Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!
Parish municipality in Quebec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ lwi dy a a]) is a parish municipality in the Témiscouata Regional County Municipality of the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec. The population is 1,311 as of 2021.[3] Its economy is mainly agricultural. It is located southeast of Rivière-du-Loup and west of Cabano along the Trans-Canada Highway (A-85), about halfway to Edmundston in New Brunswick.
Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! | |
|---|---|
Aerial view of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Motto: | |
 Location within Témiscouata RCM | |
  Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! Location in eastern Quebec | |
| Coordinates: 47°40′13″N 68°58′54″W[1] | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Quebec |
| Region | Bas-Saint-Laurent |
| RCM | Témiscouata |
| Named | 1874 |
| Constituted | 14 July 1874 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Mélissa Lord |
| • Federal riding | Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata |
| • Prov. riding | Rivière-du-Loup–Témiscouata |
| Area | |
• Total | 112.23 km2 (43.33 sq mi) |
| • Land | 110.08 km2 (42.50 sq mi) |
| The provincial and federal governments disagree on the total area; the latter makes no claim regarding the land area. | |
| Population | |
• Total | 1,311 |
| • Density | 11.7/km2 (30/sq mi) |
| • Pop 2016-2021 |  1.5% |
| • Dwellings | 594 |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Postal code(s) | |
| Area codes | 418 and 581 |
| Highways |   A-85 (TCH) |
| Website | www |
The Commission de toponymie du Québec asserts that the parish's name refers to nearby Lake Témiscouata, the sense of ha-ha here being an archaic French word for an impasse.[4] The Louis may refer to Louis Marquis, one of the first colonists of the region, or Louis-Antoine Proulx, vicar of Rivière-du-Loup, or perhaps the abbé Louis-Nicolas Bernier.[1]
Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is the only town in the world with two exclamation marks in its name. (Westward Ho!, in Devon, England has a single exclamation mark in its name.) In September 2017, the municipality established a Guinness World Record for the most exclamation marks in a town name.[5]
History
The parish began in 1860 as the site of a Catholic mission; it was named in 1874.[6]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! had a population of 1,311 living in 552 of its 594 total private dwellings, a change of 1.5% from its 2016 population of 1,292. With a land area of 112.23 km2 (43.33 sq mi), it had a population density of 11.7/km2 (30.3/sq mi) in 2021.[7]
See also
- Baie des Ha! Ha!: A bay on the Saint Lawrence River in the Côte-Nord region.[8]
- Baie des Ha! Ha!: A bay on the Saguenay River in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region.[9]
- Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone
- Hamilton, Ohio, United States: A city that briefly added an exclamation point to its name
- List of parish municipalities in Quebec
- Rivière Ha! Ha!: A river in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.[10]
- Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, United States; a town that renamed itself after a radio show
- Westward Ho!, a village in Devon, England
