Does your local area have a nickname – and if so, does it ring any bells of truth?


The English Project has launched a web survey called Location Lingo to create a database of unofficial names of UK cities and landmarks. And with 3000 bynames entered in less than a week, the survey is already an online success.


Like all nicknames, some people are bound to not like them, but that’s not going to stop the man on the street from making them up. Have you for example heard of Scamden Market (Camden Market), Sexual Ealing (Ealing), Why Come? (High Wycombe), Malfunction Junction, (the A45 and B4101 near Coventry) or Wobbly Bridge (the Millennium Bridge)?


To some it may seem like a bit of childish wordplay, but there is in fact a more serious reason for the study.

“Projects like Location Lingo can provide us with useful research data. Organisations like the emergency services rely on our information when responding to 999 calls, so by having the most complete set of ‘unofficial’ names we could help the emergency services quickly locate the right place, and maybe even save lives,” says Glen Hart, Ordnance Survey’s Head of Research.


There are three criteria that must be met to enter the naming project. First of all, the nickname can’t be an official name or appear on any maps; secondly, it must have been in regular use amongst a group of three people or more for at least a month; and finally, the title cannot be made up for the survey.

Enter your location and its pet name at locationlingo.net