Names: and Their Meaning

Why is it called Lloyd's? Why the Green Man? Leopold Wagner traced the origins of everything the Victorians had a name for — countries, tavern signs, flowers, wines, London streets, nicknames and battles — and found a story behind nearly all of them.

The Counties of England and Wales

3 pages in this part of Names and Their Meaning.

The Counties of England and Wales

NORTHUMBERLAND originally denoted the land north of the Humber; Cumberland, the land occupied by the Cymri; and Westmoreland, the land of…

The Counties of England and Wales: Shire

Lancashire indicates the Shire of Lancaster, the caester, or camp-town, on the Lune. This Anglo-Saxon word Caester, derived from the Latin…

The Counties of England and Wales: Saxon

Huntingdon was anciently a great deer forest, and therefore much resorted to for hunting. Northampton is a corruption of North-avon-town…

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