Jump to content

Toponymy in the United Kingdom and Ireland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Great Britain and Ireland have a very varied toponymy due to the different settlement patterns, political and linguistic histories. In addition to the old and modern varieties of English, Scottish and Irish Gaelic and Welsh, many other languages and cultures have influenced geographical names including Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Saxons, Romans and Vikings. Ultimately, most of the toponyms derive from the Celtic, North and West Germanic and Italic (including Romance) branches of the Indo-European language family, although there is evidence of some Pre-Indo-European languages.

The different toponymy in different parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland are discussed in the following articles: