I admit I bought Orange Banana seeds just because the name intrigued me. :-)

I also like the name Zebra. And Banana Legs.

I'll also be honest; I bought Wapsipinicon Peach, Orange Strawberry, and Hawaiian Pineapple because of their names. If any tomato name tickles my funny bone it is either Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg or Stump O' The World.

I have the great pleasure of being able to share the tomato seeds from people around the world. Sometimes a variety comes to me without a known name and just a description and small familial history--it's from these descriptions that you can derive a name. I recently added "Dad's Barber's Paste" to the list. Shortly before that I added a family heirloom named by the donator for his father--the "George Curtiss Spoon Tomato".

Heirloom tomato names are charming because they are usually a compilation of Proper Nouns or regular nouns, and an adjective or two.

You can play lots of games making heirloom names.

Rules of Selection:

1) Proper Noun--you can choose an ancestor or living person to memorialize, or choose a location, whatever.

2) regular noun--obvious or obscure, it doesn't matter.

3) Adjective or two--could be color, shape, size, flavor.

4)?--up to you

If an heirloom variety comes to me I collect all the information I can about it from the person who sent it to me and let them name it, or sometimes we do it together, but I've never just named a variety by myself.

I was sent an heirloom by someone in CA and asked him to name it and he asked the woman who had given it to him to name it and she named it Sophie's Choice, an heirloom from Edmonton, Canada. I think Barry was just as surprised as I was when she named it Sophie's Choice.

Several years ago I let folks here at GW help me name a variety after giving them the info I had and 22 folks participated. The name of the variety is Neves Azorean Red and I sent seeds of it to all those who participated. I did that as an example of what goes into the naming of a variety.

Just a few comments on names already mentioned.

Bloody Butcher was bred by Sahin Seeds in Holland and was no doubt named Bloody Butcher after the well known heirloom corn variety. it sure does get folks attention. LOL

Stump of the World was named by Ben Quisenberry, the legendary tomato collector who is also the person who got seeds for Brandywine( Sudduth/Quisenberry) from Doris Sudduth Hill. Ben was a very religious man and on all seed packs he sent out he wrote something religious.

Stump of the World no doubt refers to the "root of Jesse" from the Bible.

Olga's Round, etc., is a direct translation from the Russian of this Siberian variety that was brought back from Siberia by Bill McDorman of High Altitude Seeds when that area was first opened to outsiders. Of those varieties he brought back I guess my name fave is Grandpa's Cock's Plume. LOL

Orange Strawberry I did name in consultation with Marjorie Morris who had sent me German Red Strawberry, and we both named that one. Orange Strawberry she found as a stray seed in a pack of commercial Pineapple ( bicolor) seeds. And I first listed both in the SSE Yearbook quite a few years ago.

Carolyn

Turkey Chomp is one that comes to mind. Very good tomato,
very odd name! :)

Lee

Although Black Sea Man is not necessarily my favorite name, it makes me chuckle when people ask me what tomato it is. You should see the looks I get! Then I have to repeat..."Black...Sea...Man", not "Black Semen"!LOL

I have a client I share our tomato harvest with who is continually amazed at the names of the tomatoes I give her. Kellog's Breakfast elicited the question "Where do they get these names?" But the first thing she asked after I told her I was planning my 2008 garden was "you are going to grow that Chickasaw-whatever-it-is again aren't you?" (I gave her several Cherokee Purples last year and she and her husband swooned over them).

Next year I plan to grow Purple Dog Creek and Dad's Mug (I don't know much about either) just so I can watch her face when I give her some tomatoes and tell her the names.

Purple Dog Creek speaks to me as a really cool name...must be the country in this ole girl. If I'm not growing it this season (yes...I have really bad records again this season) I will be next year.

Sue

noinwi
I may have to grow that next year (Black Sea Man) just because I am a bit of a sickie myself and love seeing eyebrows shoot up to the hairline.

Nebraska Wedding.

I like it because my great grandparents homesteaded in Nebraska. We have a picture of them beside their sod home. Everybody, kids included, looked old and tired. I'm sure the parents were only in their thirties. Those were hard times.

I'm sure a bright tomato would have livened up a wedding in those days!

One name I like alot , because it paints an old timey picture in my head is Grandma Viney's Yellow and Pink
One that makes me giggle now is Mr. Stripey. And it only strikes my funny bone because after I told my sister I was growing it she started laughing and said it sounds like the name of a male stripper.

Mr. Maxwell's Big Italian
(semi-made up)

I have often doubted that all of the different named varieties are really all different varieties. It seems highly possible that people come upon some seeds, grow them and save seeds for a few years, share with their pals, and eventually someone gets them but doesn't know the original name, and makes up a new name.

Short of genetic testing, I guess we'll never know.

I agree, though, that there are some great tomato names.

I'll add here Goat Bag, that I am growing again this season. It was, if I remember correctly, a very smoky tasting tomato.

I noticed this eve, that they are looking good, though none will be ripe for a while yet.

Sue

Saw this one on a blog:
Couiless Du Taureau which translates to "Balls of the Bull", he also mentions Purple Dog Creek and some background info on it.
ChefMark

Humunga cowbunga from Down Unda

"What's in a name... ?" I've tried a few in my lifetime that would have been well named "Big Disappointment"!!

Brad's Black Heart...it's always made me wonder, did a man named "Brad" develop the tomato, or did a woman who was wronged by a man named "Brad" develop the tomato?

Everytime I hear the name Brad's Black Heart, I cant help but think it would be a good name for a Rock Band!! :)

or did a woman who was wronged by a man named "Brad" develop the tomato?

* * *
we may want to post that question to Jennifer Anniston.

Brad's Black Heart...it's always made me wonder, did a man named "Brad" develop the tomato, or did a woman who was wronged by a man named "Brad" develop the tomato?

*****

Actually Brad Gates in CA found this black heart in a field planted with I think Black Krim's, but I'd have to check that out to be sure if it really matters.

No woman involved. LOL

Carolyn

Stump of the World
Marianna's Peace
Bloody Butcher

Limiting my favorite name to one that I grew before..Cow's Tit

I had no idea there were so many different names/varieties! I'm relatively new to the tomato world (ususally have only done supersweet 100 from the seed packet at walmart) so I had no idea! Where do you get all these different types??
thanks!
c

My favorites are teton de aphrodite, and myona

My current favorite name: Turks' Mut aka Turks' Nut

I'm thinking about growing my second current favorite, "10 Fingers of Naples," in honor of my husband's family roots.

If I get to make one up...I like "Pouty" because in a cold, wet late spring, that describes tomato plants perfectly!

My "real" favorite for odd is "Cow's Tit" and of course, because I am me, it's a paste variety.

Day dreaming

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes