AP Human Geography
2014
 Toponymy is the scientific study of place-
names, along with their origins and meanings,
based on etymological, historical, and
geographical information
Toponym
 The name given to a particular place
Toponym
Each place is
• A unique location
• A reflection of people’s ideas, and tangible
creations
• Giving a place a name, gives the place certain
character,e.g. “Mount Prospect” and “Mount
Misery”
• People make places; they do not exist in a vacuum
• A toponym can give us a quick glimpse into the
history of a place
 Toponymist George R. Stewart developed a classification
system based on 10 basic categories of place-names:
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Descriptive Names (Rocky Mts)
Associate Names (Mill Valley, CA)
Incident Names (Battle Creek, MI)
Possessive Names (Johnston City, TX)
Commemorative Names (San Francisco, CA)
Commendatory Names (Paradise Valley, AZ)
Folk-Etymology Names (Plains, GA)
Manufactured Names (Truth or Consequence, NM)
Shift Names (Lancaster, PA; Alpine Mountain)
Mistake names, involving historic errors in identification or
translation (Lasker, North Carolina); named after Alaska
 Each category is directly associated with cultural
geography.
Largest U.S. Cities Named After a Food
 Orange, CA
 Citrus Height, CA
 Appleton, WI
 Walnut Creek, CA
 Sugar Land, TX
 Apple Valley, CA
 Port Orange, FL
 Coconut Creek, FL
 Pearland, TX
Some Strange U.S. Toponyms
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Accident, Maryland
Between, Georgia
Bingo, Maine
Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania
Blowout, Texas
Blue Ball, Pennsylvania
Boring, Oregon
Ding Dong, Texas
Cocked Hat, Delaware
Intercourse, Pennsylvania
No Name, Ohio
Poverty, Kentucky
Strange Toponyms (U.S.): Bodies of Water
 Big Bone Lick, Kentucky
 Frying Pan Creek, Washington
 Idiot Creek, Oregon
 Marijuana Tank, New Mexico
 Pee Pee Creek, Ohio
 Molasses River, Michigan
Strange Toponyms (U.S.): Mountains & Hills
 Bad Marriage Mountain, Montana
 Big Butt, North Carolina
 Bitch Mountain, New York
 Hateful Hill, Vermont
 Killer Mountain, Oklahoma
Toponym
Toponyms have their roots in
 Migration
 Movement
 Interaction among people
Migrant Andover
Toponym and cartography
Some toponyms on maps depend on who produced
the map
Some contested places have more than one name
at the same time
Example: the Malvinas (Argentineans); Falkland
Islands (British)
U.S. place names are governed by the United States
Board of Geographic Names, established in 1890
by President Benjamin Harrison
Decides what toponyms appear on government
produced maps
Toponym and cartography
 Toponymy can also reveal the political parties and
politicians in charge at the time or those who had
influence in the past.
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This trend of naming cities, streets, and monuments
after those in charge was particularly present in
totalitarian and/or dictatorial states.
In the former Soviet Union, at least 27 cities were named
after Vladimir Lenin, in particular Leningrad, Russia’s
2nd largest city.
In addition, at least 12 cities were named after his
successor Joseph Stalin.
The majority of these cities were renamed after the fall of
the Soviet Union and communism itself.
 Most place names in any culture contains two parts: the generic
and the specific.
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The generic (classifying) and specific (modifying or particular) is used
to signify what entity is being described.
In English, the specific comes first, e.g., Missouri River, Wall Street,
Hudson River, Bunker Hill, Long Island, etc.
In the U.S., River Rouge or Isle Royale- evidence of French
settlement- French reverse naming order
 Specific dialectical regions of the U.S. also have their own unique
toponyms.
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In the North, there is a trend to add directional adjectives to placenames (East Lansing, North Chicago, West Chester, etc.).
This pattern is largely due to the planning of Northern towns and
cities in accordance with the compass.
