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
from clochán, which can mean a beehive hut, stepping stones, a causeway or an old stone structure
“hillside of the bard’s son”
“foaming lake”
“harbour of Saint Ia”
“valley of the River Coe”
“the new town”
“white cove”
“fortress of the Ordovices”, a British tribe
“mouth of the River Rhiw”
“west Meath”
from ystum “bend”, llwyn “grove” and garth “wooded slope”
“lone ridge”
“abbey in the long valley”
“at the end of the road”
“mouth of the River Fal”
“basilica”
named after the medieval kingdom of Uí Failghe
from pen “head” and traeth “beach”
from blaen “point, head” and cwm “valley”
“big head”
named after the god Lugh
from cnoc “hill” and long “ship” or “house”
“cod bay”, from Old Norse
named after the Loígis, a people living in the area in the Middle Ages
“church enclosure of Saint Stephen”
“church on the River Llyfni”
“little forest”
“church of Saint Tegfan”
“church of Saint Tegai”
believed to be from bwncath, “buzzard”
“the garrison”
“new bridge”
“black meadow”
“castle” of Caereinion, “the fort of Einion”
“church of Saint Dona”
“Saint Cybi’s island”
“stone fort”
“church of Saint Eilian”
“headland”
from coed “trees” and tŷ “house”
“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”
“Mary’s well”
“Lewis’s village”
“church of Saint Llechid”
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).