Zzyzx was a desert health resort run by a self-styled doctor

A name built for the bottom of the list

Zzyzx was coined with a practical bit of wordplay: its opening letters push it past almost any ordinary place name in an alphabetical directory. Since listings are sorted from A to Z, a name beginning with Zzy tends to appear after names beginning with Za, Ze, or Zo.

The trick works because alphabetical sorting compares names letter by letter. Zzyzx begins with the alphabet’s final letter, then uses further letters that place it late among other Z-names. It was designed to land at the end—not because directories have a special “last place” reserved for it, but because very few names sort later.

The limit of the trick

“Last” depends on what a directory includes and how it handles punctuation, numbers, or other unusual names. So Zzyzx cannot guarantee the final line in every list. But its spelling makes the intention immediately legible: even before a traveler reaches the desert settlement, its name is already trying to go last.