bringing instability. Polar regions are noteworthy for the absence of such thunder-
storms because polar air masses are usually stable. For instance, there has been only
one thunderstorm recorded at Barrow, Alaska (71°N).Toponymy
The sub-branch of cultural geography that studies thelocation, use, and origin of
place names. Atoponymis the name used to identify a specific location on theland-
scape. An examination of place names in aregioncan provide a great deal of infor-
mation about the cultural landscape, both past and present, and may provide clues
regardingsequent occupance. The etymology of a place name may reveal much
about those who imposed it. For example, migrants sometimes name their place of
settlement after some characteristic of the “home” they left, maintaining a sense of
a familiar place, although the actual physical setting may be far different than the
original. Hermann, Missouri, for example, was founded by German immigrants in
the 1800s, and is named for a German hero who defeated the Roman Empire.
Lawrence, Kansas, was founded in the 1850s by abolitionists from Massachusetts,
who named the new settlement after a famous anti-slavery Massachusetts politician,
Amos Adams Lawrence, reinforcing the status of Kansas as a free state. The influ-
ence of Spanish culture and settlement in southern California is evident in place
names such as San Louis Obispo, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, along with dozens
more. Across the United States, the ubiquitous presence of Native American place
names for towns, counties, major cities, and states themselves indicates the lasting
cultural impact of the region’s original inhabitants. The specific language used in
such naming indicates the home territory of individual groups—Tallahassee, Florida
is derived from the language of the Muskogee people who lived in the region, while
the name of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, comes from the Algonquin languages, spoken
by several Native American groups who occupied the northern United States.
The origin of many place names is not as obvious as the examples mentioned
above. Toponyms typically have two components, a specific portion and a generic
element. In the case of Cartersville, Georgia, “Carter” is the specific part of the
name, while “ville” is the generic segment. The use of certain generic components
is sometimes unique to specific languages and/or ethnic groups, and linguistic
geographers can often trace the origins of migrants through an examination of
these patterns. For example, the generic suffixes ofboro, shire, andfordused for
town names (Foxboro, Wiltshire, Milford) are typical of English and Scottish
settlements in New England. These generic components of place names have been
transplanted to other areas of the United States, usually by migrants from the344 Toponymy