2013年7月25日(木)
Some British Place Names and Their Meanings
If you are feeling bored and would like to try something new, why don’t you open an online map, an atlas, or a map of the United Kingdom—if you have one—and look for some of these place names. Perhaps you will even be able to identify the feature that gave it its name.
A word of caution: these explanations refer to places in the United Kingdom, and some in Ireland.
Although many of the same place names can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, they may not have the original meaning. Those names were given to new towns, settlements or areas that English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish travellers, discoverers and settlers visited or moved to in the last 400 years.
Many people at that time would not have known the original meanings of the names of towns or other places back home. They often used names from their homelands, perhaps to honour a place or a person that the place reminded them of. For example, there may indeed be a hill, a river or other feature.
Have fun exploring!
Term | Language | Meaning | Sample Place Name |
afon | Pictish, Cornish, Welsh | River | Glanyafon,Stratford-on-Avon |
ar, ard | Irish, Gaelic | Height | Ardglass, Armagh |
ash | Old English | Ash tree | Ashton-under-Lyne |
axe (exe, usk) | Celtic | Water | Axminster, Exeter |
-ay, -ey, -y | Old Norse | Island | Orkney |
bal, ball, balla, bally(baile now means town, while abhaile means homeward) | Irish, Gaelic | Farm, homestead | Balmoral, Ballymena |
beck | Old English, Old Norse | Stream | Troutbeck, Beckton |
bourne, burn | Old English | Stream | Eastbourne |
bre (brea) | Cumbric, Welsh Cornish | Hill | Carn Brea |
bury, borough, brough, burgh | Old English | Fortified enclosure | Highbury, Canterbury,Edinburgh,Middlesborough |
by | Old Norse | Village, settlement | Derby |
caer | Cumbric, Welsh | Fort | Caerleon |
carden | Pictish | Thicket | Cardenden |
cester (caster, chester, ceter) | Latin | camp or fortification | Chesterfield,Cirencester |
cheap, chipping | Old English | Market | Cheapside, Chipping Campden |
coed | Welsh | Wood, forest | Betws-y-coed |
combe | Old English | Valley | Winchcombe |
cot, cott | Old English, Welsh | Cottage (small home) | Ascot |
cwm | Welsh | Valley | Cwmbran |
dal | Irish, Gaelic | Meadow | Dalmellington |
dale | Old English, Old Norse | Valley, allotment | Wensleydale |
din | Welsh | Fort | Dinas |
don, den | Old English | Hill | Abingdon |
drum (druim) | Irish, Gaelic | Back, ridge | Drumchapel |
dun (dum) | Irish, Gaelic | Fort | Dundee, Dungannon |
field | Old English | Open land | Hatfield |
firth | Old English | Wood | Holmfirth |
firth | Old Norse | Inlet, fjord | Firth of Forth |
ford | Old English | Ford, crossing | Watford, Dartford, Guildford |
forth | Old English | Bridge, crossing | Ampleforth |
gate | Old Norse | Road | Harrogate |
glen | Irish, Gaelic | Narrow valley | Glen Coe, Rutherglen |
ham | Old English | Homestead | Birmingham, Tottenham, Buckingham |
hithe | Old English | Landing place | Rotherhithe,Hyhe |
holm | Old English | Island | Holmfirth |
hurst | Old English | Wooded hill | Midhurst |
ing | Old English | People of | Reading, Epping |
kil (from cill) | Irish, Gaelic | Church or monastic cell | Kilkenny, Kilmarnock |
kin (from ceann) | Irish, Gaelic | Head | Kincardine |
king | Old Norse, Old English | king, leader | Kingston |
kirk | Old Norse | Church | Ormskirk |
lan, llan, lhan | Cumbric, Cornish, Pictish | Church, village with a church | Llandudno, Llangollen |
le (lès) | Norman French | Near to | Barton-le-Clay |
lea, ley, leigh | Old English | Woodland clearing | Leafield, Camberley |
magna | Latin | Great | Appleby Magna |
mere | Old English | Lake, pool | Windermere, Halzelmere |
minster | Old English | Large church | Westminster |
mynydd | Welsh | Mountain | Mynydd-bach |
nan, nans | Cornish | Valley | Nantsallon |
ness | Old Norse, Old English | Headland | Furness |
parva | Latin | Little | Appleby Parva |
pool | Liverpool | ||
pont | Latin, Welsh, Cornish | Bridge | Pontypool |
porth | Cornish, Welsh | Harbour | Porthcawl |
shep, ship | Old English | Sheep | Shepton Mallet, Shipley |
stan | Old English | Stony | Stanmore |
stead | Old English | Place, enclosure | Hemel Hempstead |
stoke | Old English | Dependent farmstead | Basingstoke |
stow | Old English | Holy place | Stow-on-the-Wold, Stowmarket |
strath | Irish, Gaelic | Wide valley | Strathclyde |
street | Latin, Old English | Roman road | Chester-le-Street |
thwaite | Old Norse | Forest clearing with a dwelling | Braithwaite |
weald, wold | Old English | High woodland | Southwold, Wealdstone |
wick, wich, wych,wyke | Old English, Latin | Settlement, place | Ipswich |
wick | Old Norse | Bay | Warwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed |
worth, worthy | Old English | Enclosure | Tamworth, Kenilworth |
ynys | Welsh | Island | Ynys Mon (Anglesey) |