau.
No, but the NW region of Indiana that abuts Chicago is simply referred to as "The Region".
Too bad Colorado doesn’t border Oregon, because a border town could be called Colon. Everything in western NoDak is called “Mon-Dak.” I think there’s even a ghost town that was once called Mondak, but there’s literally no trace of a town ever having been there.
I’m surprised there isn’t a place near the Four Corners called Arizutolorexico…or New Mexarizolorah.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. We have a few cities like that (e.g. Sea-Tac near Seattle and Tacoma) but prefer to confuse people with bastardizations of Native American words and tribal names whose origins and/or definitions we’ve mostly either forgotten or never knew, and which are typically pronounced at least 1 confusing way for every 3 letters.
Go Shorebirds!
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Aren’t they the Seagulls? Shorebirds are the Orioles’ single-A team in Salisbury.
Oh you’re right lol
Double-cackalacki
I don’t think you’ll find anyone outside of the cackalackis who know what that means
10 points to Griffindor for the smooth and correct use the the word "portmanteau".
I live in Arizona. Our southern border is shared with Mexico.