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.
339 place names
“court of Kerrys”, a personal name
“yew wood”
from Old Welsh bed “grave” and Gelert, a personal name, most likely of a saint
“fort of Garbhán”, a personal name
“weir of the marshy ridge”
“big hill”
“church of Saint Peris”
“church of the old ringfort”
originally Baile Breacain, “Brecan’s town”
“promontory”
“church of the bridge”
“ford on the River Amman”
“old court”
“mouth of the River Aeron”
“harbour of Saint Elvan”
“sand dune, beach”
from pons “bridge” and Old English wæd “ford”
“ford of the oak”
“town of the ford of Ae”, a chieftain said to have been killed at the crossing; Í may instead mean “yew tree”
“pimple”
“people of Benn”
“marsh”
“abbey of the men of the plain”
from Old British rhyn frwd, “point at the current”
“Thursday market”, from marghas “market” and Yow “Thursday”
“estuary”
“cairn of the church”
from ton “pasture”, y “the” and pandy “fulling mill”
“church of Saint Teilo”
“banks of the River Dee”
“Erik’s island”, from Old Norse Eiríksey
“middle island”
from lu “fleet” and lynn “pool”
“Conn’s plot”, from ceapach “tillage plot”
“church of Idloes”
“hollow of the wood”
from penrhyn “headland”, dau “two” and traeth “beach”
“Fiach’s pass”
“ringfort of Maonas”, a personal name
“church near the waters”
“the stone bridge”
“valley of Saint Columba”
“church on the River Cefni”
usually explained as Rhiw Fabon, “Mabon’s slope”, after Saint Mabon; the cited dictionary instead suggests rhiw “hill” and afon “river”
“new castle”
from ystrad “wide valley” and mynach “monk”
“the fort”
often explained as “high place”, from Old Irish Temair; other derivations have been proposed
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)
- cill · church (8)
- porth · port, harbour, cove (8)
- baile · town, settlement (7)
- pont · bridge (7)
- dún · fort (6)
- pen · head, top, end (6)
- áth · ford (5)
- tref · town (5)
- droichead · bridge (4)
- inis · island (4)
- ros · wood; headland (4)
- cwm · valley (4)
- tŷ · house (4)
- dùn · fort, fortress (4)
- ceann · head, headland (3)
- cúige · province (3)
- mainistir · monastery, abbey (3)
- castell · castle (3)
- coed · wood, forest, trees (3)
- din · fort, stronghold (3)
- dôl · meadow (3)
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).