What's In A Name? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Harrow

The Old English word for heathen temple is hearg. Harrow's name is first recorded in a document from 767 as Gumeniga Hergae. The first word is the name of a tribe about whom nothing is now known.

Answer: weir

Warwick means weir dwellings (on the River Avon), Wareham means "homestead by a weir" and Warrington is "farm by the weir"

Answer: St Mary's stream

Often mistakenly thought to mean St Mary the good from the French, the "le" is in fact meaningless; being inserted in the name in the 17th century, possibly by association with the church of St Mary-le-Bow in East London. Marylebone took its name from the Tyburn stream which gave its name to the famous gallows, where Marble Arch now stands.

Answer: False

Though this is the popular belief, the name Eidyn is recorded for Edinburgh in around 600, before Edwin's time, so he cannot be the source for the name. The name could mean "fort on a slope" but it is not known for sure.

Answer: Anglesey

Mon is the Welsh name, meaning simply "hill". The hill it is most likely referring to is Holyhead mountain on Holy Island, which is a prominent landmark of the area. The Isle of Man, known to the Romans as Monapia, has similar linguistic roots, its name referring to the mountainous area in the centre of the island.

Answer: True

From the Old English "aemette" and "hyll", the town's name was recorded as "Ammetelle" in the Domesday Book.

Answer: Nottingham

Nottingham name means "the homeland of Snot's people" - the original S was recorded in the Domesday book but was lost within the next 50 years as the Norman rulers had difficulty with the pronunciation of the "sn" sound. Liverpool's original meaning in Old English was "clotted pool" meaning a muddy creek on the River Mersey. Cardiff means "fort on the river Taff".

The river Sheaf, a tributary of the Don, gives Sheffield its name.

Answer: False

Rather than the town being named after the river, it is in fact the river that has been named after the town. Cambridge was originally called Grantabridge, and the river called the Granta, but as with Nottingham, the Normans found the pronunciation difficult and the modern name developed as a consequence.

Answer: True

All three derive from the Old English word caester which means "castle". Caster tends to be more common in north of England town names whereas Chester is more common in the south.

Answer: True

It is true, although the meaning of Bury is not the same as its modern day sense. Bury, in this instance, means "place near a town" referring to the place where St Edmund was buried and the monastic community that settled there to protect his remains.