BLOOMINGTON - One of the beliefs of how Henpeck, Ill., received its name was that the local postmaster was "henpecked" by his wife during the late 19th century. | SLIDESHOW: The story behind Central Illinois city names

He later moved from the community, without telling his wife, and established a settlement called Harmony in the northeast region of the state.

There have been at least three other communities named Hen Peck in the state. One was in Crawford County and now is named Oblong, which is now part of The Pantagraph's lore for a marriage announcement heading that read "Oblong man marries Normal woman."

Several of the stories and history of how around 3,000 Illinois communities received their name are collected in a new book, "Place Names of Illinois." The book embodies the several years it took author Edward Callary, of DeKalb, to make the phone calls and trips and do the interviews it took to gather the information. The Northern Illinois University professor of 30 years, who teaches Linguistics and American Dialects, said he has always been fascinated by words and word usage. One of his earliest memories piqued his interest in the American vernacular.

"I have always been interested, and I remember as a small lad looking through a newspaper and seeing a picture of a military man whose last name was Sergeant," he said. "They had his name as Capt. Sergeant, and that struck me as being really remarkable."

"I was inspired by just driving around in Illinois, and I would see these interesting and curious names," he said. "I would just wonder why they were given that particular name."

One story tells that the village of Tolono, in Champaign County, received its name in the early 1850s when the route for the Illinois Central Railroad was being formed. A surveyor asked if the site was too low and the answer was no, thus "too low, no." Normal was originally called North Bloomington, and the name changed after the founding of Illinois State Normal University, now ISU.

Bloomington was originally known as Keg Grove, because legend has it that a group of Kickapoo Indians happened across several kegs of whiskey that had been hidden by early settlers. It was then called Blooming Grove, and one story said a settler looked at maple trees and thought "it looks blooming here."

Callary said that several of the names in Illinois can be traced back to Native American origin, such as Kickapoo, Pontiac, Kankakee, Peoria. Thirteen meanings have been attributed to Chicago, from "something great" to "cracked corn makers." Other areas can be traced back to French and European influences, such as Champaign, Joliet and Bourbonnais. There were also a large number of names brought over from Europe; Callary said there were at least 10 places called Hanover and nine Berlins.

Alas, not all communities could have a history attached to them as Callary said there were some left out. McLean County mysteries include Eldorado Township, Glen Avon and Shamrock.

Prior to "Place Names of Illinois," Callary wrote books on surnames and other location names. Currently, he's working on a book that details the geographic distribution of certain areas.

"Did you know that there are 100 names for a swamp," he said.

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About the book

Title: "Place Names of Illinois"

Author: Edward Callary

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Price: $35