1. Toponymy
AP Human Geography
2014

2. What is Toponymy?
Toponymy is the scientific study of place-names, along with their origins and meanings, based on etymological, historical, and geographical information

3. Toponym
The name given to a particular place

4. 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

5. Toponym Classification
Toponymist George R. Stewart developed a classification system based on 10 basic categories of place-names:
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.

6. 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

7. Some Strange U.S. Toponyms
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

8. 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

9. Strange Toponyms (U.S.): Mountains & Hills
Bad Marriage Mountain, Montana
Big Butt, North Carolina
Bitch Mountain, New York
Hateful Hill, Vermont
Killer Mountain, Oklahoma

10. Toponym Toponyms have their roots in Migration Movement
Interaction among people

11. Migrant Andover
Andover, a town from England, was brought to New England in 1646 and later carried westward

12. 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

13. Toponym and cartography

14. Politics
Toponymy can also reveal the political parties and politicians in charge at the time or those who had influence in the past.
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.

15. Toponymy
Most place names in any culture contains two parts: the generic and the specific.
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.
In the North, there is a trend to add directional adjectives to place-names (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.

16. Some Arabic Toponyms In Africa
Cairo- “victorious”
Sudan- “land of the blacks”
Sahara- “wasteland” or “wilderness”

17. Swedish Toponymy in the US
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

18. What are some English toponyms in the United States?

19. Country Name Etymology
Australia – From Latin “terra 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)

20. Places named after People
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

22. Connecticut: Constitution State
U.S. State Nicknames
Connecticut: Constitution State
Georgia: Peach State
North Carolina: Tar Heel State
Florida: Sunshine State

23. What is the nickname of Massachusetts?

24. Places Named After Peace
La Paz, Bolivia

25. Places Named After Peace
Jerusalem, Israel

26. Places Named After Peace
Xi’an, China

27. Say What? There are a large amount of what Americans
would deem as “unusual” toponyms, including:
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.

28. 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?
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
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.”

30. Post-Colonial Toponyms
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

31. Some places with Native American Names
“Mesconsing”(“the long river”)- recorded as “Quisconsing” by Lewis and Clark- later distorted into “Wisconsin”
Milwaukee
Winnipeg
Massachusetts
Potomac
Niagara
Adirondacks
Chesapeake
Shenandoah
Yukon

32. Post-revolution Toponyms
Belgian Congo to Zaire and back to the Congo Democratic Republic
Leningrad to St. Petersburg
Stalingrad to Volgograd

33. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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
Arabs chose the site in 1866 as a summer retreat, next German colonizers, then the British After WWI who encouraged immigration from their colony in India.

37. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

38. European languages in Africa