It's Named After WHO? Trivia Quiz

Answer: The first postmaster's son

Arab, a city that lies in both Cullman and Marshall counties in Alabama, was named after the son of the town's founding father and first postman. Ironically, the post office officials to whom postmaster Tuttle Thompson turned in his requested name for the town, actually MISSPELLED his son's name!

So, ARAD Thompson had his name "corrected" by the U.S. Postal Service, and Arab, Alabama got its name. Now, when the people who send letters all over the country take to incorrectly spelling stuff, that's pretty bad! Of course, this all happened in 1892, and it's just a little bit too late to fix now.

Answer: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

In 1719, a cottage known as "The King of Prussia Inn" lent its name to this community in Pennsylvania; not the other way around. It, in turn, had obtained its name from Frederick II, King of Prussia. The cottage was converted to an inn in 1769, and while no actual incorporated town exists, King of Prussia does have its own zip code, albeit as an exurb of Philadelphia.

Answer: Marie-Joseph Motier, Marquis de La Fayette

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (what a mouthful!) assisted General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. He served under Washington's command of the Continental Army with the rank of Major-General.

The two men became friends for life, to the extent that Lafayette named his son after the yet-future president; Georges Washington de La Fayette!

At one point during the French Revolution, Georges was even a house guest of his namesake, staying with the Washington's at both the presidential mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at their home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Answer: Harris G. Joplin, a Methodist minister

The town of Joplin, Missouri was established in 1873. It was named after the Reverend Harris Gilliam Joplin, who was an early settler in the area and founded the first Methodist church in the Joplin area.

Originally, the town of Joplin had been the result of two towns merging together; Carthage and Murphysburg. The merger proved to be illegally accomplished, however, and as a result the new town of Union City was abolished, with the towns each becoming one again.

Shortly afterwards in 1873 they were again rejoined, this time legally, and collectively became known as Joplin.

Answer: William Barstow Strong

William Barstow Strong's name has been memorialized by the town of Barstow, California, which had previously been called by such colorful names as "Camp Sugarloaf", "Waterman Junction" and "Grapevine".

Oh, and did I mention it gets COLD here in the winter, too? It does, with the thermometer dipping to a chilly 30°F. Since Barstow is in the "high desert" and is located about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada, it has four distinct seasons, with extremes in temperature quite common throughout the year.

Barstow was founded essentially as a result of the influence of the railroads as they passed through the area in the late 1800s. The town maintained a large quantity of train-related equipment and repair facilities.

Barstow is located in San Bernardino County and according to statistics from the 2010 census, had a population of over 22,000 folks. Nearby are two military facilities; the U.S. Army's National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, and the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow.

The towns of Strong City, Kansas, and Stronghurst, Illinois are also named in honor of railroad president William Barstow Strong.

(As a former U.S. soldier who served at the NTC, I can personally attest to the extremes of cold and heat that are "enjoyed" year-round!)

Answer: Alfred M. Welcome; a British homesteader

Welcome, Minnesota, just BEGS to have an exclamation point after it, now doesn't it?

Originally known as Lily Creek, Welcome was established as a town in 1890. Its name was later changed to honor an Englishman named Alfred M. Welcome, who set up a homestead and farmed in the area in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War.

Answer: Raleigh

While these are all names of North Carolina towns, the capital, named after Sir Walter Raleigh, is the answer you are seeking. Not only did Raleigh and his wife serve time in prison for his having married her (she was one of Queen Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting), after the queen's death he had to serve another stint of 13 years for allegedly being involved in a plot to overthrow King James the First, after which he was again released.

His troubles were not over, however, because a mere two years later, he was accused of allowing his men to attack a Spanish outpost in the New World nation of Venezuela. For this, Raleigh was beheaded in 1618.

Answer: False

Uh, if you thought that Texas loaned its name out, sorry 'bout that pardner!

Huntsville, Alabama was named first, then Huntsville, Texas got its name from the city of Huntsville in north Alabama. It seems that the postmaster of Huntsville, Texas, a man who had migrated westward, Ephraim Gray, decided to call the city after his former hometown.

Huntsville, Alabama became the first incorporated city in Alabama in 1811.

The man for whom IT was named, John Hunt, had been a Revolutionary War hero, so the city adopted his name for itself due to anti-British sentiment during the period of 1805-06.

Answer: Soldier

Hopefully you focused intently on the "Fort" part of the name. If so, you probably got the correct answer. Major William Lauderdale is honored in the name, after establishing no less than three forts in the area after the Second Seminole War.

In 1830, Major Lauderdale, (a native Virginian) led a band of Tennessee volunteers deep into Florida and helped to subue the native Seminole Indians.

(They probably hadn't seen the NEED to be subued, but well, that's the way it was.)

Answer: False

While Crockett, Texas was in fact named for Davy Crockett, California's town of Crockett, (formerly called Crockettville) took its name from a California Supreme Court justice, Joseph B. Crockett. This town began in 1883 as a company headquarters for California and Hawaiian Sugar Company.

Crockett, Texas was established in 1837, after a Tennessee family donated the land for its location along the Old San Antonio Road, which was essentially a series of roads that crisscrossed each other from Louisana through portions of Texas.