ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Toponymy

Toponymy is the study of the names of places. People who study toponymy try to figure out why certain places have the names that they do, and how the names have changed over time. For example, why is one river called 'River A' and another river called 'River B'? Toponymy is like detective work - it involves looking into the history, geography and language of different places to try to understand their names.