How to Pronounce Indiana's Most Mispronounced Town Correctly

Most Indiana cities and towns have names that are pronounced just like they look. Indian-ap-olis. Evans-ville. But a few? They’ll give you pause and might even leave you second-guessing your pronunciation. One of them is known to be one of the most mispronounced towns in the entire country!

Where Did Most Indiana Town Names Come From?

Many of these tricky names come from Indiana’s rich history with Native American tribes and German immigrants. The latter arrived in waves over a span of 150 to 200 years. Some were escaping religious persecution, while others came for the farmland or to find new opportunities as skilled craftsmen and woodworkers pushed westward during the Industrial Revolution.

That German heritage is still alive and well in Evansville, where I live. While the town's name isn’t German, many of the streets and roads around here certainly are. Take Boehne Camp Road (pronounced "Bay-nee Camp"), Heidelbach Avenue (that’s "Hi-dul-bok"), and Weinbach Avenue ("Wine-bok"), not to mention Boeke Road (pronounced "Bay-kee"). It’s a little linguistic adventure around every corner!

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With that said the town 24/7 Wall St. says most Americans will struggle to pronounce has its roots in the state's aforementioned Native American history.

What Indiana Town Name is Most Mispronounced?

According to 24/7 Wall St., the honor goes to the small town of Cayuga in Vermillion County. The town of just over 1,200 residents sits on the western edge of the state, roughly three miles from the Illinois border.

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How Do You Pronounce Cayuga Correctly?

When you see the name "Cayuga," your brain probably jumps to "Kay-you-guh," right? Well, that’s not quite it! The correct pronunciation is actually "Kye-oo-guh."

According to 24/7 Wall St., the name comes from a Native American tribe that originally lived in New York State before being pushed westward. This ties in with some historical context provided by Wikipedia, citing the 1975 book Indiana Place Names by Ronald L. Baker and Marvin Carmony:

"When the town was laid out on September 20, 1827, it was called Eugene Station, and also known as Osonimon after an Indian chief. It was later renamed after the village of Cayuga and Cayuga Lake in New York. An early settler named John Groenendyke originally came from Cayuga County, New York, moved to Vigo County in 1818, and then to the area that became Vermillion County in 1819. The name is based on the Iroquois term Gwa-u-geh, meaning 'the place of taking out.'"

Fun Fact About Cayuga

Cayuga was once the site of the Colonial Brick Corporation, which began producing bricks in 1904. After operating for 112 years, it closed its doors in 2016, making it notable for housing the last coal-fired brick kilns in the entire country.

Kenny Lewis via Facebook

Today, those former kilns look like they came from some sort of steampunk version of The Lord of the Rings. But they are a significant part of Indiana's history. You can read more about that here.

[Sources: 24/7 Wall St. / Wikipedia]

KEEP READING: 40 Real Indiana Towns with Quirky, Weird, and Funny Names

Outside the major cities, the Hoosier state is full of tiny little towns you've probably passed through on your way to one of those cities. Most of them are likely 100 to 150 years old, or older, and have been around far longer than the large metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville. Typically, they were started by early settlers who found their way to the state and decided to make it home. Eventually, others would join them, and a community was formed. Over time, as the surrounding areas grew, most of them were folded into those areas and governed by the nearest city or county's governing body officially making them "unincorporated," meaning they did not have their own formally organized municipal government.

A scroll through Wikipedia's long list of unincorporated communities in Indiana shows several of them have names that by today's standards would be considered weird, quirky, or just downright right funny. These are my 40 favorities.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

33 Indiana Towns with International Names

From Holland to China, Cuba to Switzerland, and everywhere in between, several towns across the Hoosier State borrow their names from countries and cities around the globe.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

Source: Indiana Town Among America’s Most Mispronounced – Here’s How You Say It

Categories: Indiana Travel