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They may sound like places more likely to be found in Middle Earth, but these amusing-sounding locations actually reveal the origins of modern place names.

An unusual take on the world, The Atlas of True Names shows how global places came to be named.

The etymological take on the world traces Great Britain to Great Land of the Tattooed. The combination of the Greek word ‘prettanoi’, meaning tattoed people, and the Celtic word, ‘brit’, meaning light coloured or speckled, is behind the modern name.

London is re-named as Hillfort, as one theory behind the name of the city’s origin is that the celtic words ‘lon’ and ‘dun’ mean fort on a hill.

Birmingham is Bear Guard Home, York is Wild Boar Village and Liverpool and Edinburgh are Choked Pool and Slopecastle respectively.

The Orkneys has one of the most fascinating origins. Labelled Isles of the Sea Monsters in the atlas, the word ‘orc’ means whale, or sea monster in Celtic.

Places outside of the UK have equally intriguing origins. Cameroon, for example, is Land of the Shrimps, coming from the Portugese word ‘camaroes’, meaning shrimps.

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