Saint Vincent Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest St Vincent's cities.

Edinboro is named after the capital of Scotland, as this was where the first settlers originated.

Kingstown, as with other places of this name, is a reminder of the times when colonists from European nations claimed these lands for their own. Here the man was none other than George III of the House of Hanover.

New Sandy Bay Village is named, well its named for the bay on which it stands which, it will come as no surprise to hear, is sandy.

Charlotte Parish is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III.

Gun Hill is named as it was where soldiers built an observation station, occupied between 1772 and 1797.

Bequia comes from the ancient Arawak language and means 'island of the clouds'.

Mustique is the French word for 'mosquito', although early the group had been named Los Pajaros or 'the birds' by Spanish sailors, as the island chain were thought to resemble birds in flight.

Petite Mustique, 'little Mustique', is named in comparison to the above.

Palm Island got its name when John Caldwell, known affectionately as 'Johnny Coconut', planted hundreds of the tree Cocos nucifera here and transformed a swamp where nobody desired to live, into the island paradise. Even the grass airstrip was given over to palms and now the only access is by boat. Note the earlier name for this place had been Prune Island.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.