Herein you can learn that people from Del Mar, California are Del Martians, that white residents of Zimbabwe are still called Rhodies, that Cestrian can refer to someone from either Cheshire or Chester (both in England), and that should anyone ever arrive from Venus, it has been decided to call them Cyntherians to avoid any sexual reference. Alphabetical listing of places, residents, and nicknames. Great fun, but not useful for research. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

From Abbas Combe to Zennor, this dictionary gives the meaning and origin of place names in the British Isles, tracing their development from earliest times to the present day.

This dictionary, for obvious reasons, cannot lay claim to completeness. It would be an impossible task to deal with English place-names in one volume. The principle has been to include what may be called the chief English place-names. The dictionary embraces names of the country, of the counties, and other important divisions (as craven, kesteven, lindsey), towns (except those of late origin), parishes, villages, some names of estates and hamlets, or even farms, whose names are old and etymologically interesting, rivers, lakes -- also names of capes, hills, bays for which early material is available. Names no longer in real use, have been omitted. The material includes most of the names listed in Bartholomew's Gazetteer, except for those that belong to Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Where did your surname come from? Do you know how many people in the United States share it? What does it tell you about your lineage?From the editor of the highly acclaimed Dictionary of Surnames comes the most extensive compilation of surnames in America. The result of 10 years of research and 30 consulting editors, this massive undertaking documents 70,000 surnames of Americans across the country. A reference source like no other, it surveys each surname giving its meaning, nationality, alternate spellings, common forenames associated with it, and the frequency of each surname and forename.The Dictionary of American Family Names is a fascinating journey throughout the multicultural United States, offering a detailed look at the meaning and frequency of surnames throughout the country. For students studying family genealogy, others interested in finding out more about their own lineage, or lexicographers, the Dictionary is an ideal place to begin research.