How Did Each English Region Get Its Name?

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English counties. In this video we are going to find out what English counties
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are, how many there are, and especially what their names are, what they mean and
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where they come from. Understanding for instance how Cornwall comes from an old
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Celtic name meaning people of the horn, how Durham comes from the Old English
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word for hill and the Old Norse word for island, or how Bristol is named after an
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old English term meaning meeting place by the river among many others
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By the way guys I don't know if I've mentioned it but I have a Instagram account where I post
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reels stories and just like other smaller pieces of content so if you want to follow me there just
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just for some extra content and to keep up with my, I don't know, daily video making life
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you can follow me on there. First, we need to clarify something because English counties are
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a little bit confusing. So give me one or two minutes to just explain the context here. Counties
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are a type of subdivision within England. They have been used as administrative areas in England
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since Anglo-Saxon times. That was a long time ago, like fifth century long ago. And while the
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territorial organization and division of the country into counties has changed, as it's normal
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that it does with any country over time. Various definitions of counties exist in England today
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with significant differences from each other. There are three definitions of counties within
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England. First, the ceremonial counties, then the local government counties, and then the historic
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counties. The ceremonial counties are 48, and they're used for the purposes of lieutenancy
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Each of them has a Lord Lieutenant assigned to it who is the personal
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representative of the monarch in the area. Historically each lieutenant was responsible for sort of raising the militia of the county in time of war
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but this was fully abolished in 1921. The local government counties are perhaps
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the most relevant of all. There are 84 of them which are then divided into parish
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councils, but the first can also be different among themselves, some being
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unitary local authorities, others non-metropolitan counties, others are metropolitan districts. I don't know, it's just a big mess of tiered and also parallel local government structures
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And finally, the historic counties, which are 39. And they were used as the local government
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counties until 1974. They were mostly formed as shires or subdivisions of the earlier kingdoms
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which gradually became united by the 10th century to become England. This kind of brought about a challenge when I started writing the video which is
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which set of counties do I explain the names of? The historic ones seem a bit outdated and at the same time the local government ones are so
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numerous and so confusing that I think this video would be a couple hours long
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And so using a form of the Goldilocks principle I chose the one in the middle, the ceremonial counties
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So in this video, we are going to find out the meaning and origin of each of those 48
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county names. Now guys, as I have mentioned recently, these videos are a great place to learn about history
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Thank you so much to them for sponsoring this video and now let's get back to the name origins
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So let's get started, I'm going to be doing these alphabetically, so I'll add timestamps
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in the description so you can skip ahead to any specific county you want to learn about
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A lot of them end with the suffix shire which just refers to their status as a government
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territory unless you are referring to the shire in Middle-earth. Many also have a cardinal direction prefix like West Sussex which of course shares the
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same etymology as Sussex just being west of it. But now, let's jump into the meanings themselves
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Let's start with Bedfordshire, named after Bedford, which derives from Bedda's Ford
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referring to a crossing point over a river associated with an early settler or leader
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named Beda. The first recorded use of the name dates back from 1011 and wrote it as Bedanfortsir
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By the way, I'm gonna mispronounce a lot of names in this video, especially the Old
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Anglo-Saxon, Old English and Old Norse names. I tried looking up the pronunciation for some of
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them but it just doesn't exist in most cases so you're gonna have to excuse me there
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Then we have Berkshire, derived from the Old English Bearosir which in turn comes from the
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Celtic Bearok, meaning hilly or wooded land, signifying the landscape. Berkshire also received
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the title of Royal County in 1957 due to the presence of Windsor Castle there, a royal residence
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and incidentally, the oldest and largest continuously occupied castle in the world