Some Arabic Toponyms In Africa
 Cairo- “victorious”
 Sudan- “land of the blacks”
 Sahara- “wasteland” or “wilderness”
 The Geography of
Swedish names
reflects the
immigration patterns
of the 19th century.
 Swedish toponyms in
Minnesota: Kalmar
Township, Karlstad,
Malmo Township,
Mora, New Sweden
Township, Ronneby,
Scandia, Stockholm
Township
What are some English toponyms in the
United States?
 Australia – From Latin “terra
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australis incognita”, meaning
Unknown Southern Land
Brazil – Named after the
Portuguese name for the
Brazilwood tree, “pau-brasil”
Greenland – An English name
given by Eric the Red to attract
settlers. Not very accurate.
Netherlands – Greek for Low
Lands.
Palestine – Named for the
ancient Philistines.
Peru – Unknown, most
common theory is that it was
derived from “biru”, a native
word for river.
Liberia- from Latin“Liber”(freedom)
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Bolivia – Simon Bolivar
Colombia – Christopher Columbus
El Salvador – Jesus
America – Amerigo Vespucci
(Former) Rhodesia – Cecil Rhodes
Philippines – King Philip II of Spain
Washington, D.C. – George Washington
Georgia (US) – King George of England
Baltimore – Lord Baltimore
Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City- Self Explanatory
Connecticut:
•Georgia: Peach State
Constitution State
•Florida: Sunshine State
•North Carolina: Tar Heel
State
What is the nickname of Massachusetts?
 La Paz, Bolivia
Jerusalem, Israel
 Xi’an, China
 There are a large amount of what Americans
would deem as “unusual” toponyms, including:
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Turdy (Tajikistan)
Kilkenny (Ireland)
Condom (France)
Shitagoo Lake (Quebec, Canada)
Horni Police (Czech Republic)
Dildo (Newfoundland, Canada)
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara
Ayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom
Udom Ratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit
Sakkathattiya Witsanu Kamprasit (Thailand)
 These seemingly humorous place-names are due to language
barriers as well as lack of cultural understanding.
Longest place (town) name
 Given to a town in Wales
 To preserve the Welsh language and diminish the
influence of the English language
 Can you pronounce this name?
 Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysil
iogogogoch
 The name means: “The Church of St. Mary in the
hollow of white hazel near the rapid whirlpool by
the church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.”
Post-Colonial Toponyms
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Upper Volta: Burkina Faso
Gold Coast: Ghana
Nyasaland: Malawi
Northern Rhodesia: Zambia
Southern Rhodesia: Zimbabwe
Southwest Africa: Namibia
East Pakistan: Bangladesh
Netherlands East Indies: Indonesia
Ceylon: Sri Lanka
Bombay: Mumbai
Some places with Native American Names
 “Mesconsing”(“the long river”)- recorded as
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“Quisconsing” by Lewis and Clark- later distorted into
“Wisconsin”
Milwaukee
Winnipeg
Massachusetts
Potomac
Niagara
Adirondacks
Chesapeake
Shenandoah
Yukon
Post-revolution Toponyms
 Belgian Congo to Zaire and back to the Congo
Democratic Republic
 Leningrad to St. Petersburg
 Stalingrad to Volgograd
Memorial Toponyms
 Chosen to memorialize important historical figures
 Example of street names in many parts of the U.S.
particularly the South memorializing Martin Luther
King, Jr.
 Places named after George Washington, JFK,
Abraham Lincoln, etc.
Commodification of Toponyms
 Refers to the practice of buying, trading, and
selling of place toponyms to promote popular
culture
 Some examples: Tokyo Disneyland, Paris
Disneyland, and Disneyworld in the U.S.
 In the area of sports, many arenas are named
after corporations, e.g. Gillette Stadium, FedEx
Field, MCI Center, Coors Field, BankNorth
Garden, Staples Center, etc.
Sequent occupance (Derwent Whittlesey-1929)
 The notion that successive societies leave their
cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the
cumulative cultural landscape, e.g. Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
European languages in Africa