Islands
Ey, an island, 1survives as the last element of many names, and is not always to be distinguished from hey (hay, Settlements, Chapter III) and ley. Bill Nye’s ancestor lived atten ey (Chapter III). Dowdney or Dudeney has been explained from the Anglo-Saxon name Duda, but it more probably represents the very common French name Dieudonné, corresponding to Lat. Deodatus. In the north a river island was commonly called Holm (Scand.), also pronounced Home, Hulme, and Hume, in compounds easily confused with -ham, e.g. Durham was once Dun-holmr, hill island. The very common Holmes is probably in most cases a tree-name (Chapter XII). In Chisholm the first element may mean pebble; cf. Chesil Beach. The names Bent, whence Broadbent, and Crook probably also belong sometimes to the river, but may have arisen from a turn in a road or valley. But Bent was also applied to a tract covered with bents, or rushes, and Crook is generally a nickname (Chapter XXII). Lastly, the crossing of the unbridged stream has given us Ford or Forth whence Stratford, Strafford (street), Stanford, Stamford, Staniforth (stone), etc. The alternative name was Wade, whence the compound Grimwade. The cognate wath (Scand.) has been confused with with (Scand.), a wood, whence the name Wythe and the compound Askwith or Asquith. Both -wath and –with have been often replaced by -worth and -wood.
Notes
1 Isle of Sheppey, Mersea Island, etc, are pleonasms.