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List of generic forms in place names in the British Isles

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other related articles - see talk:British toponymy

The study of place names is called toponymy; for a more detailed examination of this subject in relation to British place names please refer to British toponymy.

This list gives a number of common generic forms found in British place names. It is not uncommon to find a number of them in combinative compounds. An interesting example of place naming is Torpenhow (pronounced tra-PENner) Hill, in Cumbria; the name seems to have grown by waves of new inhabitants each taking over the name given by the previous occupants, and adding to it: the three syllables, tor, pen, how, each mean "hill" in a different language.

Factors like changes in spelling over the years, shifts of meaning, and other ambiguities may further complicate the issue. For example, in places where the Danelaw prevailed and where there is uncertainty over the origin of a place name, it is common sense to prefer the Old Norse meaning to the Old English one; often, however, they are the same. Taking, for instance, Askrigg in Yorkshire, "a place where ash trees grew": while the first element is indubitably the Norse asc (pronounced "ask"), Danelaw ask- can easily well represent a "Norsification" of the Old English form æsc (pronounced "ash"). Both asc and æsc, in any case, mean "ash".

Sometimes, however, it was a case of incomers changing a name to match their own pronunciation habits without reference to the original meaning. Thus Skipton, Yorkshire, had it not been for settlement of the area by Norse speakers, would have come down to us as "Shipton" (Old English scip(e)tun - "sheep farm"). The Old Norse word for "sheep" was quite different (it produced the name Faroes - the "sheep islands"), so the new settlers were not translating the name, but simply reflecting the way the English "sh-" sound regularly corresponded to Norse "sk-" in words which were cognate (as we already saw with asc and æsc).

The terms "Old English" and "Anglo-Saxon" are fundamentally equivalent in meaning and represent the hybrid West Germanic language in use between the Roman abandonment of Britain and up to about 100 years after the Norman invasion of 1066.

Note that in comparison to Old English and Old Norse place names, those in the Celtic languages (Cornish, Welsh, etc.) are almost always composed in reverse order, e.g. Tregonebris is tre + Conebris i.e. "the settlement of Cunebris". This is not true, however, of the very oldest Celtic names: e.g. Malvern, from elements represented by Modern Welsh "Moelfryn" (moel + bryn - "bald hill").

See also: List of British place names and their meanings, English Place-Name Society

Key to languages: K - Cornish; L - Latin; NF - Norman French; OE - Old English; ON - Old Norse; P - Pictish; SG - Scots Gaelic; W - Welsh

British Place Names
Term Origin Meaning Example Position Comments
aber W,P,K mouth of (a river), confluence, a meeting of waters Aberystwyth, Aberdyfi, Aberdeen prefix  
ac, acc OE acorn alt. association with oak Accrington, Acomb    
afon W,SG,K river Aberafon &nbsp afon is pronounced "AA von". A number of UK rivers are named "Avon"
ay (also ey) ON island Ramsay, Lundy, Orkney Islands suffix (usually)  
axe, exe W from isca, meaning water Exeter, River Axe, River Exe, River Usk, Axminster, Axmouth, etc    
beck ON stream Holbeck, Beckinsale, Costa Beck, Cod Beck    
Bex OE box, the tree Bexley Bexhill-on-Sea (the OE name of Bexhill-on-Sea was Bexelei, a glade where box grew.    
bourne OE brook, stream Bournemouth, Sittingbourne    
bre W hill Bredon prefix  
bury OE stronghold, fort Aylesbury, Banbury suffix  
by ON settlement, village Grimsby suffix  
canter OE men of Kent (Cantware) Canterbury   The element "cant" is itself from the Romano-British Cantii, the people of the region
carden P thicket Kincardine, Cardenden suffix  
caster, cester, chester, caer OE, W (<L) camp, fortification Lancaster, Doncaster, Gloucester, Caister, Caerdydd, Caerleon, Manchester suffix (caer is a prefix) The "-ster" sometimes simplified to "-ter", e.g. Exeter, Uttoxeter
Chipping, Cheap- OE Market Chipping Norton, Chipping Campden, Chippenham   Also as part of a street name eg Cheapside
cwm W valley Cwmbran prefix  
dale ON valley Airedale, the valley of the river Aire suffix Used in Yorkshire
deanas OE valley Croydon, Dean Village suffix The geography is often the only indicator as to the original root word (cf. don, a hill)
don OE hill Bredon suffix  
dun SG fort Dundee prefix  
fax OE, V fair, pale Halifax    
Fin P Hill (?) Findochty prefix Possibly related to Pen
glen SG Valley Rutherglen    
ham OE settlement, town Oldham suffix Often confused by hamm, an enclosure
hurst OE wooded hill Dewhurst    
ing OE: ingas descendants or followers of Reading i.e. the subjects of Reada suffix sometimes survives in an apparent plural form e.g. Hastings
Inver SG mouth of (a river), confluence, a meeting of waters Inverness prefix  
Kin SG Head Kincardine prefix  
King OE Cyning King, tribal leader King's Norton, Kingston, Kingston Bagpuize    
Lan, Lhan, Llan K, P, W church, church-site Llanteglos, Cornwall, Lhanbryde, Moray Llanfair PG prefix  
Law OE from hlaw, a rounded hill Charlaw Warden Law (usually) standalone often a hill with a barrow or hillocks on its summit
lea, ley OE derived from leah, a woodland clearing Wembley (usually) suffix  
magna L great Appleby Magna    
Mon P  ? Moniave prefix  
nan, nans K valley Nancledra, Cornwall prefix  
nant W stream Nantgarw prefix  
ness OE, V promontory, headland Sheerness suffix  
parva L little Appleby Parva    
pen K, W, OE hill Penzance prefix  
pit P farm Pitlochry, Perthshire prefix  
pol K pool or lake Polperro, Cornwall prefix  
pont L, K, W bridge Pontypridd prefix Can also be found in its mutated form "bont", e.g Pen-y-bont (Bridgend); originally from Latin pons
shaw V a wood; is a corruption of howe (cf.) Penshaw Standalone or suffix  
Stoke OE stoc Dependent farmstead, settlement Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke Damerell (Usually) standalone  
Strath P Valley Strathmore, Angus prefix  
thorp, thorpe ON village, settlement Cleethorpes, Thorpeness    
thwaite ON thveit a forest clearing with a dwelling Huthwaite suffix  
tre K, W settlement Trevose Head prefix  
Tilly SG hill Tillicoultry, Tillydrone prefix  
tun, ton OE, ON: tun enclosure, farmstead, manor, estate Tunstead, Tonbridge i.e. the bridge of the estate; Charlton (AS: ceorla-tun, "farmstead of the churls")    
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