Toponymy
branch of onomastics, study of place names
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms (names of places, also known as place names and geographical names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. Toponym is the general term for the name of any geographical feature, and the full scope of the term also includes names of all cosmographical features.
In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics. Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. A person who studies toponymy is called toponymist.
Etymology
The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek: τόπος / tópos 'place' and ὄνομα / onoma 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning 'place name') first appearing in English in 1876 in the context of geographical studies. Since then, toponym has come to replace the term place-name in professional discourse among geographers.
Toponymic typology
Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups:
geonyms: names of all geographical features on Earth
cosmonyms: names of cosmographical features outside Earth
Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order:
agronyms: names of fields and plains
choronyms: names of regions or countries
dromonyms: names of roads or any other transport routes by land, water, or air
drymonyms: names of woods and forests
econyms: names of inhabited locations, such as houses, villages, towns, or cities, including:
astionyms: names of towns and cities
comonyms: names of villages
hydronyms: names of various bodies of water, including:
helonyms: names of swamps, marshes, and bogs
limnonyms: names of lakes and ponds
oceanonyms: names of oceans
pelagonyms: names of seas
potamonyms: names of rivers and streams
insulonyms: names of islands
metatoponyms: names of places containing recursive elements (e.g., Red River Valley Road)
oronyms: names of relief features, such as mountains, hills, and valleys, including:
speleonyms: names of caves or some other subterranean features
petronyms: names of rock formations; also of climbing routes
urbanonyms: names of urban elements (streets, squares, etc.) in settlements, including:
agoronyms: names of squares and marketplaces
hodonyms: names of streets and roads
Various types of cosmographical toponyms (cosmonyms) include:
asteroidonyms: names of asteroids
astronyms: names of stars and constellations
cometonyms: names of comets
meteoronyms: names of meteors
planetonyms: names of planets and planetary systems
Toponymic structure
Toponyms are often composed of two elements, described as the "generic" and the "specific". The generic identifies the kind of place denoted by the name, while the specific distinguishes the place from others in the same class.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q485762. The Library of Congress control number is sh85136092. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876.
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This entry incorporates text from “Toponymy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.