In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais area of northern France there is a small village which proudly bears the name of Misery.
Home to approximately 137 people it looks a pleasant enough place and not too miserable.
For the French inhabitants its name would have a slightly different meaning, but still negative – in French misère does have a sense of misery about it, but also means poverty or destitution. So in Victor Hugo's 1862 classic Les Misérables, the characters are generally poverty stricken (although I don't remember a lot of laughs in the book either).
Perhaps influenced by this, the inhabitants of Misery in 2019 decided that for official purposes their commune would merge with a neighbouring one, so they know officially live in the commune of Marchélepot-Misery, which sounds a whole lot cheerier.
For more of the best place names in France, including the villages of Anus, Stains and Dole – click here.
And in Provence there is a town called Die.