3 ms·

I’d like to see more examples of modern place names which the author deems inadequate, and some evidence that beautiful names are fading. Among the places I’ve

I’d like to see more examples of modern place names which the author deems inadequate, and some evidence that beautiful names are fading. Among the places I’ve traveled (which are regretfully not many), it doesn’t quite feel like that nature/geography/person-related place names are largely being replaced by heavily commercial ones. So I need more convincing that is is actually happening.

vintermann 4y ago
I can give some! Real estate developers give the same, boring names over and over and over again. The most popular are "Utsikten" (the view), "Lia" (the hillside), "Sentrum", "Åsen" (the hill), and "Toppen" (the top). If they get creative, you get a slightly more marketing friendly version of the generics, like "Soltoppen" (the sunny top) or "Hvitveiskroken" ("Wood anemone corner"). I'm not as familiar with them, but I believe you have these in English speaking countries too? Alta Vista, Oak Ridge, Highland Park, Valley View, etc? If it's like in Norway, then any oaks or ridges near oak ridge housing community are purely accidental.
- KineticLensman 4y ago
  > I'm not as familiar with them, but I believe you have these in English speaking countries too Yes, exactly. E.g. there are definitely similarities in the names of streets built on new estates. 'Acacia Avenue' is a joke generic street name in England. Estates built on old WW2 airfields (there are quite a few of these) often have streets that are named after aircraft. We also have a phenomenon where old established pubs - with historically / locally relevant names - are now being rebranded by the chains that own them. So the Roeshot (named for the hill it is built on) is now the Toby Carvery. [Edit] The other big effect in England is that older town names reflect the language of different waves of settlers / invaders [0]. Town names that end in 'ing', 'ford', 'ham' are usually Old English, 'thorp', 'thwaite', 'toft' etc are usually Scandinavian, etc. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy_of_England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy_of_England

vintermann 4y ago

I can give some! Real estate developers give the same, boring names over and over and over again. The most popular are "Utsikten" (the view), "Lia" (the hillside), "Sentrum", "Åsen" (the hill), and "Toppen" (the top). If they get creative, you get a slightly more marketing friendly version of the generics, like "Soltoppen" (the sunny top) or "Hvitveiskroken" ("Wood anemone corner"). I'm not as familiar with them, but I believe you have these in English speaking countries too? Alta Vista, Oak Ridge, Highland Park, Valley View, etc? If it's like in Norway, then any oaks or ridges near oak ridge housing community are purely accidental.

KineticLensman 4y ago
> I'm not as familiar with them, but I believe you have these in English speaking countries too Yes, exactly. E.g. there are definitely similarities in the names of streets built on new estates. 'Acacia Avenue' is a joke generic street name in England. Estates built on old WW2 airfields (there are quite a few of these) often have streets that are named after aircraft. We also have a phenomenon where old established pubs - with historically / locally relevant names - are now being rebranded by the chains that own them. So the Roeshot (named for the hill it is built on) is now the Toby Carvery. [Edit] The other big effect in England is that older town names reflect the language of different waves of settlers / invaders [0]. Town names that end in 'ing', 'ford', 'ham' are usually Old English, 'thorp', 'thwaite', 'toft' etc are usually Scandinavian, etc. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy_of_England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy_of_England