What's in the Name?

How the Streets and Villages in Singapore Got Their Names

Nonfiction, History, Asian, Southeast Asia, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science

• Author: Yew Peng Ng
• ISBN: 9789813221475
• Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
• Publication: September 28, 2017
• Imprint: WSPC
• Language: English

Since 1819, more than 6,200 place (street and village) names divided into more than 3,900 name groups were known in Singapore. Based on digitised historical newspapers, dated back to 1830, municipal records and Malay dictionaries, the origins, meanings and date of naming for many place names are uncovered. As part of Singapore history, place names known since 1936 are recorded in this book.

Although place names are fairly static in nature, there have been more than 100 name changes. The naming trends transitioned from English to Malay and then back to English names. Discover that Toa Payoh was not named after a big swamp, Anderson Road was named before John Anderson, a former Governor, took up his job and many more new findings in this exciting book.

This book is a complete listing of all place names since 1936, together with the most comprehensive annotations to date — a first in Singapore. It is also the only book of its kind that analyses naming trends. Information on the origins or date of naming was based on primary sources such as old maps, minutes of municipal meetings, Chinese books and digitised newspapers.

Contents:

• A Study of Singapore Place Names:

  • Introduction
  • Nomenclature of Singapore Place Names
  • The Contents of Singapore Place Names
  • Place Names of Chinese Origin
  • Standardisation of Chinese Place Names
  • Evolution of Place Names
  • Conclusion

• Singapore Gazetteer Since 1936 and Annotations

Readership: This book is meant for students as well as the general public interested in finding out the history behind Singapore's place names.
Key Features:

• This is the most comprehensive book on the subject of toponymics using data from digitised newspapers dated back to 1830 that were unavailable in the past
• Use of information from Chinese sources, of which no English books on the same subject has been attempted before
• Analysis of place names and naming trends based on four main racial groups have not been performed previously