DELAWARE - Whether you are taking a road trip down from New Jersey, crossing the border from Pennsylvania, or just exploring the neighboring coast of Maryland, you will quickly discover that the First State is home to some incredibly bizarre and surprisingly "raunchy" town names. While Delaware may be famous for its pristine beaches, tax-free shopping, and deep colonial history, whoever was in charge of naming its local municipalities clearly had a unique sense of humor.
From hilarious double entendres to slightly sinister-sounding beachfronts, here is a look at the most unusual, head-scratching, and raunchy-sounding town names you will find scattered across Delaware.
1. Blue Ball (New Castle County)
You cannot discuss raunchy Delaware geography without starting with Blue Ball. Located just north of Wilmington at the busy intersection of U.S. Route 202 and Route 141, this unincorporated community has been making middle schoolers (and adults) giggle for decades.
Despite the uncomfortable biological innuendo, the name's origin is completely innocent. In the early colonial days, the area was home to an incredibly popular inn and rest stop, the Blue Ball Tavern. The tavern famously hung a large, blue-painted sphere outside its doors so travelers could easily spot it from the dirt roads. The tavern is long gone, but the legendary, slightly inappropriate name remains firmly planted on modern maps.
2. Long Neck (Sussex County)
Heading down south toward the beaches, you will eventually hit Long Neck, a rapidly growing coastal community situated right between Rehoboth Bay and the Indian River Bay. While the name sounds like a cheeky physical description, it is actually a literal geographic term.
In the 17th century, early settler William Burton laid out a massive track of land that jutted out into the water in a long, remarkably thin shape. In traditional coastal terminology, a "neck" refers to a narrow strip of land extending into a body of water. Today, Long Neck is packed with boating communities, crab shacks, and marinas, though the name still raises a few eyebrows for out-of-town visitors.
3. Primehook Beach (Sussex County)
Just up the coast from Lewes, you will find the quiet, incredibly scenic community of Primehook Beach and the massive Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. If you say it too fast, it sounds like an incredibly bold rating system for an underground red-light district, but the truth is deeply rooted in early European exploration.
The Dutch originally settled the area, and the word "hook" is an anglicized version of the Dutch "hoek," which means a point or corner of land. Over the centuries, the original Dutch phrasing evolved into "Prime Hook." Today, the only thing you will catch here is a stunning coastal sunrise or a variety of migratory birds.
4. Broadkill Beach (Sussex County)
While not exactly "raunchy," Broadkill Beach sounds like the setting of a gritty 1980s action movie or a devastating true-crime documentary. However, much like Primehook, this intimidating moniker is just another case of Dutch history lost in translation.
In Dutch, the word "kill" simply means a creek, riverbed, or water channel. Broadkill Beach is situated right where a particularly wide creek flows out toward the Delaware Bay. Despite sounding incredibly violent, it is actually one of the most peaceful, sleepy, and family-friendly hidden gems on the entire Delaware coastline.
5. Slaughter Beach (Sussex County)
Rounding out the list is the infamous Slaughter Beach, a town name so aggressive that it borders on the absurd. Founded in 1681, there are actually a few competing local legends about how this devious and dark name came to be.
The most widely accepted, mundane theory is that it was named after an early town postmaster named Slaughter. However, a more colorful local legend claims the name refers to the massive, annual springtime spawning of horseshoe crabs, which cover the beach in such staggering numbers that it historically looked like a "slaughter" from a distance. Regardless of which origin story is true, it certainly stands out on a highway exit sign.
