Nicknames of Places

Many places in the world, from the smallest settlement to the largest expanse of land or water, have one or more secondary names—nicknames, titles, or slogans by which it is known in addition to its formal or usual name. Rarely if ever found on maps or in gazetteers, such names feature widely in popular use, travel guides, journalistic articles, and literature of all kinds. New York City (for instance) is the Big Apple, Baghdad on the Hudson, City of Ambition, Empire City, Gateway of the USA, Gotham…
This dictionary catalogs some 4600 such names worldwide, ranging from familiar to obscure, recently minted to archaic. Entries include explanations of the nicknames and one or more quotations documenting its use.

The late Adrian Room was a noted toponymist and onomastician. The author of more than 50 reference books about words and names, he lived in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England.

Adrian Room
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 365
Bibliographic Info: appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011 [2006]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6623-8
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

The Dictionary      9

Appendix 1: Regional Nicknames      269

Appendix 2: Road and Street Nicknames      307

Appendix 3: Romany Names of Places      317

Appendix 4: Renamed Countries      319

Appendix 5: Roman Names of Towns and Cities in Europe      321

Appendix 6: English County Names      325

Appendix 7: Astronomical Names      327

Bibliography      331

Index      333

“an outstanding and unique ready-reference work, this volume is a superb source for hard-to-find information. Highly recommended”—Booklist; “recommended”—Choice; “the quality of the book is high”—ARBA; “well-organized…comprehensive’—C&RL News.