We are gathering submissions for a study focused on nicknames and colloquial terms for towns and places in Berkshire, such as The Ding for Reading and Cracknell for Bracknell. We want to compile a variety of names, including those from small villages and unique geographic features.
Your contributions can include names that are silly, juvenile, or even offensive—it all counts! This research will contribute to a colloquial atlas and linguistic analysis that explores our playful use of names. We are particularly interested in naming patterns, such as the tendency to add suffixes like -y, -s, -o, or -ers (examples include Woky, Maido, and Brackers).
Please remember that names do not need to be common, popular, or clever; they merely need to be documented. We know there are nicknames you’ve encountered that aren’t yet on our list!
Here’s what we have collected so far:
- Reading: The Ding, Dreading
- Slough: Slug, Sluff
- Bracknell: Cracknell, Brackers
- Maidenhead: Maids, Maiders, Maido
- Wokingham: Woky, Woko
- Newbury: Newbs, Poobury
- Woodley: (Need suggestions)
- Windsor: Whinger?
- Thatcham: Thatch
- Sandhurst: Sanders
- Crowthorne: (Need suggestions)
- Ascot/North Ascot: ‘Scot
- Twyford: (Need suggestions)
- Wraysbury/Old Windsor: (Need suggestions)
- Sunninghill/South Ascot: (Need suggestions)
- Burghfield Common: (Need suggestions)
- Sunningdale: (Need suggestions)
- Cookham: (Need suggestions)
- Hungerford: (Need suggestions)
- Datchet: Datshit, Dahshay
- Tilehurst: Hurst
- Caversham: Cavey, Cavo
Feel free to share any additional nicknames or colloquial names you know that aren’t already included!
This sounds like a fascinating study! Here are a few additional nicknames and colloquial names for places in Berkshire that may be of interest to you:
It’s interesting to see how these nicknames evolve and how they can reflect the characteristics or perceptions of the place!