Back when I did skip tracing long before the Internet was available, I used to hate Franklin Ohio because there were so many different places called Franklin in the state.
I plan on using this trivia in Boudica and The Butcher. Gideon will hide his movement towards Pilgerruh (present day Cleveland) by saying that he is deploying to a place like Franklin or Washington that could be multiple different places around the state.
** Copilot on Repeat Names of Ohio Townships **
Ohio’s township naming patterns are extremely repetitive, and the data confirms that several names besides Franklin are heavily duplicated statewide. The authoritative count comes from the Ohio Secretary of State’s roster, summarized in the List of Townships in Ohio on Wikipedia.
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📌 Most‑Repeated Township Names in Ohio (besides Franklin)
Ohio has 43 townships named Washington — the most repeated name in the entire state. After that, there are eight other names used 20 or more times statewide.
Here are the top repeats:
🏆 1. Washington Township — 43 townships
The single most common township name in Ohio.
🥈 2. Eight names used 20+ times statewide
Each of these appears in at least twenty different counties:
– Jackson Township
– Madison Township
– Marion Township
– Perry Township
– Union Township
– Liberty Township
– Monroe Township
– Wayne Township
These are the “big nine” repeated names: Washington + eight others.
🥉 3. Franklin Township — 21 townships
This places Franklin in the same tier as the eight above, but just below Washington.
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🧭 Why these names repeat so much
Ohio’s township system dates to the Land Ordinance of 1785, and counties named their townships independently. Popular founding-era figures (Washington, Madison, Monroe, Jackson) and generic civic virtues (Liberty, Union) were reused constantly.
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📌 Summary Table
| Township Name | Count | Notes |
|—————|——–|——-|
| Washington | 43 | Most common name statewide |
| Jackson | 20+ | Founding-era popularity |
| Madison | 20+ | Named for James Madison |
| Marion | 20+ | Named for Francis Marion |
| Perry | 20+ | Named for Commodore Perry |
| Union | 20+ | Generic civic virtue |
| Liberty | 20+ | Generic civic virtue |
| Monroe | 20+ | Named for James Monroe |
| Wayne | 20+ | Named for Gen. Anthony Wayne |
| Franklin | 21 | Named for Benjamin Franklin |
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If you want, I can produce a full ranked list of all 618 township names or a map showing the distribution of the most repeated names — just choose one:
– Rank all township names
– Map repeated township names
– Explain why Ohio’s naming is so repetitive
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