It's all in the name

Malagasy is a fairly descriptive language - snakes are long animals, and insects are small ones.  If one child dies, the next born is sometimes know as “Solo,” which means replacement, and many are named after the days on which they were born. In keeping with this pattern, town names are possibly the most descriptive of all.

There are the ones that state the obvious:

Ampasimpotsy – At the white sand

Besarety – lots of ox-carts

Ampasampito – at the seven tombs

Bekininina – lots of eucalyptus

Beravina – lots of leaves

Ranomafana – hot water (If you want to find a hotsprings in Mada, no need for a guidebook, just look at a map and go to any town named Ranomafana)

Andasibe – at the large encampment

Ambato – at the rocks

There are some that make you want to live there:

Maromahatsinjo – many things that make you look forward/many views

Mangarivotra – Fresh breeze

Maromizaha – lots of views

Sahavola – money creek

Anjiro – where there is light/electricity (ironically, in most Anjiros I have seen still rely on candles)

And some that maybe could have been less honest:

Bekalalao – lots of cockroaches

Sahatay – shit creek

Sahamaloto – dirty creek

Arivonimamo – a thousand drunk people

Manadala – makes you go crazy

Sahaparasy – flea creek