From Coven to Hot Coffee: The Folklore of Place Names Part 2

Place names are important and pass on a lot of valuable information, even if we no longer understand how to interpret it. Within them, they tell us who used to live in an area, or what natural features were important. Some of them even end up with a range of legends to explain names that might otherwise seem random or bizarre.

Folklore attempts to explain their origins. I’ve talked about unusual place names before, but this time, we’re going to look at more of a range of names to see where they come from.

So let’s have a look at some place names from England, Wales, and the United States. Where did these names come from, and how does their original meaning compare to the names we know now? Hit ‘play’ to hear the podcast episode of this post, or keep reading.

A Reminder about Place Names

AD Mills reminds us that trying to work out an etymology from a modern name can be a fool’s errand. Without early spellings, we can’t assume that the current name carries the original meaning. Various names come from words which no longer exist in contemporary English, but survive only in place names. Some names have identical origins, even where we spell them differently. For example, both Chiswick and Keswick mean ‘cheese farm’ (2011).

We can divide English place names into three categories: folk names, habitative names, and topographical names (Mills 2011). Folk names preserve the original inhabitants of a place. We can spot these with names that end in ‘ing’, which comes from ingas, or ‘people of’. Ripon and Jarrow are also examples of names that represented a group of people.

Habitative names refer to settlements, and the ending of the name tells you the type of settlement. So worth is an Old English ‘enclosure’, while thorp is an Old Scandinavian ‘outlying farmstead’. Topographical names refer to natural or manmade features, such as rivers, forests, or meadows (Mills 2011).

Irish place names are, sadly, often anglicised versions of their original Irish names, which often referred to settlements or natural features. Thus we have Inish, or ‘inis’, meaning ‘island’. There are also Scandinavian names, including Dublin, or dubh linn, meaning ‘black pool’. It uses Irish words, but it was the name the Vikings gave the town (Mills 2011).

Scottish place names are mostly Gaelic, although south-eastern Scotland has some English names thanks to the Northumbrians. Some Scandinavian names also exist across northern Scotland (Mills 2011). Welsh place names are often in Welsh, and describe features or locations. Thus we have Abergavenny, with aber meaning ‘river mouth’, and ‘gavenny’ referring to the River Gafenni (Mills 2011).

Coven, Staffordshire, England

While it might be tempting to think this was named for a group of witches, the truth is more prosaic. The name dates to 1086 CE, and translates to ‘(Place at) the huts or shelters’ (Mills 2011).

It comes from the Old English word cofa, meaning ‘shelter’. In this area, the shelters are recesses in the hillside that sheep and cattle use in bad weather (Moss 2020).

Christmas Common, Oxfordshire, England

This hamlet in Oxfordshire was called Christmas Coppice in the early 17th century, and became Christmas Green in the 18th century (Moss 2020). It seems the name came from its profusion of holly trees in the area, and someone eventually made the link between the holly and Christmas.

There is also a Christmaspie village in Surrey, recorded in 1823, which was named after the local Christmaspie Farm (Moss 2020).

Crackpot, North Yorkshire, England

This one dates back to Crakepote, 1298 CE. This is a combination of the Old Scandinavian kráka and the Middle English potte, to mean ‘limestone cleft frequented by crows or ravens’ (Mills 2011).

John Moss disagrees, translating kráka as ‘cows’, meaning that the cleft might have been a place where grazing cows got stuck (2020).

Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England

Leighton as a name means ‘leek or garlic enclosure’ or ‘herb garden’, from the Old English lēac-tūn. In the case of Leighton Buzzard, it was called Lestone in 1086 CE, but became Letton Busard in 1254 CE. It’s likely the Busard part comes from landowners in the area (Mills 2011).

Sedgwick, Cumbria, England

OK, so I had to include this one since it’s also my surname! AD Mills says it comes from Sigghiswic, c. 1185 CE. It translates to ‘dwelling or farm of a man called Sicg’, with wīc meaning dwelling (2011). While here in the 21st century, we’d pronounce the last half of the word as ‘wick’, turns out ‘wīc’ is pronounced ‘week’. Moss suggests wīc also means a dairy or industrial settlement (2020). The geologist Adam Sedgwick claimed the name was German, and meant ‘village of victory’, though where he got that from is anybody’s guess (1837).

Interestingly, all of the names that begin ‘Sedge’ are related to sedge, the grass, or someone’s name. Yet Sedgley in Dudley and Sedgwick are someone called Secg or Sicg. I’ll remember that next time someone insists on mis-spelling my surname by adding an extra ‘e’ in the middle. While Sedgefield and Sedgwick might sound similar in contemporary English, etymologically they come from a different root!

Snowdon, Gwyd, Wales

While Snowdonia should rightly be referred to as Eryri, its Welsh name, Mount Snowdon itself has two names. Its Old English name, Snawdune, came from snāw and dūn, meaning ‘Snow hill’.

By comparison, its Welsh name, Yr Wyddfa, means ‘the mound’, which refers to the use of the mountain a s burial site (Mills 2011).

