How do towns got their names

Hove, meanwhile, is more mysterious. Some sources guess that it comes from the Old English word Hofe, meaning the courtyard of a farm; others that it derives from Hoo, a term for marshy land. Bristol is both a city and a county. It has many possible etymologies, and nobody is certain which is correct. The word may come from the Old English Brycgstow, the 'place at the bridge'. Or — and this feels more satisfying to anyone who's overlooked the Avon from Clifton — it might go back further to Celtic times, drawing on the words braos and tuile to describe a stream through a chasm.

Once you know that Cambridge grew up on the River Cam, then its etymology seems pretty obvious. It's not quite that simple, though. The river was originally known as the Granta still is in some sections , and the town as Grantabrycge. Over time, this got twisted to the modern Cambridge, and the river name changed to match. Canterbury's name is directly related to the county in which it sits: Kent.

The title was already recognisable in Roman days, when known as Durovernum Cantiacorum. The first part builds on an earlier British place name, while Cantiacorum refers to the Cantii, or people of Kent.

Once the Romans had cleared off, the invading Jutes shored up the defenses and turned it into a burh fortified settlement. Hence Cantwareburh signified a 'stronghold of the Kentish', which later became Canterbury.

The second-most northerly city gained its present appellation in the 'dark ages' following Roman retreat, when it was known as Caer Luel. The origins of this name are debatable. Caer may simply mean city, while Luel could be a contraction of the Roman name for the place, Luguvallum. England's newest city was originally Ceolmaer's ford, a crossing over the River Chelmer.

The river's etymology is obscure, but this site suggests it may have something to do with deer hunting. As with other place names ending in -chester, -cester or -caster, the beautiful walled town of Chester stands on the site of a Roman fort.

The Roman word 'castrum' changed pronunciation in the Middle Ages to give first -ceaster, and then the modern forms. Chester was originally known as Legechester, but adopted the lazier name around the time of the Norman Conquest. And here's another -chester, again denoting a Roman fort. The added Chi- supposedly comes from an Anglo-Saxon invader of the the late fifth century, who captured the city and touchingly named it after his son Cissa.

The only evidence for this comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, several centuries later. Curiously, neither London nor Greater London is, of itself, a city. The ancient heart of the capital — the City of London or Square Mile — is, though. The name London was first definitively used by the Romans in the settlement of Londinium, but it was probably based on an existing name.

Plowonida, meaning fast-flowing river in Celtic, is one possibility. We discuss London's origins in more detail in this article. The other city within London's bounds is that of Westminster. Were you to guess at its etymology, you'd probably be correct.

It refers to the Abbey, which is the minster west of the City. The Abbey's website suggests it also distinguishes Westminster from the slightly older 'eastminster' of St Paul's, but there are problems with this theory.

This sizeable Warwickshire city seems to have had the humblest origins, for it is named after a tree. Specifically, Coffa's tree. Coffa was probably an Anglo-Saxon landholder, with a notable tree — perhaps used as a meeting place — on his estate. Derby stands on the River Derwent and was known by the Romans as Derventio. Clearly the three names are linked, but how is the source of some debate. A popular and fairly obvious theory links the name to deer — a settlement important for deer hunting — but no one is sure.

The -by, incidentally, is a common ending for towns inhabited by the Vikings during the Danelaw settlement. Grimsby and Selby are other examples. We have a mongrel name here, which mixes the Celtic 'dun' hill fort with the Norse 'holme' island. This bewitching city was long known as Dunholm or Dunelm, settling on Durham only in recent centuries.

The city with the shortest name is also one of the smallest, with just 20, inhabitants. Its etymology is obscure. The earliest record 8th century, by Bede calls it Elge, and it is later referred to as Elig. Some have suggested that it might mean 'eel island', though this opens a can of linguistic worms to add to the already slippery history. Exeter comes to us from the Old English Escanceaster.

Yes, it's is another castrum Roman fort, see Chester , this time built on the River Exe. That name Exe is thought to come from the older Celtic word for a river well-stocked with fish. The 'cester' tells us that Gloucester was once a Roman fort. The first part is probably a personal name such as Gloyw or Gloiu. One old fable puts Gloiu as the grandfather of the 5th century warlord Vortigern, though we'll probably never know.

The 'ford' bit, as elsewhere, denotes a crossing over a river the Wye. The name implies a town called Kingston built on the banks of the River Hull, but it's usually known as Hull. The town was founded relatively late — in the 12th century — as Wyke on Hull a wyke being an inlet.

It initially served as a small port for wool export until, in , it attracted royal attention in a most unusual way. According to legend, Edward I was out hunting, when he decided to chase a hare towards the river. Here he came across the village of Wyke. So charmed was he by its strategic advantages that he bought the land from the local abbey. In , a group of English Puritans fleeing religious persecution at home left for North America and named what would some day be a city of 3 million after Boston , the town in England they had left behind.

Tel Aviv, meanwhile, was founded in by a handful of refugees displaced by European pogroms. They gathered on a beach outside Jaffa, drew lots for sites on which to build homes, and gave the land a Hebrew name. Slums are different. The lack of infrastructure is limiting. Another randomly acquired name is that of Soweto, the bleak city on the edge of Johannesburg that grew, equally bleakly, out of the English acronym for south-western townships.

Soweto has its roots in a settlement process that is very different from the shanty towns of Brazil; it is the product of an attempt by the vanished apartheid regime to force black people out of those city-centre areas that it designated for whites. A city sometimes reflects the act of will of the individual who brought it into being.

Alexander the Great named Alexandria for himself, while — scarcely less immodestly — Peter the Great gave St Petersburg the name of his patron saint. George Washington chose the location of the US capital but not the name; that came as a tribute from the commissioners put in charge of the construction of the US capital by Congress. In , the British government decided to call a new city of , people it planned to build half way between London and Birmingham, Milton Keynes.

This was not an attempt to couple the author of Paradise Lost with the 20th-century economist, as if in some earnest effort to erode the line between culture and science. He welcomed the Euro-American settlers who set up villages along the banks of the Sound, and when they established a permanent town on Elliot Bay in , they named it after the friendly chief. Denver was also a general in the Civil War, a lawyer, and a prospective presidential candidate.

The city was named after him because it was believed the name would give it the best chance of being designated the county seat — which it was.

According to the Residence Act of July , the new capital of the United States would be located somewhere along the Potomac River, and George Washington had the power to choose the exact site. In , Washington choose square miles of land for the new city, and his chosen commissioners named it after the famed Revolutionary War general and first president. We use cookies for analytics tracking and advertising from our partners. For more information read our privacy policy.

Trending Videos View All Videos. Aruba Feb 11, Sponsored The art of sharing places: New Hampshire Jul 16, Faka'apa'apa Apr 22, Top Regions. North Carolina. Puerto Rico. United States. Top Cities View All Destinations. Buenos Aires. Dallas-Fort Worth. Mexico City. Trending Regions. Trending Cities. Our Trips. Travel Map.