List of toponyms
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In linguistics and grammar, a toponym is a name derived from a place or a region.
This is a list of toponyms, followed by the name of the place it is derived from.
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General
- Acapulco
- Angora
- Armageddon
- Auschwitz
- Babel
- Balkanization, a geopolitical term for the fragmentation of a region — the Balkans, region in southeastern Europe
- Bantustan, a disparaging term used by critics of the Apartheid-era government's "homelands" — territories designated as tribal "homelands" for black South Africans during the Apartheid era
- Bay Street, a synonym for Canada's financial industry (similar to Wall Street) — Hudson's Bay Company in Canada
- Beltway, name for the highway surrounding Washington, D.C.
- Berlin Wall, synonymous of the Cold War — Berlin Wall, separating East Berlin from West Berlin
- Bible, bibliography — Byblos, city on the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon
- Bikini, two-piece bathing suit for women — Bikini Atoll, a Micronesian Island in the Pacific Ocean
- the Blarney and Blarney Stone — Blarney Castle
- Boetian
- Bohemianism, term referring to artists, writers, and disenchanted people who wished to live a non-traditional lifestyle — Bohemia, a region occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic
- Bombay duck, a kind of fish — Bombay, old name for Mumbai, coastal city in western India
- Brazilianization
- Broadway, street in New York City synonymous with Musical Theater
- Bronx Cheer, a noise made by the mouth to signify derision — The Bronx, a borough of New York City
- Brummagem, goods of shoddy quality — Birmingham, city in England
- Bungalow
- Byzantine
- Canary
- Carthaginian (peace)
- Caucasian, a white person – Caucasus Mountains
- Chautauqua
- China, pottery
- Chinese Wall
- Coach — the village Kocs in Hungary where this vehicle was first made
- Sent to Coventry
- Denim, from de Nîmes – Nimes, France
- Detroit, often used as shorthand for the American automobile industry
- Dijon
- Dixieland music — Dixie or "Dixies land", a nickname for the American South.
- Dollar
- Donnybrook
- Doolally
- Duffel, heavy woollen cloth — Duffel, a town in Belgium
- Eden (place of dubious existence)
- El Dorado
- Essex, 'common' or 'nouveau riche' sensibility — Essex, a county near London
- Fez, (also called tarboosh), a hat — Fez, a city in Morocco
- Finlandization
- Fleet Street
- Georgia, a font — Georgia (U.S. state)
- Gibraltar
- Greek, a language usage ("all Greek to me") — Greek language of Greece
- Gypsies, nomadic peoples in Europe and United States — Egypt
- Havana, cigar – from capital of Cuba
- Hell, usage in language — Hell, mythical place
- Hicksville
- Holland, cotton or linen fabric — Holland
- Hollywood, shorthand for the American film industry – Hollywood, district of Los Angeles, California
- Iliad (see Troy)
- Indian
- Java, slang for coffee – from island in Indonesia
- Jersey cattle (also tomato, milk, cream, jumper) — Jersey, one of the Channel Islands
- Labyrinth
- Left Bank, style of life, fashion, or "look" — "Left Bank", bank of the Seine which is to the left, near Paris
- Lesbian, homosexual — Lesbos, island in Greece
- Lilliputian, meaning very small sized — Lilliput, fictional island in the book Gulliver's Travels
- Madison Avenue, a metaphor for advertising — Madison Avenue, a street in New York
- Magenta, colour — Magenta, town in northern Italy
- Marathon, long race — Marathon, Greece, town
- Madras, lightweight cotton fabic — Madras, old name for Chennai, coastal city in southeastern India
- Main Street, name for a generic American community
- Manchester (as in textiles)
- Manila envelopes, Manila fiber — Manila, city in Philippines
- Marseillaise, national anthem of France — Marseille, city in France
- Masada
- Mausoleum, a large and impressive tomb — Mausoleum of Maussollos in Turkey
- Mecca, ultimate destination or activity center — Mecca, holy city in Saudi Arabia
- Mongoloid race — Mongolia, country in northern Asia
- Motown, R & B music – Detroit, Michigan (called the Motor City)
