Lakeland resident petitions to change name of Lake Horney

LAKELAND, Fla. – A Lakeland man named Barry Zimmerman has started a petition to change the name of the lake he lives on--Lake Horney--The Ledger reports.

The lake is named after Julius Teague Horney, who is credited with growing Lakeland during Florida's boom in the 1920s.

Zimmerman said in his request to the U.S. Board of Georgraphic Names that he does not want to "denigrate Mr. Horney's contributions to the history of Lakeland" but wants the name changed because it is a "homonymic to a vuglar term meaning concupiscent or libidinous." 

Zimmerman says he is tired of being the "laughingstock" of his community.

He has even thought ahead to a new name for the lake, Lodwick Lake. This title would honor Albert Lodwick, who started the Lodwick School of Aeronautics in 1940.