common name for small villages

Solution 1:

From: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hamlet

"Full Definition of HAMLET: a small village"

"Examples of HAMLET she always longed to return to the quiet hamlet where she had been born"

For the more relaxed requirements of the edited version of the question, how about:

"This 'town' he lives in is actually the size of Dogpatch."

Solution 2:

"Podunk"

Po·dunk: a small, unimportant town

Solution 3:

Consider Rubesville, Hicksburg, Hicksville, whistle stop, and the idiomatic one-horse town.

"This "town" he lives in is actually the size of Hicksville."

"This place he lives in is actually the size of a one-horse town."

"This place he lives in is as big as a one-horse town."

Hicksville: Sl. a derogatory term to describe a small town or suburbs.

rube, hick: N. Amer an unsophisticated countryman; a hayseed

whistle stop: a small, unimportant town, esp. one along a railroad line.

one-horse town: Fig. a very small town; a small and backward town

Alternately, such modifiers as jerkwater, backwater, backwoods, and vest-pocket might fit what you're looking for.

jerkwater: US remote and unimportant: jerkwater towns

backwater: mod. isolated, backward (as of a town or village). n. a quiet place (such as a town or village) where there's little activity, excitement, progress, etc.

backwoods: mod. of, from, or like the backwoods. n. any remote sparsely populated place

vest-pocket: US small enough to fit into a vest pocket; very small

That way we could see and enjoy more of America, her history, her scenic vistas, her many picturesque vest-pocket towns and villages.

Solution 4:

In Australia we have a few equivalents to "boondocks", though that term and "middle of nowhere" are commonly used.

Although these ostensibly refer to remoteness of location, the implication is a small outback township or station (ranch).

• back o' Bourke* / back of Bourke*
• back o' beyond / back of beyond
• beyond the black stump

• Woop Woop (pronounced like the American Woop-ass)

  "Where's that new bloke from?"

  "I dunno mate, moved here from out Woop Woop somewhere"

Bourke is a town, about 800km west of the state capital, Sydney. Bourke is the edge of settled agricultural districts and where the outback begins. This red dirt road is the Bourke-Wilcannia Highway, 10km west of Bourke

Solution 5:

I have heard of townlet, not sure where but it popped in my head.

When the pilgrims came over they created a settlement.

John Mellencamp wrote about small-town USA.

And in the Midwest I have heard small towns referred to as outposts.

A remote part of a country or empire.

I will add that there are a lot of slang phrases too. There was an old phrase, a one-horse town, that was used well when people rode horses.

Now I hear, a one stop-sign town or one gas-station town. Or varieties off of this.

People may also say they live in the middle-of-nowhere or the boonies ,boondocks, or the sticks. There are a lot of terms for unincorporated America.

You can also use the word bum-fuck instead of your town name.

.. "Where do you live?"

"I live in bum-fuck Ohio."

"Where's it at?"

"Little town near Perryville out in the middle of no where. We got a stop sign on D7."

Edit: Another term popped in my head that I still hear a lot - East Jesus. Someone would say, "Damn you live all the way out in East Jesus." Meaning a very small town out in the middle of no where.