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Can you pronounce New Hampshire’s trickiest town name?

Can you pronounce New Hampshire’s trickiest town name?

A view of the White Mountains the top of Mt. Monroe in New Hampshire. Brian Yurasits/Unsplash

By Katy Savage

August 20, 2025

A version of this story appeared in the Granite Post’s newsletter. Subscribe to it here.

 

If you ever stumble over the pronunciation of a New Hampshire town name, you’re not alone. According to Mental Floss, the trickiest town to pronounce in the state is Milan, in Coös County. It’s pronounced MY-linn—not like the Italian city.

The list comes from a study by language-learning site Preply, which identified the hardest towns to pronounce in each state. You can check out a map of all 50 states’ most challenging town names here.

Some of these names come from Native languages, others from French origins, and some are the result of early settlers blending two names together. Some are named after people, as is the case of Milan.

The town, with a population now of about 1,400 was originally called Paulsbourg in 1771, named for Paul Wentworth, a cousin of Gov. John Wentworth, according to this New Hampshire state website. In 1824, Gov. Levi Woodbury renamed it Milan after businessman Milan Harris, who established some of America’s first woolen mills in Harrisville. Harrisville, in Cheshire County, also happens to be named after Harris.

A few more town name highlights from around New England:

  • Vermont: Montpelier – mont-PEEL-yər

  • Massachusetts: Worcester – WOO-ster

  • Maine: Seboeis – Seh-BOW-iss

  • Connecticut: Berlin – BURR-lin

And the hardest of all? It could be Alaska’s Nunathloogagamiutbingoi Dunes. Even Mental Floss admits nobody really knows how to say it, but a rough approximation might be: Noo-nath-loo-ga-ga-mee-oot-bin-go-ee.

 

Author

  • Katy Savage

    Katy Savage is the Granite Post's newsletter editor. Katy is an award-winning reporter with more than 10 years of experience working in daily, weekly, and digital news organizations as both an editor and reporter. Katy is a New England native and has a passion for telling stories about where she grew up.

    Have a story tip? Reach Katy at [email protected]. For local reporting in New Hampshire that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Katy's newsletter.

CATEGORIES: LOCAL CULTURE

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