Why are so many places in Normandy named -ville?

Up to 20% of all hamlets, villages, towns, and cities in the region have the -ville suffix, ranging from popular beach destinations to secluded inland settlements related to the region’s strong agricultural output. 

The reason for this ubiquitous naming pattern, for many, – including residents of the locations themselves – remains a mystery.

Latin and Viking history leads to unique naming pattern

Linguistically, the suffix comes from the Latin term ‘villa’, meaning a large rural estate, usually with an attached farm or other other type of agricultural output (orchard, etc).

These ‘villas’ were common in Normandy following the Roman conquest of Gaul, with the area long seen as a region ripe for agricultural production due to its good soils and its weather.

The arrival of the Vikings in the area from the ninth century onwards saw an explosion in the usage of the term as the population of the area boomed and the two cultures meshed.

Given the area of modern Normandy at the start of the 10th century via a peace treaty with the French, Vikings following Rollo settled the area en masse, bringing with them family members from Scandinavia and the British Isles. 

The Vikings slowly became influenced by the existing Gallo-Roman (early French) culture in Normandy, and the two societies blended in several ways including with their language and naming practices. 

The -villa suffix was slowly converted into the modern French -ville, and used to denote an area that belonged to someone, such as a small local lord or prominent farmer.

For example, the name of modern village Amfreville derives from the original settlement name of ‘Asfredivilla’, meaning the domain of Asfred (or Asfridr in old Norse). 

This story is repeated dozens of times across the region, with Vikings either settling the area held by a previous villa and adding their name to it, or copying the naming style when founding a new settlement. 

In the UK, this is similar to the suffix of -ham that previously denoted a farm settlement, for example Tottenham being ‘Tota’s ham’ (the farm of Tota). 

Similar pattern elsewhere in France

The Viking influence is particularly important because the structure of the Old Norse language (a Germanic, not Latin one) they originally spoke remained when naming settlements, making ‘ville’ a suffix as opposed to a prefix. 

Elsewhere in France – Roman villas were found across the country – settlements were named in the contrary manner.

This is because they were often named using Old French which was derived from Latin and therefore put the noun before the adjective as opposed to after as in Old Norse.

This is why you are likely to find many communes outside of Normandy that begin with ‘Ville’ (Villefranche, Villeneuve, Villejuif, Villeurbanne, etc) as opposed to ending with -ville. 

Some areas in eastern France also use -ville as a settlement name suffix rather than prefix, due to Germanic influence in the area.

Other similar suffixes in France are seen in the north-west (-Court), Alsace-Lorraine (-heim) and in the south-west (-ac), which have the same meaning as -ville and are in place due to the influence of the Germanic and Occitan languages in the respective areas.