English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Twickenham

Major Settlement in the Parish of Twickenham

Historical Forms

  • Tuican hom, Tuiccanham 704 BCS111 8th
  • Tuicanham, (in) Tuicanhamme 793 BCS265 10th
  • Tuuiccanham 941 BCS766 13th 948 c.1250 ib
  • Tuuicaham 948 c.1250 ib
  • Twikeham 1216 FF
  • Twykenham 1279 1301 Ipm 1316 FA
  • Twikenham 1291 Tax
  • Wickenham 1650 Madge
  • Twekynham 1396 FF
  • Twyckname 1560 FF
  • Twicknem 1651 ParReg(Teddington)
  • Twitnam(e) 1644,1721 ParReg(Northolt)
  • Twittenham 1698 ib

Etymology

Probably 'Twic (c )a 's hamm.' There is a well-marked bend in the river here. Ekwall (DEPN s. n .) suggests the gen. sg. of a hypothetical OE  word *twicce , related to twicene , 'fork or junction of roads or ways.' The meaning would be 'river fork' with reference to its situation at the junction of the Thames and Crane, but the genitival compound 'hamm of the river-fork' seems, however, a very unlikely one.