New Jersey

Different Types of Toponyms

Victoria Jenkins

June 1, 2016

• Descriptive: Physically describes something found in the area
• Associative: The city is associated with something else someone
• Commendatory: This means the city has some type of religious connection
• Incidents: This means that the city is named after an event, a battle, or something that happened in the area
• Possession: This means the city was originally named after the original owner of the land or the area
• Folk Etymology: This means there is a local history or indigenous Native American names
• Manufactured: This means the city’s name has no real meaning
• Mistakes: This means the city’s name either doesn’t mean what it’s supposed to mean or a mispronunciation has occurred or some type of error happened
• Shift Names: This means the city is named after another place

Folk Etymology

Absecon is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey. As of 2010, the city's population was 8,411. The city of Absecon was originally named a town by the New Jersey Legislature in February 1872. In March of 1992, the town was named a city for the Absegami, Native American tribe. Most of the Native Americans associated with the Absegami tribe lived in the town.

Absogami means "little stream".

Definition of Toponym

Folk Etymology (Pt.2)

Descriptive toponyms

Descriptive Toponyms (Pt.2)

Atlantic City is an example of a descriptive toponyms because of it's physically description associated with its name. Atlantic City gained its name from the Atlantic Ocean. Because the beach is connected to the Atlantic Ocean, the entire land was named Atlantic City.

A popular beach found in New Jersey is the Atlantic City beach. Atlantic City is also a resort found in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It's known for its casinos, resorts, and of course the beach. The game Monopoly was based off of Atlantic City, mimicking the names of the streets and areas. Atlantic City is on Absecon Island on the Atlantic coast, and was founded on May 1, 1854.

The city of Absecon is considered an example of a folk etymology because of it's significance to the Native American tribe. The local history associated with the Native Americans is really important in that area. The Absecon promotion from a town to a city was a huge part of the Absegami history, and is still celebrated.

A toponym is an association identified with certain characteristics of a place. The word has to be associated because of an adjective describing a specific places characteristics or specialties.

An example would be how Chicago is called "The Windy City". Chicago was given that name based on the windy weather.

Associative Toponym

Associative Toponym (Pt.2)

Sir John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret are important to the production of a United States State. Without them, the original name of "Jersey" wouldn't have been produced and known.

New Jersey got its name from the largest of the British Channel Islands, Jersey. The island was founded by Sir John Berekely, and Sir George Carteret. Carteret served as the governor of the then "Jersey" and it was renamed to New Jersey after his death.

Manufactured Toponym

The state of New Jersey doesn't actually have a historic naming process. The name came from two gentlemen who agreed on "Jersey". The state later became "New Jersey" based on the new world. The former governor in the 1800's, was a farmer and decided to give the state the nickname of the "Garden State".

Shift Names

The state of New Jersey is referred to as the "Garden State". It is unclear why New Jersey is associated with the nickname, but some believe that farmer Abraham Browning gave the state the nickname because of all the beautiful land.

Commendatory Toponym

52.70% of the people in New Jersey are religious.

• 37.62% are Catholic
• 2.47% are Jewish
• 1.23 affiliate with Islam

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