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Moving on to Bristle, the oldest recorded name given to Bristle was Kair Odor, meaning
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the City of the Gap. It honestly sounds much cooler to call it City of the Gap than Bristle and it kind of
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gives it a Game of Thrones vibe, but I guess Game of Thrones is very much based on medieval
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England so that kind of makes sense. Bristol then became known as Brixtau from 1064 to 1204 with the Saxons then changing the city name to Brsixto referring to a place by the bridge on the Avon River Then we have Buckinghamshire named for Buckingham of course which comes from
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Bucca's home or Bucca's people, referring to land owned by someone named Bucca, who is believed to
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have been the leader of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers to arrive in England. And then Cambridgeshire
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which originates from Cambridge. It was also named by the Anglo-Saxons as they arrived and set up a
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settlement there, which became known as Grante Bricks, something like Grante Bridge. By Middle
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English, the settlement's name was changed to Gambrit Co, deriving from the word Camboricum
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meaning passage or ford of stream in a town or a settlement. And a third shire in a row is
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Cheshire. The name refers to the Shire of Chester, which derives from castra, the Latin word for
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military camp, referencing its Roman heritage. It was first recorded as Legge Castercir in the
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Anglo-Saxon chronicle, meaning the Shire of the City of Legions. Again, City of Legions is such a
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cooler name than Cheshire. And speaking of cities, next we have the City of London. The etymology of
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London is a little uncertain. It's believed to derive from the pre-Roman name Londinium
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and this possibly meant place belonging to a man called Londinus, or to a pre-Roman Britain king
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King Lund. There are a lot of proposed etymologies for London, but none of them are completely certain
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which is a good reminder that many of these are speculation, or kind of our best guess
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Don't take them as 100% certain. Moving on to Cornwall. The name combines
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Cornovi, an ancient Celtic tribe meaning people of the Horn, referring to the peninsula and its shape
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with the Anglo-Saxon Velas for foreign or Welsh, so I guess it would mean something like the
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strange foreigner people of the Horn peninsula. When it comes to Cumbria, it seems to derive from
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the Welsh word Cymri meaning compatriots or fellow countrymen, reflecting the area's historical
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Celtic inhabitants. Interestingly, Kimru is the native name for Wales too, sharing the same origin
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All of them seem to be traced to Combroges in common Britonic, which originally meant
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compatriots too. And then Derbyshire. Named for the town of Darby derived from the old Norse
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Diorabi, meaning village of deer, signifying its Norse settlement roots and the fact that I guess
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there were a lot of deers there when they arrived. But like almost all cases, there is a debate about
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the exact origin and many point out multiple influences, such as a variation of the original
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Roman name, Derventio, with pronunciation of the letter V as B, becoming Derventio and later Derby
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along with a link to the river Dervent, a Celtic word meaning valley thick with oaks
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which flows through the city. Interestingly, the football term Derby, used when two teams of the
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same city play each other, comes from this place as well. It originated from a game of football
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between two teams, All Saints and Saint Peter's in the city of Derby, due to the close proximity
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of the two churches. Moving on to Devon. It may come from the name of the Dumnoni tribe
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a Celtic group living in the area before Roman times. Devon would have therefore evolved from
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Dumnonia, meaning land of the Dumnoni, the name of the tribe, in turn is thought to mean deep
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valley dwellers. And what about Dorset? It's named after the town of Dorchester. Dorchester
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Itself seems to come from the Roman name for the settlement, Durnovaria, which was a latinized
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version of a common Bretonic word, possibly meaning placed with fist-sized pebbles
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The Saxons then renamed the town to Dom Varakester, the suffix Kester being the old English name
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to describe a Roman town. And then we have Durham, which seems to have a pretty simple explanation
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It derives from the Old Norse dún holm, meaning hill island, later anglicized
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Dun is hill and holm is island. Then we move on to perhaps the longest county name, which is East Riding of Yorkshire
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Riding comes from the Old Norse, which I think is pronounced as trithri, meaning a third part
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reflecting its division of the historic county of Yorkshire, one of three writings alongside the north and west
