John Moss's A History of English Place Names & Where They Came From is a reference book that thoroughly nails its premise. Do you want to know the origins of a location in England? As the title suggests, it's here.

This is an incredible resource for serious researchers and armchair Anglophiles alike. Anyone with even the slightest curiosity about the names on an English map can page through this hefty tome and learn a lot about the linguistic and historic roots of English geography.

According to the book jacket, the book explores the lineage of some 700 locales in England. (No, I didn't count to verify the number.) Moss delved into "local and contemporary records, many online, as well as the ancient accounts and descriptions found in the Domesday Book and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles" to unearth the information he needed.

Well, he did a fantastic job. Not so much a book you'll want to sit down and read cover to cover, English Place Names is something to keep handy so you can page through and read a few entries whenever you have a couple of minutes to spare.

And, trust me, you'll find plenty to absorb your attention. Take, for instance, the "complex origins" of Ashby Puerorum, in the East Midlands, which blends an Old English word with an Old Scandinavian one and follows it with a Latin word, all of which combines to mean "village (or farmstead) of the boys among the ash trees." Or Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, named for the Anglo-Saxon Lady Wulfruna who owned the manor in 985. Redbridge, in Greater London, owes its obvious name to a red brick bridge that once crossed the River Roding; the bridge is gone, but the name stuck. Halifax, in West Yorkshire, "probably comes from the Old English 'halh-gefeaxe,' meaning 'area of coarse grass in the nook of land,'" although it's also possible the name derives from the Old English words "halig," meaning "holy," and "feax," meaning "hair," referencing a fanciful myth that says the head of John the Baptist is hidden nearby.

Whether your interest is that of a historian, linguist or etymologist, or if you simply have a passion for all things English, you'll find much in this book to fascinate and inform.