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Toponymy is the study of place names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use, and typology.

Toponym is the general name for any place or geographical entity. Related, more specific types of toponym include hydronym for a body of water and oronym for a mountain or hill.
A toponymist is one who studies toponymy, see the article on Wikipedia.

My personal theory of the origination of place names is that they are made up of small snippets that when put together describe the settlement's use or its location or a combination of both. In very few cases do the names consist of personal names, and these seem to be only 'famous' people.

For all the villages I have tested with the translator, it has produced about 98% of sensible answers. The snippets that I use in the translator can be seen to the right and when clicked on will pop up in another window.


  Snippets
Celtic
Roman
Jute
Saxon
Viking
Norman
Modern
I am going to try to translate the current village/town name that you enter into the 'Your Location' field using my database of common historic name snippets.

If this fails for you please check the Open Domesday book to see if your location name has changed since 1086. If you still feel that the translation is faulty or incorrect, please sent the location name through on my contact us page(link at the bottom of the page) and I will see if i need to add another snippet.

The majority of Saxon words are taken from 'A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon language by Rev J Bosworth(1838)' available from Google Books and now online at www.bosworthtoller.com (a massive achievement).

 
From our research it would seem that the saxon village names describe the location and are rarely family name derived, and are made up of a number of snippets. If you would like to use our translations on your website please click here for instructions.

Your Location


In the Anglo Saxon language there are a number of runic characters used in texts and in our translations these are:-
  Eth Ð(upper Case) ð(lower case) Pronounced th as in then
  Thorn Þ(upper case) þ(lower case) Pronounced th as in thin
  Ash Æ(upper case) æ(lower case) Pronounced ea as in clean
  Wynn Ƿ(upper case) ƿ(lower case) Pronounced as w
  Yogh Ȝ(upper case) ȝ(lower case) Pronounced gh as in night
 

The last 20 updated translations requested
 
West Grinstead
     west derived from wæst – west
grin derived from grin – a snare or trap
stead derived from stæde – a place or pasture
Sparrington
     spa derived from spa – after spa in belgium famous for chalybeate(iron rich) water
r derived from ere – person
ring derived from ringe – spiders/spider webs
ton derived from tun – a settlement on a hill
Hayling Island
     hay derived from heg – hay or dried grass
ling derived from el ænge – people of a troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
island derived from æg – an island
Filsham
     fil derived from fild – a level field, even, flat land
sham derived from hamm – Denotes a piece of land surrounded with paling, wicker-work, etc., and so defended against water, which would otherwise wash it away, so a valley settlement or settlement with a jetty.
Axholme
     ax derived from æsc – ash tree
holme derived from holmr – small island
The Lings
     the derived from þæt – that
l derived from el – person
ings derived from ænge – troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
Low Burnham
     low derived from hleow – A shelter, protection, covering, refuge
burn derived from burn – a brook or stream
ham derived from hamm – Denotes a piece of land surrounded with paling, wicker-work, etc., and so defended against water, which would otherwise wash it away, so a valley settlement or settlement with a jetty.
OLD Ham
     old derived from eald – old or ancient
ham derived from hamm – Denotes a piece of land surrounded with paling, wicker-work, etc., and so defended against water, which would otherwise wash it away, so a valley settlement or settlement with a jetty.
Alciston ORDER BY
     alcis derived from alþes – ale - beer
ton derived from tun – a settlement on a hill
or derived from or – one or the other
der derived from deor – any wild animal but usually deer
by derived from by – near
Alciston ORDER BY
     alcis derived from alþes – ale - beer
ton derived from tun – a settlement on a hill
or derived from or – one or the other
der derived from deor – any wild animal but usually deer
by derived from by – near
Lamborough Hill
     lam derived from lam – mud or clay
borough derived from burgus – a roman signalling tower
hill derived from hyll – a hill
High Wycombe
     high derived from hoh – of great height, tall, conspicuously elevated
wy derived from wig – idol or shrine
combe derived from comb – A low place enclosed with hills, a valley
Rod Mell
     rod derived from hroða – hides - tanning possibly
mell derived from mela – meal or flour
Haleshut
     hal derived from hæl – safe
es derived from æs/æst – meat/east
hut derived from hutte – wooden shelter for soldiers
Hecheland
     heche derived from hecge/hæcce – hedge or lightly wooded/fenced
land derived from land – ground, earth or field
Cum
     cum derived from cuman – go with
Sandhurst Cross
     sand derived from sand – sand
hurst derived from hyrst – A clearing in the Forest, most were settled after Domesday
cross derived from cruce – a cross(religious) , a crook or water pot, a crossing point
Shotover
     shot derived from sprot – a course kind of rush
over derived from ofer – an edge, border, margin
Stowwood
     stow derived from stow – a place possibly holy
wood derived from wudu – wudu, earlier widu tree, trees collectively, forest, grove.
Stanton St John
     stan derived from stan – stone - probably a roman road, milestone or builders stone
ton derived from tun – a settlement on a hill
st john derived from sanctus john – saint john

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