Those people that say they see a racial slur in the name "Coon Rapids" are putting thier own thoughts into a name that just doesn't have them. I'd say to those people that if *they* think a racial slur when they hear "Coon Rapids" then that's because *they* associate "coon" with race. It's totally putting somthing that's not there, there.
If the town just really feels that Coon Rapids is too hickish, then that's also a bare display of thier insecurity. Are they hicks? I don't know. Make your own reputation, don't try to steal someone else's with a name change.
I bet the people in Hicksville OH have a fun time with thier name,
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...oh&btnG=Search, but it's still there.
I think the angst over thier name stems from thier own insecurity. If I hear Coon Rapids, as a place of origin from someone, I don't have too many associations to make. I know nothing about Coon Rapids. I'll only know what I hear from someone that comes from there, or what I learn if I ever go there.
I suggest that instead of putting the responsibility for the city's image on the city's name, *they* take responsibility for giving that town its reputation.
Instead of trying to weasel into a reputation by changing the city name so it steals associations earned by other cities they should earn Coon Rapids the reputation they want it to have.
Stop whining about what assumptions other people might make about a city they don't know anything about. Show them what people from Coon Rapids are about. If Coon Rapids citizens show outsiders they're hicks, then that's what people will think. If they show outsiders they're dynamic, sophisticated, eager people, than that's what people will think.
Give me a break here. You make or break a reputation based on actions. If Michigan changed the area called "Detroit" to "The Best Most Pleasent Wonderful City Ever" it'd still be a decrepit shambles. Meanwhile, changing Orlando FL to Fernando FL, wouldn't make Flordians any less well known for being odd enough to rate thier own tag on Fark.