While listening to the list of names, my toponymist's mind began to contemplate the origins of the place names. Here is the result of a little 'digging', the second of four parts of a list given in alphabetical order and which is certainly not complete.
Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common - both share the 'settlement of the family or followers of a man called Gilla'. Note it is named after those associated with Gilla and not the man himself, telling us it was named posthumously.
Earls Court - named for it being held by the Vere family, earls of Oxford.
East Acton - 'the eastern farmstead by the oak trees'.
East Finchley. Finchley Central and Finchley Road - all from finc leah 'the woodland clearing frequented by finches'.
East India - is named for the associated with the East India Company's trade when this was London's busy docklands.
East Putney - 'the eastern landing place of a man called Putta'.
Eastcote - 'the eastern cottages'.
Edgwareand Edgware Road - both share an origin of 'the weir or fishing enclosure of a man called Ecgi'.
Elephant & Castle - is named after a famous coaching inn which once stood here, itself named after the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers. The image of an elephant with a castle on its back linked to the cutlers through the use of elephant ivory for the cutlery handles.
Elm Park - is as simpleas it sounds, the area had numerous elm trees.
Embankment - another simple name, the embankment shoring up the natural bank of the River Thames.
Epping - a quite ahort name considering earlier forms show this was 'the settlement of the people of the ridge which was used as a look-out point'.
Euston and Euston Square - share a name from Euston Hall, the Suffolk home of the Fitzroy family who held this area by 1852.
Farringdon - began life as 'the fern-covered hill'.
Finsbury Park - was 'the manor of a man called Finn' by 1235.
Fulham Broadway - 'the hemmed-in land of a man called Fulla'.
Gants Hill - takes the name of landholder Richard le Gant and his family, here by 1285.
Golders Green - named from the Godyere family, here before the fourteenth century.
Goodge Street - named after the landholder from the early eighteenth century, a carpenter by the name of John Goodge.
Great Portland Street - named after the dukes of Portland, who owned much of this area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Greenford - is indeed 'the place at the green ford', here green being used to suggest the approaches were overgrown.
Hainault - a name first recorded in the thirteenth century, this describes the 'monastic woodland'.
Hammersmith - really does refer to 'the place of the forge or blacksmith'.
Hampstead - 'the homestead'.
Hanger Lane - is nothing sinister, this is from hangra 'the wooded slope'.
Harlesden - 'the farmstead of a man called Heoruwulf or Herewulf'.
Harrow-on-the-Hill - comes from hearg 'a heathen place of worship'.
Hatton Cross - began as 'the farmstead on the heath'.
Heathrow - began as 'the row of houses by the heath'.
Hendon Central - 'the place at the high hill'.
High Barnet - is from baernet 'the place cleared by burning'.
High Street Kensington - 'the place associated with a man called Cynesige'.
Highbury & Islington - two places meaning 'the high stronghold' where 'high' is probably used as 'important' rather than elevetion, and 'the hill of a man called Gisla', respectively.
Highgate - 'high' as in important and Old English geat 'way, entrance'.
Hillingdon - 'the hill of a man called Hilda'.
Holborn - tells of 'the stream in or of a hollow'.
Holland Park - after Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland who inherited Holland House, although the house and grounds were not named such until 1719, some years after his death.
Holloway Road - there are roads of this name in many towns and cities around the country, all are ancient routes and all tell us they were very busy as they had been worn away by the constant passage of wheels, hooves and feet - quite literally 'a hollow way'.
Hornchurch - describes 'the church with horn-like gables'.
Hounslow Central, Hounslow East and Hounslow West - share a name meaning either 'the mound or tumulus of the hound' or, should the first element be a personal name, '.... of a man called Hund'.
Hyde Park Corner - is at a corner of Hyde Park, itself named from a 'hide', a Saxon piece of land which is not really a measurement of area as it is defined as 'the land required to support on family for one year', where there are clearly a number of variables.
Ickenham - 'the homestead of a man called Icca'.
Kennington - 'the tun or farmstead associated with a man called Cena'.
Kensal Green - is 'the king's wood'.
Kensington (Olympia) - began as a settlement known as 'the farmstead associated with a man called Cynesige'.
Kentish Town - is a surname, the Kentish family recorded here by 1208.
Kenton - 'the estate associated with a man called Cena'.
Kew Gardens - is a combination of Old French kai 'quay, landing place' and Old English hoh 'spur of land'.
Kilburn and Kilburn Park - from cu burna 'the stream frequented by cows'.
Kings Cross St. Pancras - remembers the memorail cross erected to George IV and a church dedicated to St Pancras.
Kingsbury - here burh is used in the later sense and tells of 'the kings manor'.
Knightsbridge - from cniht brycg 'the bridge of the young men'.
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