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The east obviously refers to it being in the east, While Yorkshire removing the Shire shares its etymology with York, which is first believed to have originated from the Celtic word eburakon, which means place of yew trees
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This theory is supported by the fact that yew trees were once abundant in the area
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And that the city was known for its skilled bow makers, who used yew wood to make their bows
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This became Eburacum to the Romans, Eorfoic to the Angles, and then most famously Jorvik to the Vikings, then evolving to York in modern English
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Another geolocated name is East Sussex, and very interestingly, it's actually double geolocated
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East refers to the east part of Sussex, but Sussex itself is already geolocated
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because it comes from Suth-Seax, meaning Land of the South Saxons, from when it was a part of the
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Saxon kingdom. And another very similar case is Essex, which means precisely Land of the East
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Saxons, reflecting its foundation as an early Saxon kingdom too, but in the east side. Wessex
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shares the same logic, being in the west and Middlesex being in the middle. Then Gloucestershire
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By the way, it's kind of, I think it's impressive that I was able to pronounce that. So you have to give me a little credit even if I am mispronouncing all the other ones. The name originates from
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Gloucester of course and this place name was originally Glewum which was related to the Welsh
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gloi meaning bright. The old English kester came as we saw from the Roman Latin name for a fort
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or walled city. So essentially it would be something like the bright walled city. Maybe
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the city was bright or maybe the walls were colored in a light color. I don't know. Next we have
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Greater London. London comes, as we saw, from Londinium, as previously noted, and the greater
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prefix refers to its role as defining the greater area surrounding London proper. A similar situation
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actually happens with the next one, Greater Manchester, while Manchester itself originates
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from the Latin name Mamukium or its variant Mancuniu These names are generally thought to represent a Latinization of an original Britonic name The generally accepted etymology of it is that it comes from the Britonic mum meaning breast
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in reference to a breast-like hill, possibly referring to the terrain of the region
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And then Hampshire. Removing the shire, it leaves us with hemp, which presents a little bit of confusion
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The Saxon settlement at Southampton was known as Hampton, while the surrounding area was called Amtunsyr. The old name was recorded in the Domesday book as
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Amtasair, probably evolving into the current Hampshire. The word in Saxon is likely to have
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meant something like trading center. Moving on to Herefordshire. It's first mentioned in an
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Anglo-Saxon chronicle of 1051. The name Hereford probably derives from the old English for
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army crossing, being the location of the settlement on the river Y. So potentially the place where
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armies would be best suited to cross the river. And the next one, Hertfordshire, is similar. It
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derives from Herudford, meaning Deerford, indicating a crossing used by Deer in the area
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The name Hertfordshire was first recorded in another Anglo-Saxon chronicle, this one in 1011
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And Deer feature in many county emblems, so it makes sense that that is the case
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Next, we have the Isle of Wight, and its origin seems to be the Latin term
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Vectis for the white part. The isle, of course, refers to the fact that it is an island. The oldest
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records that give a name for the island are from the Roman Empire. It was called Vectis or Vecta
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in Latin. The Domes de Buc then called the island Wit, likely a halfway point between the Latin term
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and the modern English one. These are all variants of the same name. It may mean place of division
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since the island seems to divide the two arms of the Solland
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Then we have Kent, named for the Celtic tribe Conti who lived there before Roman occupation
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It's actually one of the earliest recorded names in Britain, known to the Greeks since the explorer Pythias recorded it as Cantion
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during his voyage around the British Isles in around 325 BC. It's pretty crazy to think that this random Greek guy was just traveling along the British islands
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thousands of years ago, sort of like tourism as we do now. As such, it's been claimed as the oldest
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recorded name still in use in England. The meaning has been explained as coastal district, cornerland
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or land on the edge, so the tribe may have been named after the location in which they lived due
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to its place in the southeast corner of England. Interestingly, the Portuguese word for corner is
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cantu, so maybe they share a common meaning and origin. Moving on to the L's we have Lancashire
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Lancashire takes its name from the city of Lancaster, whose name means Roman fort over the
