I didn’t realize the earlier Manly Places would get much of a reaction. Actually the title did suggest an element of foreshadowing. Everyone in the Twelve Mile Circle audience who thought it should have featured places named Manly, go ahead and take a bow. I intended to link the previous article to this one all along. As often happens however, a couple of savvy readers noticed it before I could write the second part. I figured I might as well start with their suggestions as I took a closer look.
Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Ross Finlayson figured it might involve Manly Beach (map), a few kilometres northeast of Sydney, Australia. That’s where my mind went originally, too! I’d never been to Manly Beach although I visited Sydney a number of years ago and I guess the name must have lodged in my memory from that time. I kept thinking about frequent 12MC commentator “John of Sydney” as I wrote this, too. I bet he’d have some good insight.
Manly Beach hugged the eastern side of the town of Manly and featured some of the best surfing in Australia. Ordinarily I might consider that idle boasting, a little something that every seaside spot along the continent probably claimed. However, Manly’s boast probably mattered more than most. It hosted the Australian Open of Surfing each year. It was also quite accessible. Someone could hop on a ferry at Sydney’s Circular Quay and hit the surf in about a half-hour. It seemed like it could get quite crowded during the summer though.
Apparently the name came from the manly indigenous inhabitants of the area. Captain Arthur Phillip bestowed the title upon this place during his early efforts to colonize Australia in the late Eighteenth century. Allegedly he said, “their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place.”
UPDATE: I visited Manly Beach in 2018!
Manly, Iowa, USA
Then reader “zxo” seemed a bit melancholy that I’d not given Manly, Iowa its proper due (map). I’d never heard of this particular Manly although it seemed like a fine suggestion. The place derived from a surname. How many times have we seen towns in the Midwestern U.S. that were named because of railroads? Add this one to the list too. The City of Manly explained that,
“In 1877, the Burlington/Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad (BCR&N) joined the Central of Iowa track with its own track from Plymouth Junction. The site was named Manly Junction after Central of Iowa’s freight agent, J.C. Manly. On October 18, 1898, Manly Junction was incorporated as the Town of Manly, and then in August of 1973, the Town of Manly officially became the ‘City of Manly’ under the State of Iowa’s Home Rule Act.”
J.C. Manly probably never did anything else of historical note during his/her life. Nonetheless, if one worked for a railroad in the United States during the Nineteenth century there was a good chance that a town would be named accordingly. America Fun Fact of the Day said Manly, Iowa Is a Gloriously Named American City in an entertaining if profanity-laden article.
I then examined the surname Manly. A lot of those sketchy heraldry website that try to sell questionable family crests included it. The gist seemed to be that there might be two separate etymologies. One offshoot focused on places named Manly in England. Those derived from Old English words meaning shared woodlands or glades. Others with the name probably derived from the Middle English word mannly, meaning, well, manly.
I should also note that many people on the Intertubes found the geographic proximity between Manly and Fertile quite amusing.
Norman Manley International Airport, Jamaica
One more place probably deserved a mention. Norman Manley International Airport served Kingston, Jamaica (map). A variation of the Manly surname included that extra “e” Maybe that made Manley more manly than Manly. I don’t know. Anyway, Norman Manley got that extra letter passed down to him from his ancestors. His Manley grandfather arrived from Yorkshire and married a freed slave. His roots in Jamaica went way back.
Norman Washington Manley earned his accolades. He served at the forefront of labor and unionization movements starting in the 1930’s. He later led negotiations that resulted in Jamaica’s independence from Britain. Jamaica conferred upon him the Order of National Hero. They also named their second busiest airport after him. Most tourists flew into Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay although Manley also saw a good bit of traffic. I noticed flights to and from various cities in the U.S., the Caribbean, and even Guyana.
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