New Mexico has hundreds of communities with names drawn from Spanish, Indigenous languages, railroad history, mining camps, local geography, and occasionally someone’s imagination. Some have fascinating stories behind them, while others are memorable simply because they sound strange on a road sign.

Popular Unusual Names

Truth or Consequences

Probably New Mexico’s most famous unusual town name, Truth or Consequences was originally called Hot Springs. The town adopted its current name in 1950 after the popular radio game show Truth or Consequences announced that it would broadcast from the first community willing to rename itself after the program.

Pie Town

Pie Town was named after an early roadside merchant who became known for selling homemade pies to travelers crossing western New Mexico. The name is generally associated with Norman Smith, a miner and storekeeper who served pies to people traveling west during the 1920s.

Zuzax

Zuzax is a completely invented name. Entrepreneur Herman Ardans coined it for a Route 66 trading post he opened during the 1950s, reportedly choosing the name so it would appear near the end of alphabetical directories.

Carrizozo

The area around Carrizozo was once known as Carrizo Flats, after the Spanish word carrizo, meaning reeds or reed grass. According to local tradition, the additional “zo” was added to emphasize the abundance of carrizo growing there.

Albuquerque

Albuquerque was named for Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, the Duke of Alburquerque and viceroy of New Spain. The original Spanish spelling included a second “r,” which was gradually dropped. The name Alburquerque is generally traced to the Latin words albus and quercus, meaning “white oak.”

Short Names and Names That Are Fun to Say

Jal

Jal is a small oil and ranching town in southeastern New Mexico. Its three-letter name is one of the shortest municipal names in the state. The name came from the JAL cattle brand used by the Cowden Ranch, which once covered a large portion of what became Lea County.

Texico

Located directly along the Texas state line, Texico, New Mexico combines the names Texas and New Mexico.

Tucumcari

Tucumcari is one of New Mexico’s most recognizable place names, although the precise origin and meaning of the name remain disputed.

Bibo

Bibo is a small community west of Albuquerque. It’s named for the Bibo brothers, a family of traders who settled in the area during the 1880s. Its short, cute-sounding name makes it stand out on maps.

Towns Named After Animals

Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake is a small community in northwestern New Mexico with a name that immediately communicates the realities of living in the desert Southwest.

Coyote

Several places in New Mexico use the name Coyote, including a small northern New Mexico community.

Raton

Ratón means “mouse” in Spanish. The city took its name from nearby Raton Pass and the Raton Range, although stories differ on why those landmarks were originally associated with mice.

Truchas

Truchas means “trout” in Spanish. The northern New Mexico village was named for the trout found in nearby streams.

Elephant Butte

Elephant Butte was named for a distinctive volcanic landform that resembles an elephant. Despite the discovery of ancient elephant-like fossils elsewhere in the region, the name refers to the shape of the butte rather than prehistoric animals.

Names from Native Languages

Nageezi

Nageezi is a Navajo community in northwestern New Mexico. Its name comes from the Navajo word Naayízí, meaning “squash,” and local history connects it to a woman who grew or discovered wild squash in the area.

Brimhall Nizhoni

Brimhall Nizhoni combines the English surname Brimhall with nizhóní, a Navajo word meaning “beautiful,” although the complete history behind the combined name is not well documented.

Ohkay Owingeh

Ohkay Owingeh is the traditional Tewa name of the Pueblo formerly known as San Juan Pueblo. The name means “Place of the Strong People,” and the community officially restored it in 2005.

Chilili

Contrary to popular belief, Chilili is not a corruption of the word “chili.” The name comes from a Pueblo language and is commonly interpreted as referring to a weak spring or water that barely trickles from the ground.

Mining, Railroad, and Company Town Names

Tyrone

Tyrone was established as a company mining town in southwestern New Mexico. Its name sounds more like a person’s first name than a settlement.

Acme

The settlement was named for the Acme Gypsum Cement Company, which operated a plant there during the early 1900s.

Brilliant

Brilliant was a coal-mining settlement established near the Brilliant Mine in the early 1900s. According to local tradition, the name referred to the brilliant shine or luster of the coal found there.

Brilliant No. 2

Brilliant No. 2 was another coal-mining settlement established near the Brilliant. Its original name was Swastika but was changed in 1940 to avoid association with Nazi Germany.

Thoreau

Thoreau appears to be named after American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, although local history sometimes attributes the name to a railroad or town official. New Mexicans generally pronounce it “thuh-ROO,” rather than like the writer’s name.

Names That Sound Like Everyday Words

Candy Kitchen

Candy Kitchen is a small community near Ramah in western New Mexico. According to local tradition, the name originated during Prohibition, when a rancher making moonshine needed a believable explanation for purchasing large amounts of sugar. His wife sold homemade fudge as a front, giving the area the name Candy Kitchen.

Weed

Weed is a tiny mountain community in the Sacramento Mountains. Despite what modern visitors might assume, it was not named for cannabis or unwanted vegetation. The community and its post office were named for W. H. Weed, a merchant associated with the mining town of White Oaks.

Organ

Organ is a former mining community located near the Organ Mountains east of Las Cruces. Both the town and mountain range have inspired competing explanations for their unusual names.

Counselor

Counselor is a Navajo community in northwestern New Mexico. Rather than referring to a therapist, attorney, or government official, the community was named for Jim Counselor, a trader who opened an early trading post in the area.

Names that Sound Like They Belong in a Movie

Radium Springs

Radium Springs was named during an era when naturally occurring radioactive minerals were believed to give hot springs special health benefits.

Cloudcroft

Cloudcroft’s name combines “cloud” with the old English word croft, meaning a small enclosed field. Sitting at nearly 9,000 feet in the Sacramento Mountains, the “cloud” part is certainly appropriate.

Holy Ghost

Holy Ghost is a small mountain community and recreation area in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The name is an English translation of the area’s earlier Spanish name, Espíritu Santo, or “Holy Spirit.”

City of the Sun

City of the Sun is a small community in southwestern New Mexico. Its grand name makes it sound far larger and more futuristic than it actually is.

Continental Divide

Continental Divide is an actual community along Interstate 40 near the geographic Continental Divide. Its name makes it sound less like a town and more like a label from a physical geography textbook.

Little Walnut Village

Little Walnut Village is located near Silver City. The name sounds more like a storybook neighborhood than a community in southwestern New Mexico.

New Mexico’s unusual place names reflect every chapter of the state’s history. Spanish colonization, Indigenous languages, mining camps, railroads, local landmarks, company towns, radio contests, and outright invention have all left their marks on the map. The result is a state where a road trip can take you from Weed to Pie Town, through Truth or Consequences, and eventually all the way to Zuzax.