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river Loon, combining the name of the river with the old English kaister which, as we saw
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derives from the Roman word for fort or camp which was castra. The Loon River took that name
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from the Anglo-Saxon term Ea Leon with Ea meaning river and lawn meaning something like healthy
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apparently. Keep in mind, again, many of these are uncertain and up for debate. And then Lycestershire
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which has the same origin in half of its name, which comes from Leicester. Leicester seems to
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come from Ligore Caistar, referring to the Roman settlement of the Ligore people. Moving on to
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Lincolnshire. It originates from Lincoln, whose name means lake, pool, colony or something
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combining the Britannic word Lynn with the Latin word colonia. Then we have the only ceremonial
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country starting with an M which is Merseyside named after its location next to the River Mersey
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Mersey itself comes from the Old English Mairis Ea meaning boundary river. The Mersey was possibly
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the border river between the Old English kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. Next we have a very
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simple etymology for Norfolk which means Northfolk contrasting with Suffolk which means Southfolk
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And they refer to the people of East Anglia. Then we have North Yorkshire, which is a repeat on our list
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York, as we saw, comes from Eburakum, with shire added for the county and the north for its geographic location
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Another one is Northampton shire. Northampton comes from the Old English hamtoon, meaning home settlement
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Ham is home and toon is town. And yet another north is Northumberland
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The name is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle as Nord Imbraland, meaning the land north of the Humber
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The connected name of the Kingdom of Northumbria derives from the Old English, meaning the people or province north of the Humber, written in this way that I'm not even going to try to pronounce
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The Humber is a river, and its name may have Celtic origins. It may be derived from the ancient British word humbri, which could relate to water, rivers, or estuaries
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Some scholars also suggest a connection to a proto-Indo-European route, meaning dark or muddy
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and this would be reflecting the appearance of the river's water. Then Nottinghamshire
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I keep pointing the paper at you when I say it. It's a very thick stack of paper. The script for this video is like 17 pages
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But anyway, Nottinghamshire. It comes of course from Nottingham which emerged from Snottagham meaning something like home of
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Snott's people, a local leader in the Anglo-Saxon period. Around 600 AD the Snottagas gave their name
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to the settlements of Nottingham which were first recorded as Snottagham. Over the years the city's
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name was gradually modified until it became known as Nottingham around the 12th century
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Next is Oxfordshire, which means Ford of Oxen in Old English, indicating a place where Oxen would cross the river
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Again, the river crossing origin. It's very interesting as you learn about etymology to find out the enormous amount of place names across the world that are named after rivers
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and how often the rivers themselves are named for whatever the native word for river was
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And so a lot of places in the world are just called something like river river
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I don't know. It's interesting. Moving on to Rutland. It's a possible derivation from Rotland or linked to the old English word rut meaning castle
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Rutland is also referred to as Rotland in the Domesday book which was completed in 1087
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The name there carries a meaning that is more connected to the first hypothesis land belonging to rota with rota being an old English personal name that meant the pleasant or cheerful one So
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in addition to the trend of places being named after river crossing locations, we also have this
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other trend of places being named after a local leader or somebody that owns the land in that
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place. Returning to another shire, we have Shropshire. Originally, a word that, again
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I guess I can try to pronounce it. It's Scrobe Biriskeir. It's named for Shrewsbury
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meaning fortified place in the scrub. Then Somerset. Somerset's name derives from an
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Old English word, Sumorset, meaning the people living at the Somerton. Somerton, in turn
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may come from Old English for Sea Lake Enclosure, Somertown, or Summer Farmstead. The first known
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use of Somerton is in the law code of King Ine. He was a Saxon king of Wessex in the year 688
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and this would also make Somerset one of the oldest units of local government in the world
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An alternative suggestion is that the name derives from Seomere Saitan, meaning settlers by the
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sea lakes, connected to the origin of Somerton too. Then, South Yorkshire, part of Yorkshire
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and we already learned about the etymology of that with York. We can therefore move on to
