Place name origins

In much of Europe, names of towns and cities cannot easily be interepreted or understood; they do not convey any apparent meaning. Indeed, they are so denuded of other meaning that they unambiguously represent the settlement in question (e.g. Paris, Berlin). This is due to a set of processes through which the name evolves over time, until its original meaning is lost. In contrast, in the "New World", many place names convey an obvious meaning, and may seem contrived. For instance, New York, Carson City, Los Angeles ("the angels"), Belo Horizonte ("beautiful horizon"). However, the elements which form all these place names are the same; only the accident of history makes some more abstract than others.

The study of place names is typonymy. Although the origin of many place names is now lost, it is often possible to establish likely meanings, based on comparative methods. In general, place names contain three major types of elements: names, natural features and functions. For instance Todmorden - 'Totta's boundary valley' (Name + function + feature); Barnsley - 'Beorn's clearing'; Bradford - 'Broad ford'; Grimsby - Grimr's farm, and so on. These basic elements can also be seen in less 'weathered' new world names - Nashville, Little Rock etc.

The processes by which place names change include abbreviation, conflation, convergence, development in the parent language (but stasis in the place name) and replacement of the parent language. The latter in particular can result in dramatic shifts in place names, since the original meaning (and often sounds) are not conveyed in the new language, the place name thus shifts to a form appropriate for the new language.

A wide variation of names can be seen in countries that have seen numerous settlers and invaders. The United Kingdom is a good example, with place names having their origins from the Roman Empire, Saxons, Celts and Vikings.

Typonymic Processes

• Abbreviation tends to break down a name into a more easily pronounced form, e.g. 'Cantwaraburh' to

'Canterbury'; 'Dornwaracaster' to 'Dorchester'.

• Conflation is where two similar elements of place names become confused, for instance the Old English roots don (hill) and den (valley) are conflated in place names e.g. Willesden ('stream hill') , Croydon ('crocus valley').

• Convergence occurs when place names drift towards other familiar phonemes in place names; e.g. in Abingdon (Aebbeduna - Aebbe's hill), the middle sound has converged to the familiar 'ing' found in many place names (usually meaning 'people of').

• Evolution of the parent language may not change a place name by itself; indeed names may show more inertia to change than languages themselves. However, evolution of the parent language permits other processes to occur. For instance, if a name no longer means anything in the modified language, it may drift towards a new form; e.g. Matlock - 'Maethelac' ('Moot-oak') . Or, as the parent language changes, attributes which already form part of a name may be appended to the name. For instance Portsea Island - 'Port-island island'; once the meaning of Portsea became obscure, it became necessary to add 'island'.

• Replacement of the parent language is one of the most dramatic processes of change. If, for whatever reason, a new language becomes spoken in the area, a place name may lose all meaning. At its most severe, the name may be completely replaced. However, often the name may be recycled and altered in some way. Typically, this will be in one of the above ways; as the meaning of place-name is forgotten, it becomes changed to a name suitable for the new language. For instance Anglo-saxon 'Eoforwic' ('Boar-town') became Old Norse 'Jorvik' ('Horse-bay'), and modern English 'York'.

• Elaboration of place names often occurred to make distinctions between similarly named settlements. For instance, in England, two nearby and related settlements often became 'lower/nether' and 'upper/higher'; or 'little' and 'great' (or the equivalent in latin, 'parva' and 'magna'). Alternatively, two geographically separated places might be distinguished by local features; e.g. Newcastle-under-Lyne and Newcastle-upon-Tyne; or Newton-le-willows, Newton-by-Frodsham, Newton-under-Roseberry(and so on). In England, many additions were made in the medieval period, to show that settlements were ruled by certain families, e.g. as Stoke Mandeville. Some elaborations (particularly in latin) were added relatively recently, to improve the image of a town; for instance Weston-super-mare ('Weston-on-sea'), or Bognor Regis ('Royal Bognor');.

Place name origins in the United Kingdom

Main article: British toponymy

The names of villages, towns and cities in the UK have been given at various times in the nation's history. Some date back to Celtic-speaking times while others were given after the Roman invasion of Britain but many have also had many other conquering nations leave their mark on the names (amongst other things) of settlements. Up until around the 14th century place names were mainly influenced by the environment of the area – a hill or the bend in a river, for example. Some names were made by the combination of words across the different civilizations. Many places derive part of their name from the river next to which they were built – Cambridge, for example, was a bridge over the River Cam. Many place names in England have affixes denoting manorial possession in medieval times.

Elements in British place names

Main article: List of generic forms in British place names

Place name origins in the United States

See also: List of U.S. state name etymologies

Place names in the United States are often taken from the European nation that first colonized the land. Many place names are taken from Native American names.

Place names in the United States tend to be more easily traceable to their origins, such as towns simply named after the founder or an important politician of the time, with no alterations except a simple suffix, like -town.