English River Names: Flow gently sweet Afton and Avon
Posted March 10th, 2010
Some months back, we ran a blog about the names of rivers in Western Europe, and we promised to follow it up with one on English and Irish waterways. Well here, at last, it is.
The landscapes of the British Isles and Ireland are traversed by rivers, some as long as the Thames and the river Shannon, some flowing across national borders, from England to Scotland or Wales, while others are much smaller streams.
Not surprisingly, most of these names are less lyrical than the French and Italian examples, more simple and straightforward. A sizable number of them already exist as people names—Amber, Tamar, Perry, Douglas –while the rest are possible crossovers. Of these, some sound decidedly masculine (Dart, Dewey), while others could conceivably be used for girls.
ALLUN
ALYN
ANNAN
AVERON
AYR
BEAULY
CASSLEY
CONON
EXE
GWENDREATH
HANNON
KEMP
KENSEY
MARDEM
MEDINA
MORDA
QUINNY
SEVERN
VALENCY
YARTY
ARNEY
AVOCA
BROSNA
CLADAGH
DENNETT
FOYLE
GLENELLY
LAGAN
LIFFEY
REELAN
TOLKA
VARTRY
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baby name blog, baby name ideas, baby names, Boys' Names, British baby names, cool baby names, creative names for boys, creative names for girls, English baby names, English river names, girl names, Girls' Names, green baby names, green names, Irish baby names, Irish river names, nameberry blog, nature names, river names, Uncategorizedcomments
8 Responses to “English River Names: Flow gently sweet Afton and Avon”
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Bella Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Tamar
Ireland
Callan
and Fane are some of my favourites, though I prefer the sp. Fainne.
JNE Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Aaah, I lived less than a quarter mile from the River Avon (I think there are actually several, but the one in Christchurch, Dorset) when I first moved to England… Also the (not on the list) River Stour (near where they join by the Priory and Stanpit Marsh)… They have such positive associations for me… but neither works as a name… for me, Avon is all about Avon Ladies and Stour sounds like a cross between stinky and sour, unfortunately. Hmmm… now I’m tripping down memory lane…. thanks!
Other rivers in England that I have memories of that didn’t make your list but might work for names:
Teign, Axe, Brit, and Beauleiu
From the list – Wow – Exe would make a really unusual name – but I kind of like it for a middle if you had a connection with Exeter.
British American Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
I grew up in Merseyside, so by the river Mersey. Shame it’s not really my style for a name or a particularly picturesque river. I doubt my friends here in the US would know that it’s a river, but all my friends back in the UK would probably dislike it for a name choice.
Also spent my university days in Nottingham, so by the river Trent and in the ‘Trent Building’. That’s better than Mersey, but still not really my style.
Meg Says:
March 12th, 2010 at 12:33 am
Afton also means “evening” in Swedish, or “eve” – Christmas Eve = Julafton. Not a bad association at all, just thought I’d mention.
CanaLyn Says:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:51 am
I’ve always loved the name Afton. I associate it with the Nickel Creek rendition of the song (which is amazing and I’d recommend that everyone listens to it), and for a long time when I was younger I thought Afton was the girl in the song, not the river by which said girl lay.
I was a sort of dumb child.
Deborah Says:
March 19th, 2010 at 5:01 am
Once I had two colleagues who were married to each other. He was Donald, known as Don, and she was Dinah, known as Dee. Two rivers that had flowed together!
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Some GORGEOUS options there!
There’s actually a Perry or a Parry in my family history