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Staffordshire, which comes from Stafford and Stafford is derived from Old English
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Steph, which I guess we could read as stave and ford, implying again a cross supported by poles
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A ford is an Old English term for a shallow part of a river that can be easily crossed
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while a stave is a vertical wooden post or a plank in a building, some type of other structure
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So perhaps referring to the constructed structure that allowed the crossing of the ford
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I guess some type of bridge. And then Suffolk which, as we saw in opposition to Norfolk
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refers to the southern people of East Anglia. It derives from Old English sud, meaning southern
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and folk, meaning people. After that we have Surrey, from the Old English Southrig, meaning
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southern kingdom, of the Middle Saxons territory. Tyne and Ware has a pretty simple etymology
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it's named after the rivers Tyne and Ware. Tyne is likely Celtic in its origin from the term
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tin meaning river while wer may mean water in old English. Again this is a perfect example
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of a place being named after rivers and the rivers are just named after the native term
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for that river. Going into the w's and starting to wrap up the video we have Warwickshire
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Name for Warwick. Warwick's origin in turn seems to be the old English wer, werwig joining
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two terms, Vair meaning dam or ver and Wyk meaning settlement or farmstead. So, Warwick
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roughly translates to war settlement or the settlement by the ware. The town's location
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on the River Avon suggests that the second interpretation related to a water feature may
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have been the most relevant. Then we have the West Midlands, a regional designation derived from being the western
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part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. There's not much to it, it was the middle
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of the land. Another west is West Sussex, again a double geolocated name. It arrives from South
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Seax, the land of the South Saxons, but here only referring to its western parts. And another west
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is West Yorkshire, which for a third or fourth time we already saw, it comes from Yorkshire
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which comes from York, which comes from the native Eburacum. When it comes to Wiltshire
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it seems to be named after Wilton. Wilton itself seems to come from either the Old English
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wellig, meaning willow, or wella, meaning spring or stream, plus tun, which means enclosure
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settlement, or town. So either the willow town or the town by the stream. And finally for this video
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Worcester, which is also the name of the sauce that nobody can pronounce, including me. After
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removing the shire suffix, we are left with Worcester. The origin of this name is uncertain
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and various theories exist. Some state it comes from the Old English Veogora, the name of a local
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tribe. Others believe the name comes from the Saxon term Vege Rakaistar, meaning war castle
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referring to a castle in the region. And a third option that seems more likely connects it with the
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first is that it would derive from an Old English name, meaning Roman town of the Veogora. Veogora
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in this case being a Britannic name meaning from the Whiting River
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So those are the origins and meanings, so the etymology of the names of English ceremonial
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counties, all 48 of them. Do you think there are any key counties that I left off by choosing to do the ceremonial
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ones or did you spot any mistakes? Do you have any additional information
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Let me know in the comments along with any suggestion for which other countries regions
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I should make a video explaining the names of. Is that a right sentence
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I don't know. Which names do you want me to explain? Which countries regions do you want me to explain
24:45
As always, thank you so much to my patrons for supporting me directly. We just hit 50 paying patrons and we're way over 100 in total, so if you want to support
24:53
the channel and access exclusive, extra content and behind the scenes looks, make sure to
24:58
support me there as well. Either way, thank you so much for watching this video and I will see you next time for
25:04
more general knowledge. When I tell you that I have recorded this video three times and every time something went wrong
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the audio got messed up in one of them, the other one, the camera stopped recording because it ran
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out of space and I didn't notice until I was completely done. So third time's the charm
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let's hope otherwise i will go insane so today's movement cup is this one it's one of the new ones
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that's we just got back from norway and it is i think it's like the monster of the show
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and then some people some guys are like afraid of him but he looks pretty nice i think he's just a
25:59
little misunderstood because he's he's like big he's big and scary but it's cool to see that these
26:07
cops are like a little bit of a weirder not weirder but like a more different style than the other ones

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