Toponyms are place names or names derived from places found in various industries, including food, textiles, and music. Examples include US states named after English counties and fabrics named after French cities. Some food toponyms have legal associations with specific places, such as Roquefort cheese and Champagne wine.
Toponyms can be either place names, real or imagined, or names derived from places or regions. Toponyms are found in many different areas of industry, business, culture and current events. It is not uncommon to find toponyms used for places that resemble other places, as well as wars, treaties and agreements, bands, food and textiles, among other elements.
There are many places that start with the word new which are toponyms called to remember or honor other places. In North America, we have the US states of New Hampshire named after Hampshire, England; New Jersey named for the island of Jersey in the English Channel; New Mexico, recalling the country to our south; New York, after York, England; and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, meaning “Nova Scotia.” There are also a number of North American toponymic places named after rivers, including the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Ohio, and the provinces of Saskatchewan and Yukon. The province of Ontario takes its name from Lake Ontario.
Some contemporary bands have toponyms for their name, drawing on both real and fictional places for inspiration. Chicago, the American rock band formed in 1967, takes its name from the city of Chicago. Manhattan Transfer, an American vocal group formed in 1972, have a name that is a toponym once removed: it takes its name from the novel Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos, from the Manhattan Transfer train station in Harrison, New Jersey. Rock band Styx, originally called The Tradewinds when they started in 1961, derived their second toponymic name from the river in Greek mythology. The Shangri-Las, named after the Himalayan utopia in James Hilton’s novel, Lost Horizon, were an all-girl American pop trio/quartet in the 1960s.
Some fabrics have toponyms that recognize their place of origin. The shirting fabric called Oxford is named after Oxford, England. The two thick cottons used for trousers, denim and jeans, are both toponyms: the former derives from the fact that it came from Nîmes, France – it was said to be “de Nîmes”. Jean comes from the French pronunciation – Gênes – of his city of origin, Genoa.
Cambric and Chambray, respectively fine cotton or linen and light percale, are toponyms of the French textile city of Cambrai. Cashmere, a wool fabric created from Kashmir goats, takes its toponymic name from the territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Finally, Madras, in India, lends its name to the cotton fabric which often features characteristic check patterns.
Some of the best known toponyms occur in the realm of food. Hamburgers, named for Hamburg, Germany, and frankfurters or hotdogs, named for Frankfurt, Germany, are perhaps the most recognized food place names. Also likely familiar are two nicknames for coffee, Java and Mocha, referring to cities in Indonesia and Yemen. Tangerines are a popular fruit named for Tangier, Morocco, but the Barbados cherry, Natal plum, and Java plum may be less familiar.
Some food toponyms are legally associated with a particular place. Roquefort, named after the village Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, has what is called “denominated controlled AOC status” conferred by the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, the regulatory body in France. It was, in fact, the first cheese to be so singled out in 1925. There are several dozen that have since been given this status.
Using the name “Champagne,” a name for sparkling wine, is illegal in a number of parts of the world unless the product comes from the Champagne region of France. In December 2005, pork pie producers in the Melton Mowbray region of England were granted permission to apply for a similar status, with the aim of limiting the production area of products authorized to bear the Melton Pork Pie name to an area of 1,800 sq m. me. (4662 sq km) area. The case has been challenged by long-established manufacturers whose business locations are outside the zone.
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