The Survey of English Place-Names, a British Academy Research Project, is one of the longest-running projects of its kind. Since the 1920s, English Place-Name Society scholars have been working on a county-by-county survey of England's place-names, collecting the early forms of names from classical, medieval, and later documents and offering interpretations of their linguistic origins. The Digital Survey makes the place-name scholarship of the last century easy to search, browse, and map.
Place-Names
Access ninety years of place-name scholarship in digital form.
Search
Search for places, historical place-name forms, place-names elements, and more.
Browse
Explore the names of a particular county’s towns, villages, and more minor places.
Map
Create simple maps showing the distribution across England of particular place-name elements.
A word from the Institute for Name-studies
The Institute for Name‑Studies is the home of research into place‑names and personal names at the University of Nottingham. The English Place‑Name Society (EPNS) is the established national body for the subject; its offices and library are housed in the Institute.
The Digital Survey is a work in progress, the result of scanning and OCR technology, and automated processing. It is, as yet, not perfect! If you find there are errors and omissions we are happy to receive feedback and can be contacted by email at digitalepns@nottingham.ac.uk.
We acknowledge the contributions authors and editors have made to make the survey volumes available and permissions they have given to make this online resource possible.