List of generic forms in British place names

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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-PEN-ner") 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' (tree).

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).

Spellings can be misleading - for example Croydon is in a valley and Willesden is on a hill. Their expected spellings might therefore be "Croyden" and "Willesdon".

One problematic element is the Old English -ey, as in "Romsey". This commonly means "island", including "island in marsh". However, it can have other meanings, so for example in "Hornsey" -ey means "enclosure". The elements wich and wick can have a variety of meanings, often connected with industry or commerce. Some of the sites are of Roman origin. On the coast, wick is very often of Norse origin, meaning "bay" or "inlet".

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.[1]

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 of all Celtic names: e.g. Malvern, from elements represented by Modern Welsh "Moelfryn" (moel + bryn - "bald hill").

[edit] Elements

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

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, or oak tree	Accrington, Acomb, Acton
afon	W, SG, K	river	River Avon, Glanyrafon		W afon is pronounced "AH-von"; several English rivers are named Avon
ar,ard	I	height	Armagh,Ardglass
ash	OE	ash tree	Ashton-under-Lyne
ast	OE	east	Aston	prefix
axe, exe	?	from isca, meaning water	Exeter, River Axe (Devon), River Axe (Somerset), River Exe, River Usk, Axminster, Axbridge, Axmouth, etc.
ay, ey	ON	island	Ramsay, Westray, Lundy, Orkney	suffix (usually)
balla	SG	town	Ballachulish	prefix
bally, ball	I	town	Ballymena, Ballinamallard	prefix
beck	OE,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, Eastbourne, Ashbourne		see also Bourne (placename)
brad	OE	broad	Bradford	prefix
bre	W, K	hill	Bredon, Carn Brea	prefix
burn	OE	stream	Crawfordsburn, Bannockburn, Blackburn	suffix
bury	OE	fortified enclosure	Aylesbury, Banbury, Dewsbury, Bury	(usually) suffix
by	ON	settlement, village	Grimsby, Tenby	usually suffix but compare Bicker (the town marsh)	also survives in bylaw and by-election
canter	OE	men of Kent (Cantware)	Canterbury		the element "cant" is itself from the Romano-British Cantiaci, the people of the region
carden	P	thicket	Kincardine, Cardenden	suffix
caster, chester, cester, ceter	OE (<L)	camp, fortification	Lancaster, Doncaster, Gloucester, Caister, Manchester, Winchester	suffix
caer	W (<L)	camp, fortification	Caerdydd, Caerleon	prefix
cheap, chipping	OE	market	Chipping Norton, Chipping Campden, Chippenham		also as part of a street name, e.g. Cheapside
combe	OE	valley	Woolacombe (Devon), Doccombe, Ilfracombe		usually pronounced 'coo-m' or 'cum'
cot, cott	OE	cottage, small building	Ascot, Draycott in the Clay, Swadlincote	suffix
cwm	W	valley	Cwmaman	prefix
dale	OE/ME	valley OE allotment OE	Airedale, valley of the river Aire Rochdale, valley of the River Roch Billinghay Dales, Saxondale	suffix
deanas	OE	valley	Croydon, Dean Village, Horndean, Todmorden	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, ON	fair, pale	Halifax
field	OE	a forest clearing	Sheffield, Wakefield, Huddersfield	suffix
fin	P	hill (?)	Findochty	prefix	possibly related to pen
firth	OE	wood or woodland	Holmfirth	suffix
glen	SG	valley	Rutherglen
ham	OE	farm	Oldham	suffix	often confused by hamm, an enclosure
hithe, hythe	OE	wharf, place for landing boats	Rotherhithe, Hythe, Erith
hope	OE	valley, enclosed area	Woolhope, Glossop
hurst	OE	wooded hill	Dewhurst
ing	OE ingas	people of	Reading, the people (followers) of Reada, Woldingham, the homestead of the people of the wold Quadring, the people of the mud	suffix	sometimes survives in an apparent plural form e.g. Hastings; also, often combined with 'ham' or 'ton' (see above and below) e.g. Birmingham, Cottingham, Bridlington
inver	SG	mouth of (a river), confluence, a meeting of waters	Inverness	prefix
keld	ON	spring	Keld, Threlkeld
kin	SG	head	Kincardine	prefix	derived from Ceann
king	OE Cyning	king, tribal leader	King's Norton, King's Lynn, Kingston, Kingston Bagpuize, Coningsby
kirk	ON	church	Kirkwall, Ormskirk
kyle	SG	narrows	Kyle of Lochalsh	prefix	derived from Caol
lan, lhan, llan	K, P, W	churchyard (church, church-site)	Llanteglos (Cornwall), Lhanbryde (Moray), Llanfair PG	prefix
lang	OE	long	Langdale, Langton, Kings Langley	prefix
law, low	OE	from hlaw, a rounded hill	Charlaw, Warden Law, Lewes, Ludlow	(usually) standalone	often a hill with a barrow or hillocks on its summit
lea, ley, leigh	OE	from leah, a woodland clearing	Wembley, Hadleigh, Leigh	(usually) suffix
magna	L	great	Appleby Magna,Chew Magna, Wigston Magna
mere	OE	lake, pool	Windermere, Grasmere, Cromer
minster	OE	large church, monastery	Westminster, Wimborne Minster
mon	P	?	Moniaive	prefix
nan, nans	K	valley	Nancledra (Cornwall)	prefix
nant	W	ravine or the stream in it	Nantgarw, Nantwich	prefix	same origin as nan, nans above
ness	OE, ON	nose (promontory, headland)	Sheerness, Skegness, Orford Ness, Furness	suffix
nor	OE	north	Norton, Norbury, Norwich	prefix
parva	L	little	Appleby Parva, Wigston Parva
pen	K, W	head (headland or hill)	Penzance	prefix	also Pedn in W. Cornwall
pit	P	portion, share, farm	Pitlochry (Perthshire), Pitmedden, Pittodrie	prefix	homologous with K peath
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
pyll	K, W	deep water amongst shallow	Marple (division pyll) formerly on the boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. Confluence of river Etherow with river Goyt	suffix	often found in the mutated form ple. Found in places of late Brythonic influence.
shaw	ON	a wood; cognate to Scandinavian skog	Penshaw	standalone or suffix	a fringe of woodland
stan	OE	stone, stony	Stanmore, Stamford, Stanlow	prefix
stead	OE	place, enclosed pasture	Hampstead, Berkhamsted	suffix
stoke	OE stoc	dependent farmstead, secondary settlement	Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke Damerell	(usually) standalone
strath	P	valley bottom	Strathmore (Angus)	prefix
sud, sut	OE	south	Sudbury, Sutton	prefix
swin	OE	pigs, swine	Swinton, Swinford (Leicestershire)
thorp, thorpe	ON	secondary settlement	Cleethorpes, Thorpeness		an outlier of an earlier settlement
thwaite	ON thveit	a forest clearing with a dwelling	Huthwaite	suffix
tre	K, W	settlement	Trevose Head, Tregaron	prefix
tilly	SG	hill	Tillicoultry, Tillydrone	prefix
toft	ON	homestead	Lowestoft	usually suffix
tun, ton	OE, ON tun	an enclosure, (farmyard, estate)	Tunstead, Tonbridge i.e. the bridge of the estate; Charlton (AS: ceorla-tun, "farmstead of the churls"), Coniston		AS pronunciation 'toon'. Compare (en) town & (nl) tuin, garden
worth, worthy, wardine	OE	enclosure	Tamworth, Farnworth, Holsworthy, Bredwardine	usually suffix