Place Names in the U.S.A‪.‬

Place names, or toponyms, may represent the best-known specimens of the American variant of English. Like other “Americanisms,” they may be the product of composition, derivation, or borrowing from another language. A glance at a map shows that they, too, have their regularities and patterns of regional distribution, and they are able to provide important clues to the history of the nation. For those who take an in-depth look, they tell stories about the origin of those who gave the names, their hopes and beliefs, and of persons they wanted to honor.
The scope of this paper only permits the presentation of a sample of toponyms to illustrate some of the most influential processes of name formation, and it will be limited to names of settlements, even though similar processes were at work in naming natural topographical features and administrative units.