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
“church of Saint Deiniol”
“valley of coal”
probably “wood of the cairn”
thought to come from yr achub, an old Welsh term for an area of land; a local tradition reads it as “the safe place”
“vale of flowers”
“Lewis’s village”
“church of Saint Llechid”
said to be from nant Lleu, “Lleu’s brook”
from tref “settlement” and carn “rock”
“bridge over the River Lliw”
“green field”
“lower forge”
“church of Saint Sadwrn”
from caer “fort” and rhiw “hill, slope”
from llan “church” and ynys “island”
“a wall”
“church of Saint Gallgo”
from ar- and perth “hedge”
“dwelling of Ewryd”, a personal name
“mouth of the River Dovey”
“rocks of Ceinwen”, a personal name
“mountain of stone”
“mouth of the River Erch”
“mouth of the River Gele”
“the bay of Ceredigion”
from bar “summit” and gwyn “white”
from caer “fort” and Myrddin, which comes from the old Brittonic name *Moridūnon (Latin Moridunum), “sea fort”
“fort in Arfon”, from caer “fort”, yn “in” and the district name Arfon
from clog “detached rock” and caenog “coated, encrusted”
“meadow of Saint Padarn”
“meadow of Gwyddelan”, a saint
from dwfr “water” and dwyw “god”
from esgair “ridge” and ceiliog “cockerel”
“clearing, cultivated upland”
“red parish of Saint Peter”
“church of Saint Tecwyn”
“church of Saint Tudno”
“parish of the field of the furthest tavern”
“church of Samlet”, a Welsh saint
“mountain top”
“headland, promontory”
from ton “pasture”, yr “the” and gefail “forge”
“hospital of Ystwyth”
from ystwyth, “flexible”
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
blas. teaches the language behind the places: vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Free to start.
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).