The English
Place-Name Society

The English Place-Name Society (EPNS) was established in 1923 to conduct a county-by-county survey of the place-names of England. The first county survey of Buckinghamshire appeared in 1925.

To date, the Survey has produced 91 volumes, the most recent being The Place-Names of Leicestershire Part VII, published in 2016. Almost all English counties have been surveyed at least in part and work to complete the Survey is ongoing.

The Survey is used by researchers, academics, and those interested in the origins, meaning, and significance of English place-names.

Membership

The Society always welcomes new members, both personal and institutional.

In return for the annual subscription, full members receive free of charge the current issue of the Journal as well as the volume of the Survey allocated to that year's subscription. They are entitled to a concessionary price on any other available volume of the Survey.

Associate members receive the Journal, and have some options on the Survey volumes.

Join the EPNS

EPNS News

The EPNS celebrates 100 years with one day conference

Northumberland Name Books: images and transcriptions now available

Description: Around 15,000 Northumberland place-names and brief descriptions of places were recorded by the Ordnance Surveyors c. 1860 and survive in 104 Name Books housed in The National Archives, Kew. Thanks to funding from the EPNS (Jim and Mary Ann Wilkes fund) and the work of forty dedicated volunteers, the documents can now be browsed and searched at http://namebooks.org.uk

Part 7 of the Place-Names of Shropshire and Journal 48 published

Description: Part 7 of The Place-Names of Shropshire, by John Baker with Sarah Beach, has recently been published. This is the first of the Survey volumes for Shropshire to be published as an outcome of the Place-Names of Shropshire project, a four-year collaborative venture between the Institute for Name-Studies and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS) to complete the Shropshire Survey begun by Margaret Gelling. Volume 49 of the Journal of the English Place-Name Society has also recently been published. Members will receive these volumes in the post soon.

Winner of the Alfred Oscroft Essay Prize 2018 announced

Description: The 2018 winner of the Alfred Oscroft Essay Prize for undergraduate work on place-names has been announced. Jasmin Higgs (University of Nottingham) won this year's prize for her project on Essex place-names. This year's runner-up is Katie Watson (University of the West of England), for her essay on South Gloucestershire street-names. Congratulations Jasmin and Katie!