Behind every English street name is a fascinating story and origin that’s rich with history. Deriving from Old Norse and Latin words, English place names have all sorts of hidden meanings.
In various parts of the world, known as the “Old World”, such as Africa, Asia and Europe, the names of many places aren’t easily interpreted or understood. Over time their original and obvious meanings were lost. This process contrasts with that of the “New World”, which includes North America, South America, and Australasia, here the origins of many place names are known.
Even if today, the origin of many place names is forgotten, we can still decipher their construction to reveal their original meaning. While Etymology is the study of the origin and history of words, toponymy is the study of place names.
Armed with a few prefixes and suffixes (a word placed before and after the stem of a word respectively) you will not only be able to easily interpret the names, but it will be a sort of game as you travel from place to place.
Without going into too much detail, these affixes originate from and are the result of various linguistic influences including Brythonic, Cumbric, Cornish, Pictish, (all four of which are ancient Celtic languages) then Irish, Latin, Middle English, Norman French, Old English, Old Norse, Scots Gaelic and Welsh.
Here are the most common affixes you will come across in your travels which will reveal the meanings of English place names.
Photo Credit: Elliott Brown via Flickr, Welcome to Stratford-upon-Avon – Bridgeway, Stratford-upon-Avon – sign
1. avon, afon
Origin: Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Cornish and Irish
Meaning: River
Example: Stratford-upon-Avon. The name is a combination of the Old English strǣt, meaning “street”, and ford, indicating a site at which a road forded a river.
Photo Credit: My London Travels
2. beck
Origin: Old English and Old Norse
Meaning: Stream
Example: Beckenham, meaning “homestead by the stream”.
Photo Credit: Keith Evans
3. berg, berry
Origin: Old English and Old Norse
Meaning: Hill or mountain
Example: Roseberry Topping, Berkhamsted
Photo Credit: Rod Johnson
4. bourne, burn
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Large stream or small river
Example: Bournemouth, Bourne, Eastbourne, Ashbourne, Blackburn
5. bury, borough, brough, burgh
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Fortified enclosure
Example: Edinburgh, Bamburgh, Peterborough, Knaresborough, Scarborough, Jedburgh, Aldeburgh
6. By
Origin: Old Norse
Meaning: Farm
Example: Derby, Crosby, Rugby, Corby, Wetherby
Photo Credit: Robin Scott
7. caster, chester, cester, ceter
Origin: Old English, Latin
Meaning: Camp, fortification (of Roman origin)
Example: Doncaster, Gloucester, Manchester, Worcester, Chester, Colchester, Leicester
8. cheap, chipping
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Market
Example: Chipping Norton, Chipping Campden, Chepstow
9. combe
Origin: Brythonic
Meaning: Valley
Example: Barcombe literally means “Valley of the Britons”. Usually pronounced ‘coo-m’ or ‘cum’. There is also a Castle Combe in The Cotswolds.
Photo Credit: Alex Dawson via Flickr
10. ford
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Ford or crossing (of a river)
Example: Oxford, literally means ‘where the oxen cross’. There is also the village of Burford, in the Cotswolds, where burh means ‘fortified town’ or ‘hilltown’, it it literally means ‘the fortified town at the crossing of a river’.
11. gate
Origin: Brythonic
Meaning: Road
Example: Gate Helmsley, Harrogate. Gate has its roots in Old Norse, and is in Norwegian still means road. For example, Karl Johans Gate is the name of the main commercial road in Oslo.
Photo Credit: Oast House Archive
12. -ing
Origin: Old English
Meaning: People of
Example: Hastings, Reading
13. -ham
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Homestead
Example: Nottingham, meaning “people of the homestead”
14. minster
Origin: Old English
Meaning: large church, monastery
Example: Westminster, Wimborne Minster, Leominster
15. mouth
Origin: Middle English
Meaning: Mouth of a river or bay
Example: Plymouth, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Monmouth, Sidmouth, Weymouth
Photo Credit: Gordon Griffiths
16. pool, port
Origin: Old English and Middle English
Meaning: Harbour
Example: Liverpool, Blackpool, Davenport, Newport
17. stead
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Enclosed pasture
Example: Hampstead, Berkhamsted
Photo Credit: Carl Spencer
18. thorp or thorpe
Origin: Old Norse
Meaning: Secondary settlement
Example: Cleethorpes, Thorpeness, Scunthorpe, Armthorpe, Bishopthorpe, Mablethorpe
19. thwaite, twatt
Origin: Old Norse
Meaning: Secondary settlement
Example: Huthwaite, Twatt, Slaithwaite, Thornthwaite, Braithwaite
20. tun, ton
Origin: Old English
Meaning: Enclosure, estate or homestead
Example: Kensington, meaning “people of the Ken estate”
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Sources:
Wikipedia – UK and Ireland place names
Wikipedia – Place name origins
Over to you!
What other words would you like to know the meaning of? How many of these did you already know?
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6 comments
There are so many place names with the suffix ‘-ley’, like Shipley, Auckley, Ilkley etc. What does ‘-ley’ mean?
Also, are such ‘-ley’ ending place names spread throughout the UK or there is a concentration in the Yorkshire area?
Great question! 🙂 leigh / lee / ley all mean ‘forest clearing’
Very interesting article. I would like to know what hoe means. As in Wivenhoe, Fingringhoe, Kirkmahoe, to name 3.
Hi Terry, ‘-hoe’ is derived from Oxford English ‘hoh’ and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: “A projecting ridge of land, a promontory…; originally a point of land, formed like a heel, and stretching into the plain, perhaps even into the sea…; a height enduring abruptly or steeply…”
Very interesting article ? Many thanks ?
My pleasure, thank you Opa 🙂