Placenames (Celtic & Scandinavian)

Celtic origin

Abergavenny (aber: mouth or river)
The town derives its name from a Brythonic word Gobannia meaning "river of the blacksmiths", and relates to the town's pre-Roman importance in iron smelting. The name is related to the modern Welsh word gof (blacksmith. The river later became, in Welsh, Gafenni, and the town's name became Abergafenni, meaning "mouth of (Welsh: Aber) the Gavenny (Gafenni)".

Avonmouth (avon: river)
It owns its name to to be the mouth of the river Avon, which in Celtic meant river. Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuary.

Balerno (bal: homestead)
Its name derives from the Scottish Gaelic Baile Àirneach, meaning "townland/town of the hawthorns". The earliest written records of Balhernoch or Balernach are found in the late 13th century.

Barcombe (combe: deep valley)
Barcombe literally means “Valley of the Britons”. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Berchamp", a reference to fields of barley. Remains have been also found of a Roman villa and an earlier Iron Age roundhouse on the same site, just to the south of the village.

Dumbarton (dum: hill or fort)

From Scottish Gaelic Dùn Breatann or Dùn Breatainn, meaning 'fort of the Britons', Dumbarton is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. 

Pencoed (pen: hill or top)
According to Morgan Thomas, writing in 1887, the name Pencoed in its simplest terms means head (pen) of the woods (coed); top of the woods. It is a heavily urbanised community and town in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales.

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Scandinavian Origin

Grimsby (by: town)

According to legend, the name Grimsby derives from the name Grim, a Danish fisherman, the suffix -by being the Old Norse word for village. The legendary founding of Grimsby is described in Lay of Havelock the Dane, but historians consider this account to be myth.

Bishopthorpe (thorpe: village)
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and referred to as Torp/Thorpe or Badetorps depending on which translation is used. It came to be known as Thorp-super-Usam or Thorpe-on-Ouse in 1194. By 1275 the Earliest written record of the name Bishopthorpe, spelt '"Biscupthorpe"' appears in documents.

Lowestoft (toft: piece of land)
The settlement's name is derived from the Viking personal name Hlothver and toft, a Viking word for 'homestead'. The town's name has been spelled variously: Lothnwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, Loystoft and Laystoft.

Huthwaite (thwaite: piece of land)
The name Huthwaite is derived from Old English plus Norse elements—hoh is from haugr an Old Norse word for a hill and thwaite means a clearing -so, literally, a clearing on a hill spur. The former Hucknall element refers to Hucca's heath or angle of land and is shared with the present day Hucknall near Nottingham and Ault Hucknall in Derbyshire.

Basingstoke (stoke: holy place)
The name Basingstoke is believed to have been derived from the town's position as the outlying, western settlement of Basa's people.The ending -stoke means outlying settlement or possibly refers to a stockade that surrounded the settlement in early medieval times (of which there is now no trace).

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Source: Wikipedia