Melbourne suburbs labelled with wacky nicknames
IF someone told you they were off to Crazyburn, via Blokeleigh or dropping into Franga and Scumbury, would you know what they were talking about?
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MELBURNIANS love a good nickname.
Whether you’re catching up with your mates Shazza and Bazza or heading to ‘The G’ or ‘Jeff’s Shed’, it just doesn’t sound right using proper names.
So it’s unsurprising that many of our suburbs have cheekily been given their own unofficial monikers.
Most of these are uncomplimentary and some are downright offensive, but they’re usually tongue-in-cheek or spoken somewhat affectionately by locals.
Indi artist Courtney Barnett has taken the trend global after the Northcote woman performed her scathingly named ditty Depreston on Ellen, stamping the inner-northern suburb with a rather unflattering new name.
But take heart Prestonites, it could have been worse.
Who would want their locale to be widely referred to as Franga? And that’s just one of Frankston’s alternate names. It has also been labelled Franghanistan, Kebabistan, Freakston, Frank’s Town and Funky Town.
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Cranbourne is often called Crimebourne, Cranny or Crannabis, while Boronia is sometimes Boganronia and occasionally Bosnia — after an iPhone autocorrect glitch caught on.
These days you wouldn’t think living in the Bayside hamlet of Hampton was anything to look down your nose at.
But it’s sometimes called ‘Hampton-Oh’- the response you get if you tell someone from Brighton you’re from Hampton.
Here’s our list of wacky suburb nicknames. Tell us below if there’s any we’ve missed.
Altona: Smelltona
Armadale: Dramadale
Ashburton: Trashburton, Smorgys
Ashwood: Trashwood
Boronia: Bosnia, Boganronia, Bosnisch
Box Hill: Pox Hill, Bocka
Braybrook: Braycook
Brighton: Braarton
Carrum Downs: Cazza D
Craigieburn: Crazyburn
Cranbourne: Crimebourne
Dandenong: The ‘Nong, Dandy, Dandybong
Footscray: Footiscray, Footscrazy
Forest Hill: Fozzas, Forry
Frankston: Franga, Franghanistan, Kebabistan, Frank’s Town, Freakston
Glen Iris: Glen Royal
Hampton: Hampton Oh
Heidelberg: Heidelburglary
Kew: Far Kew
Lilydale: East Gippsland
Moonee Ponds: Mopo
Mulgrave: Dulgrave
Narre Warren: Nazza Wazza
Noble Park: Chernobyl Park, Nobbly Park
North Balwyn: North Boring
Oakleigh: Blokeleigh, Brokeleigh, Oak-a-leigh
Pascoe Vale: Paco
Prahran: Prah-Har-Run
Preston: Depreston
Ringwood: The Red Zone, Ringworm, Ringers
Springvale: Passionvale, Springy, Springer
St Albans: Snorbans
Sunbury: Scumbury, Slumbury
Sunshine: Scumshine
Surrey Hills: Slurry Hills
Vermont: Ramsay St
Warrandyte: Wozzas, Boonie Town
Werribee: Wezza Bee
West Footscray: Wefo