Exploring Patterns in Placenames

Placename Patterns Using Regular Expressions is an interactive mapping tool for exploring the distribution of different patterns in placenames. For example in the map above I have plotted the distribution of placenames ending in 'thorpe' and 'chester' in the British Isles and placenames starting with 'Beau''. 

The distribution of the placename suffix 'thorpe' (the old Norse word for 'homestead') in the UK seems to match quite closely to the Danelaw (the area settled by the vikings). The 'Chester' suffix (Latin for 'castle' or 'camp') shows that a town or city was likely established by the Romans. The prefix 'Beau' (beautiful) is probably a good sign that a town was established by or settled by the Normans.

The Placename Patterns Using Regular Expressions map can currently plot the distribution of placenames in a number of different countries (the United States, the British Isles, France, Romania, Canada, and Japan).

mapping the link between German placenames and altitude

The 'about' section of the map provides two interesting examples of how Placename Patterns Using Regular Expressions can be used. One example shows the link between German placenames and altitude. The other example visualizes the distribution of places in France whose names end in 'ac' (the -ac placename in France comes from the Gaulish language so towns ending in -ac are most likely to predate the Roman invasion of France). 

An example of exploring placename distributions in the US is this map showing the locations of placenames ending in 'pass'. 'gap' and 'saddle'. This map shows the regional variation in the use of different words for navigable valleys.If you are interested you can explore the distribution of different valley placenames further in John Nelson's map Gap, Pass, Notch and Saddle. 

Via: weeklyOSM