- Maus
- Neanderthal man, known by his fossils — Neanderthal, Germany, valley where the fossils were found
- Nuremberg Trials — Nuremberg, German city where the trials were held
- Olympics, worldwide games — Mount Olympus, tallest mountain in Greece
- Paisley (design), used in shawls — Paisley, Scotland
- Palookaville
- Peoria – symbolic of small-town America
- Peyton Place
- the Rubicon, the point of no return — Rubicon (or Rubico), Latin name for a small river in northern Italy
- Rugby football — Rugby School, in Rugby, central England
- Seltzer (commercial name)
- Shambala
- Shanghai woman, English expression for a prostitute — Shanghai, China's largest city
- Shangri-La, a mythical utopia, a language usage — Shangri-La, fictional place in the novel Lost Horizon
- Siamese twins, conjoined twins — Siam, old name for Thailand
- Siberia, a remote undesirable location — Siberia, in eastern Russia
- Sodomy, forbidden sexual acts — Sodom, Biblical town on the plain of the Jordan River
- Solecism, incorrect or ungrammatical usage of language — Soli, ancient city on the island of Cyprus, where a dialect regarded as substandard was spoken
- Spa, place having water with health-giving properties — Spa, a municipality in Belgium
- Stalingrad
- Surrey, horse-drawn carriage — Surrey, southern England
- Timbuktu, metaphor for an exotic, distant land — Timbuktu, city on the Niger River in Mali, West Africa
- Tin Pan Alley
- Trojan horse, malicious computer virus — Trojan Horse, of Troy, from the Iliad
- Trojaned, as above.
- Utopia, term for organized society — Utopia, fictional republic from the book of the same name
- Wall Street, financial market — Wall Street, a narrow thoroughfare in lower Manhattan running east from Broadway downhill to the East River.
- Watergate, American political scandal and constitutional crisis of the 1970s — Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
- Woodstock Festival, music and art festival held in August, 1969 — venue of the festival Woodstock, New York
- Xanadu, a symbol of opulence — Xanadu (or Shangdu), summer capital of Kublai Khan's empire
- Zion
Events/Agreements
- Hiroshima (Japan) - the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945
- Kyoto (Japan) - the Kyoto Protocol of 1997
- Maastricht (The Netherlands) - the Maastricht treaty of 1992
- Munich (Germany) - the Munich Agreement of 1938
- Oslo (Norway) - the Oslo Accords of 1993
- Potsdam (Germany) - the Potsdam Conference in 1945
- Schengen (Luxembourg) - the Schengen treaty of 1985
- Seattle (Washington) - the Seattle Riots of 1999
- Yalta (Ukraine) - the Yalta Conference of 1945
- Warsaw (Poland) - the Warsaw Pact (1955 - 1991)
- Waterloo (Belgium) - the Battle of Waterloo in 1815
Food and Drink
- Bordeaux
- Burgundy
- Cantaloupe (also called rockmelon), a variety of melon — Cantalupo, the Pope's summer residence
- Champagne
- Cognac
- Cuban, sub sandwich in Florida — Cuba, country in the Caribbean
- Danish, a sweet pastry (in Denmark called wienerbrød (bread from Vienna)).
- Dunkirk spirit
- Frankfurter (or Wiener — from Vienna)
- Hamburger — Hamburg, Germany
- Hollandaise sauce — Holland
- Madeira wine, a fortified wine and Plum in madeira, a dessert — Madeira islands of Portugal
- Manhattan cocktail — Manhattan Club in New York City
- Mocha coffee, ice cream — Mocha, Yemen, place where the coffee is grown
- Peking Duck, a Chinese dish made of duck — Peking, old name for Beijing, China
- Port wine (or Porto), sweet fortified wine — Oporto, in northern Portugal
- Salisbury Steak — Salisbury, England
- Sardine, types of small fish — Sardinia, island in the Mediterranean near Italy
- Sherry wine, a mispronunciation of Jerez — Jerez de la Frontera, a city in southern Spain
Cheese
- American
- Aveyron(nais)
- Caerphilly
- Cheddar
- Cheshire
- Colby
- Derby
- Gloucester
- Gorgonzola
- Gouda
- Gruyere
- Lancashire
- Leicester
- Limburg(er)
- Monterey (Jacks)
- Munster
- Parme(san)
- Roma(no)
- Roquefort
- Stilton
- Swiss
- Tilsit
- Wensleydale
Elements
See: Chemical elements named after places
See also
- Lists of etymologies
- List of eponyms, names derived from people's names