London London

History 
Toponymy
Main article: Etymology of London 
The name London may derive from the River Thames 
The etymology of London is uncertain.
[33]
 It is an ancient name and can be found in 
sources from the 2nd century. It is recorded c. 121 as Londinium, which points to 
Romano-British origin.
[33]
The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is 
attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae.
[33]
 This had it that 
the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city 
and named it Kaerlud.
[34]
 
From 1898, it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant 
place belonging to a man called *Londinos; this explanation has since been 
rejected.
[33]
 Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from 
the pre-Celtic Old European *(p)lowonida, meaning 'river too wide to ford', and 
suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows 
through London; from this, the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name, 
*Lowonidonjon;
[35]
this requires quite a serious amendment however. The ultimate 
difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh 
Llundain, which should demand a form *(h)lōndinion (as opposed to *londīnion), 

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from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name 
was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis 
from which to reconstruct the original name. 
Until 1889, the name "London" officially only applied to the City of London but 
since then it has also referred to the County of London and now Greater London.
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