What’s in a Name? Ask Knockemstiff

[snopes]

The Ohio town’s name is a source of folklore and conjecture. At the Ross County Historical Society’s McKell Library in Chillicothe, an archivist, Pat Medert, has a 1955 article from The Dayton Daily News about the town’s effort to change its name.

Ms. Medert said it quoted a resident saying that the origins dated far back, perhaps 100 years, to an episode in which a traveling preacher came across two women fighting over a man. The preacher said that he doubted the man was worth the trouble and that someone should “knock him stiff.” But variations on that story exist, as do ones that say the name is associated with moonshine and bar fights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/us/05ohio.html