“Toponymics”, or the study of place-names, provides us a fascinating means of getting “under the skin” of places. Toponyms provide clues to a wide variety of social, cultural, economic and political phenomena and how they change. They may also serve commemorative functions and reflect the power of elite groups to shape landscape meanings.
This book documents the histories behind the street- and place-names. The landscape is littered with a bewildering assortment of names in a number including colonial names such as those after places and persons of significance in the British empire; Malayanised names after places, flora and fauna; names associated with different racial groups; names after prominent Asian leaders, wealthy landowners and other personages; descriptive names such as those reflecting topographical features, the presence of a landmark, or indicating former or current land-uses, trades and acitivities; numerical names as found in the majority of HDB New Towns; and specially “themed” names such as names associated with the operatic world, colours or varieties of local birds.
Toponymics will appeal to historians, geographers, academics, expatriates working in Singapore and anyone who has ever wondered what lies behind a particular place-name.
