Celtic Place-Name Explainer
See what Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Breton and Manx place names mean, how to say them, and where they are.
140 place names
“fort on the River Taff”
“mouth of the River Tawe”
from yr “the”, Middle Welsh gwyð “grave, burial mound” and crug “cairn, tumulus”
“island of Môn”; Môn goes back to the old Celtic name *Monā, first recorded in Latin as Mona
“uplands”
“martyr Tudful”: here merthyr means a shrine over a martyr’s relics
“mouth of the River Ystwyth”
from pont “bridge”, y “the”, tŷ “house” and pridd “earth”: “bridge of the earthen house”
generally derived from Latin pagensis, “provincial”
“end of the bridge on the Ogmore”
“Morgan’s country”, after Morgan Hen
“fort of Saint Cybi”
“Ffili’s fort”
“church of Saint Elli”
“house of Saint David”
“town on the Mynwy (Monnow)”, from tref “town”
from pennarth, “promontory”
named after Ceredig ap Cunedda, a 5th-century king
“peaks of Brycheiniog”, a medieval kingdom named after King Brychan
from llan “church” and Collen
perhaps from cyn- “chief, foremost” and gwy “water”
“fort”, with a second part of uncertain origin, possibly lleng “(Roman) legion”
“bay of Colwyn”
from pwll “pool” and heli “saltwater, brine”
“chapel in the wood”
“dirty pool, boggy spot”
“Denbigh of the fishes”, that is, the little fort of the fishes
“Madog’s port”: a Welsh form of English Portmadoc, named after the surname Madocks
“castle on the River Neath”
short for Abermaw, “mouth of the River Mawddach”
“mouth of the two Cleddaus”, where the White and Black Cleddau meet
from cwm “valley” and brân “crow”
from dôl “meadow” and cellau “cells”
“little fort”
“valley of the Ebbw”
“mouth of the River Dare”
“mouth of the River Gwaun”
“bridge of the pool”, with pŵl borrowed from English
“mouth of the River Honddu”
“southern region”
from Old Welsh bed “grave” and Gelert, a personal name, most likely of a saint
“big hill”
“church of Saint Peris”
“ford on the River Amman”
“mouth of the River Aeron”
“sand dune, beach”
from ton “pasture”, y “the” and pandy “fulling mill”
“church of Saint Teilo”
Common place-name elements
Many names are built from a few common words. Pick one to see every place that uses it.
- llan · church, parish (26)
- aber · river mouth, confluence (16)
- caer · fort (9)
- pont · bridge (7)
- pen · head, top, end (6)
- tref · town (5)
- cwm · valley (4)
- tŷ · house (4)
- castell · castle (3)
- coed · wood, forest, trees (3)
- din · fort, stronghold (3)
- dôl · meadow (3)
- gwyn · white (3)
- newydd · new (3)
- ton · lea, pasture (3)
- ynys · island (3)
- bae · bay (2)
- coch · red (2)
- mynydd · mountain (2)
- porth · port, harbour (2)
- pwll · pool (2)
- traeth · beach, shore (2)
- ystrad · valley, vale (2)
- abaty · abbey (1)
Go deeper than the map
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Meanings and glosses are adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the other sources cited on each page. Map and area data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).