List of tautological place names


A place name is tautological if two differently sounding parts of it are synonymous. This often occurs when a name from one language is imported into another and a standard descriptor is added on from the second language. Thus, for example, New Zealand's Mount Maunganui is tautological since "maunganui" is Māori for "great mountain". The following is a list of place names often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English name elements have come.
Tautological place names are systematically generated in languages such as English and Russian, where the type of the feature is systematically added to a name regardless of whether it contains it already. For example, in Russian, the format "Ozero X-ozero" is used. In English, it is usual to do the same for foreign names, even if they already describe the feature, for example Lake Kemijärvi, Faroe Islands, or Saaremaa island.
On rare occasions, such formations may occur by coincidence when a place is named after a person who shares their name with the feature. Examples include the Outerbridge Crossing named after Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, the Hall Building of Concordia University named after Henry Foss Hall, and Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens in Santa Barbara named after Alice Keck Park.

List

Asterisks indicate examples that are also commonly referred to without the inclusion of one of the tautological elements.

Rivers

Lakes and other bodies of water

Mountains and hills

Islands

Human structures and settlements

Streets and roads

Other