Here are ten Delaware town names that will leave your GPS—and probably you—scratching your head, doubting reality, or rethinking basic navigation. From the curiously violent to the laughably silly and the wildly unexpected, these real places might just cause an existential crisis on any digital (or paper) map.
1. Slaughter Beach
This peaceful beach town has a name that conjures horror-movie vibes rather than relaxation. Theories about its origin range from an old family name to local legends involving horseshoe crabs and colonial conflicts.
2. Blue Ball
Not technically a town but an unincorporated area—just imagine the look on your GPS (and your passengers) when you say “Navigate to Blue Ball, Delaware.” There’s even a Blue Ball Barn for extra confusion.
3. Broadkill
This beach community doubles as a river name. And yes, there’s also a nearby Murderkill River. “Kill” is Dutch for creek or river, but that won’t stop your navigation app from sounding like it’s plotting mischief.
4. Wyoming
Nope, you’re not lost out West. Welcome to the much smaller, much more humid Wyoming, Delaware—your GPS won’t know whether to set course for the Rockies or the heart of Kent County.
5. Gumboro
Say it aloud—“Gumboro.” No gum factories, just a long-standing rural community near the Maryland line with a name that sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
6. Bacons
Breakfast fans, settle down—it’s not a bacon paradise but a tiny community named for an early settling family and its once-bustling rail switch.
7. Port Mahon
Most visitors would default to “May-hone” or “mah-HONE,” but locals say it’s “MAY-hon”—named after a Spanish city, adding pronunciation anxiety to your GPS adventure.
8. Long Neck
No giraffes here, despite how it sounds—just coastal Delaware at its most tongue-in-cheek, where the landscape is flat and muddy.
9. Leipsic
Pronounced “LIP-sick” or is it “LIP-zick”? Even locals joke about this one. Don’t be surprised if your navigation system offers to reroute you to Leipzig, Germany instead.
10. Corner Ketch
Taking its name from either French, English, or pure mystery, Corner Ketch sits quietly near the state line, waiting patiently to confound travelers and their satellites alike.
With names like these, navigational certainty is thrown out the window, humor is in high supply, and Delaware’s quirky charm shines bright on every map—no existential crisis required.