Ulgham, Northumberland, England

This one often confuses those outside of the north east since it’s pronounced ‘Uff-am’, despite its spelling. Its name was Wlacam in 1139 CE, and Ulweham in 1242 CE, coming from the Old English words ūle and hwamm. It translated to ‘valley or nook frequented by owls’ (Mills 2011).

Bacon Level, Alabama, USA

The town in Randolph County dates to the pioneer era. According to legend, it got its peculiar name after local outlaws robbed two travellers in around 1800. They made off with various items, including their provisions. Locals told them the outlaws hung out where the trail levelled out, so the travellers went in search of their stuff. Surprisingly, they found their provisions. The legend led to the name, Bacon Level (Swisher quoted in Kazek 2016).

Whynot, North Carolina, USA

This town lies in Randolph County, and apparently took its name from disagreements between the townsfolk. They rejected name after name, with each person asking “Why not call it so-and-so?” According to legend, hours of fruitless searching for a name led to someone saying, “Why not call it Whynot?” (Moyer 1958: 139).

It makes a nice counterpoint to Why, Alabama, which lies near a Y-shaped junction of two highways. While the community were content to call themselves ‘Y’, an Arizona law stated place names needed to be a minimum of three letters. Y then logically became Why (Mental Floss 2024).

Santa Claus, Indiana, USA

According to legend, this town in Spencer County originally bore the name Santa Fe when founded in the 1840s. In 1856, the town decided they needed a post office. Trouble was, there was already a Santa Fe in Indiana. Someone proposed Santa Claus as an alternative since it was the Christmas season, and postal officials accepted it (Moyer 1958: 114).

It’s the only town in the world with a post office named for Santa, and they receive thousands of letters every year for our favourite festive friend. Arizona did have a town called Santa Claus that was demolished in the early 2020s. Georgia’s Santa Claus was named specifically after St Nicholas to attract tourists in 1941 (Krakow 1975: 198).

Hot Coffee, Mississippi, USA

The site of this town sits halfway along the original carriage route between Mobile, Alabama and Natchez, Mississippi, in Covington County.

According to legend, a local named J. J. Davis realised that the traffic between the two towns offered a golden opportunity, and opened a store. He sold coffee and had a huge coffee pot sign above the door. Apparently, he used pure spring water, beans from New Orleans, and molasses drippings as sweetener. He wouldn’t serve cream, as he felt it ruined the coffee (Moyer 1958: 65). The community still had no name, until a passerby burned his lips on the drink, denouncing it as “hot coffee”.

In another variation of the story, he marketed the drink as “the best hot coffee around”, and apparently, part of his slogan stuck (Mental Floss 2024). Others think the community took its name from the coffee pot sign.

Difficult, Tennessee, USA

Difficult sits north of Highway 85 in Smith County. There are various theories as to where this town got its name. In one story, the townsfolk submitted its original name to the post office. Officials rejected the application, calling either the pronunciation or spelling “too difficult”. The townsfolk responded by submitting a new application, this time naming the town ‘Difficult’ (Mental Floss 2024).

Larry Miller suggests it was the establishment of a post office itself on the site that was too difficult (2001: 62). Another option claims that the locals misinterpreted the rejection of the name by the Post Office Department. The statement “Your name is difficult” was intended to pass a value judgement on the submitted name, but instead, it was taken on as the town’s name. Residents in the 1950s claimed this theory was wrong (Moyer 1958: 34).

Either way, the Difficult post office opened on 14 February 1866 (Smith County Chamber of Commerce, n.d.). It seems somewhat apt that Defeated Creek runs through the area.

What place names crop up where you are?

I would love to hear if you’ve heard similar stories about the place names where you are. It would be interesting to see what names appear and what folklore has become attached to them! Feel free to leave a comment below if you’ve got any unusual place names in your neck of the woods.

References

Kazek, Kelly (2016), ‘The strangest town names in Alabama’, Alabama.com, https://www.al.com/living/2016/04/19_of_the_strangest_town_names.html. Accessed 24 February 2025.

Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975), Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins, Macon, GA: Winship Press

Mental Floss (2024), ‘The Funniest Town Name in All 50 States’, Mental Floss, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502251/funniest-town-name-all-50-states. Accessed 24 February 2025.

Miller, Larry L. (2001), Tennessee Place-Names, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Mills, A.D. (2011), A Dictionary of British Place Names, first edition revised, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Moss, John (2020), A History of English Place Names and Where they Came From, Philadelphia, Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History.

Moyer, Armond and Winifred (1958), The origins of unusual place-names, Emmaus, PA: Keystone Publishing Associates.

Sedgwick, Adam (1837), ‘Sedgwick Miscellanea: Derivation of the Name, Adam Sedgwick’s Letter’, Sedgwick.org, https://web.archive.org/web/20061231224907/http://sedgwick.org/na/misc/sedgwick-adam-letter-derivation.html.

Smith County Chamber of Commerce (no date), ‘History Timeline’, Smith County Chamber of Commerce, https://smithcountychamber.org/history-timeline/. Accessed 24 February 2025.