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Place name
A place name (/pleɪs neɪm/) or toponym (/tɒpənɪm/) is the name of a place, such as a country, region, city, town, county, village, or other geographical feature such as a hill, mountain, river, or celestial body such as a star, moon, planet, etc.
These are examples of proper nouns and are usually capitalised.
Additionally, there may be English names for foreign cities, or particular pronunciation of them that may differ from the local language.
The study of place names is called toponymy.
The pronunciation of English place names can be somewhat irregular, though there are rules. The most likely thing to catch learners out are the suffixes. The following suffixes are both (1) reasonably common and (2) irregular in pronunciation.
| Ending | Example(s) | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| -borough | Loughborough, Peterborough | /-brə/ |
| -cester | Leicester, Gloucester | Last two syllables are merged /-stə/ or /-stər/ (rhotic) |
| -ford | Oxford | Vowel is reduced /-fəd/ |
| -ham | Birmingham, Nottingham | H is silent; vowel is reduced /-əm/ |
| -shire | Cheshire | Vowel is reduced /-ʃə/ |
| -ton | Southampton | Vowel is reduced /-tən/ |
| -mouth | Portsmouth, Plymouth | Vowel is reduced; /-məθ/ |
| -worth | Tamworth | W may be silent after a consonant sound /-əθ/ |
| -wick | Berwick, Keswick | W is usually silent after a consonant sound /-ɪk/, |
