What's in a Name

In the UK many names seem unfamiliar to us, but have logical beginnings. For instance, the East Midlands were ruled by the Danes during the ninth century. This resulted in the creation of place names ending in "by" (a suffix thought to originate from the Danish word for "town"), such as Thoresby and Derby. Others end in "thorpe" (meaning "settlement"), such as Ullesthorpe.