Phrases and Names, Their Origins and Meanings

by Trench H. Johnson

Dyers’ Buildings. The site of an ancient almshouse of the Dyers’ Company.

E

Eagle. An inn sign, the cognisance of Queen Mary.

Earl Street. After Charles Marsham, Earl of Romney.

Earl’s Court. From the Earl of Warwick, whose estate it was until, by the marriage of the Dowager Countess of Warwick with Lord Holland, it passed into her husband’s family.

East Anglia. A name still popular as defining the eastern counties. This was one of the seven divisions or petty kingdoms of England under the Angles or Saxons.

Eastcheap. The eastern chepe, or market, of the city of London.

Easter. From the Teutonic Ostara, goddess of light or spring; rendered by the Anglo-Saxons Eastre. This great spring festival lasted eight days.

Easter Island. The name given to it by Jacob Roggevin when he visited the island on Easter Sunday, 1722.

East Sheen. A name reminiscent of the original designation of “Richmond.”