INS
Institute for Name-Studies
Photo of a young white male student holding a book in a room lined with bookshelves

Name-Studies resources

The INS reference library is located in the Trent Building and is open to staff and students as well as members of the EPNS. It holds a wide range of key monographs and journals in name-studies and related disciplines as well as important unpublished manuscripts.

EPNS (English Place-Name Society) is the established national body for the subject and has its own website; its offices and collections are housed in the Institute.

Extract from medieval manuscript. Old-fashioned brown handwriting in straight lines across a slightly scuffed piece of cream paper.

Finding medieval landscape names

Resources to help find landscape names in medieval conveyance charters.
English road sign with three signs pointing in different directions and blue skies and green fields behind.

Journal of The English Place-Name Society

Published at the University of Nottingham by the EPNS.
Close up image of a digital map. A banner across the image reads 'Discover the origin of the place-name'. In a white speech bubble partially obscuring the map behind, further text reads "Aylesby. 'Ali's farm/settlement. Elements and their meanings: pers.n. (Old Norse) personal name. by (Old Norse) A farmstead, a village."

Key to English Place-Names (KEPN)

A searchable guide to the interpretation of the names of England's settlements.
 
A rough line map of Norbury, showing the various roads, field boundaries and local topographic features.

Learning the Landscape through Language

Place-name resource website developed for schools in Shropshire.
Drawn map of the UK with counties depicted in different colours

Survey of English place-names

A digitised version of the Survey for English Place-Names, an established resource for historians, linguists and geographers, created in collaboration with the EPNS.
Photograph of an old metal signpost with white arms pointing to local towns in three directions. The signpost is located in the grass verge next to a country road with a hedgerow and blue skies behind.

Vocabulary of English Place-Names

A dictionary providing further information on the words that make up England's place-names.
 

  

Further resources hosted outside the University:

The Historical Gazetteer.

This useful resource brings the Survey of English Place-Names into the digital realm.

Visit the Historical Gazetteer of England's Place-Names

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School of English

The University of Nottingham
Nottingham NG7 2RD

telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 5919
fax: +44 (0) 115 846 7526
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