Toponymy

Toponymy refers to the scientific study of place-names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use and typology. The first part of the word is derived from the Greek topos (τόπος), place; followed by ōnoma (ώνομα), meaning name. It is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds.

A toponym is a name of a locality, region, or some other part of Earth's surface, including natural features (such as streams) and artificial ones (such as cities).

In ethnology, a toponym is a name derived from a place or a region. In anatomy, a toponym is a name of a region of the body, as distinguished from the name of an organ. In biology, a toponym is a binomial name of a plant.

Toponymists
A toponymist is one who studies toponymy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word toponymist first appears somewhere towards the middle of the nineteenth century. It can be argued that the first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of certain place names in order to elucidate their tales; sometimes place-names served as the basis for the legends themselves. The process of folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, the toponym of Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after Helle, daughter of Athamas, who drowned here as she crossed it with her brother Phrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however, most likely is derived from an older language, such as Pelasgian, which was unknown to those who explained its origin. George R. Stewart theorized, in his book Names on the Globe, that Hellespont originally meant something like "narrow Pontus" or "entrance to Pontus," "Pontus" being an ancient name for the region around the Black Sea, and by extension, for the sea itself.

Toponymists attempt to approximate the original meaning of a place-name, their conclusions often competing with popular or spurious etymologies that may sound more poetic or attractive to tourists. Thus, the river-name "Mississippi" is popularly claimed to mean "Father of Waters" (though it may mean simply "Big River"), and the state name "Idaho" was said to mean "Gem of the Mountains" (though it is merely an invented name).

Scholars have found that toponyms provide valuable insight into the historical geography of a particular region. Toponyms not only illustrate ethnic settlement patterns, but they can also help identify discrete periods of immigration.

Toponymists are sometimes used by governments in order to verify the accuracy of certain names as used by cartographers, the media, researchers, publishers, and their duties also include the inputting of new names into databases and topographical maps.

Noted toponymists

 * John McNeil Dodgson
 * Eilert Ekwall
 * Margaret Gelling
 * Gillian Fellows Jensen
 * Oliver Padel
 * Robert L. Ramsay
 * Henry Schoolcraft
 * Albert Hugh Smith
 * George R. Stewart
 * Isaac Taylor
 * William J. Watson

Regional

 * Historical African place names
 * Names of European cities in different languages
 * List of Latin place names in Europe
 * Latin names of rivers
 * British toponymy
 * List of generic forms in British place names
 * Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom
 * List of places in the United Kingdom
 * List of Roman place names in Britain
 * List of British places with Latin names
 * Japanese place names
 * Korean toponymy and list of place names
 * Maghreb toponymy
 * List of towns in New Zealand
 * Roman place names
 * Place names in Sri Lanka
 * List of English exonyms for German toponyms
 * List of U.S. state name etymologies
 * List of U.S. state nicknames
 * List of U.S. place names connected to Sweden
 * Toponyms of Finland

Other

 * List of political entities named after people
 * List of places named after peace
 * List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations
 * List of adjectival forms of place names
 * List of country nicknames
 * List of double placenames
 * List of words derived from toponyms
 * List of tautological place names
 * Place names considered unusual

Related terms

 * Demonym and Ethnonym