List of tautological place names

A place name is tautological if two parts of it are synonymous. This often occurs when a name from one language is imported into another and a standard descriptor is added on from the second language. Thus, for example, New Zealand's Mount Maunganui is tautological since maunga is Māori for mountain. The following is a list of place names often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English name elements have come.

Tautological place names are systematically generated in languages such as English and Russian, where the type of the feature is systematically added to a name regardless if that contains it already. For example, in Russian, the format "Ozero X-ozero" (i.e. "Lake X-lake") is used. In English, it is usual to do the same for foreign names, even if they already describe the feature, for example Lake Kemijärvi (Lake Kemi-lake), or Saaremaa island (Island land island, actually island land island land, since island comes from an old English word for island land).

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Rivers

• Connecticut River, United States (Long Tidal River River - Algonquian)
• Cuyahoga River, Ohio ("Cuyahoga" means "crooked river" in a Native American language.)
• Fishkill Creek, New York, USA (small waterway small waterway - "kil" meaning "small waterway" in Dutch)
• Hatchie River, United States (River River - "hatchie" meaning "river" in Muskogean languages)
• Heilongjiang River, an alternative name for the Amur River, China (Black Dragon River River - Mandarin Chinese)
• Kymijoki, Finland (River River)
• Latsa erreka (tributary of the Nive), France (Brook Brook - Euskara)
• Mississippi River, United States, and Mississippi River, Ontario, Canada (Big River River - Algonquian)
• Molopo River, South Africa (River River) - Setswana
• Paraguay River, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina (From the Great River River - Guaraní Language)
• Rillito River, southern Arizona, United States (Little River River - Spanish)
• Río Guadix, Spain (River River River - Río is "river" in Spanish, guad comes from Arabic wādi 'valley' or 'river', and ix is "river" in Phoenician)
• Río Guadalquivir, Spain (Great River River - from Arabic al-wādi al-kabīr 'The Great Valley (or River)'.
• River Avon, various in England and Scotland (River River - Brythonic (spelled Afon in modern Welsh), or Goidelic abhainn)
• River Avonmore, County Wicklow, Ireland (Big River River - Irish: Abhainn Mór)
• River Avonbeg, County Wicklow, Ireland (Small River River - Irish: Abhainn Beag)
• River Awbeg, County Cork, Ireland (Small River River - Irish: Abhainn Beag)
• River Humber, England, and Humber River, Ontario, Canada (River River - Brythonic)
• River Tyne, England (River River - Brythonic)
• Schuylkill River, eastern Pennsylvania (Hidden River River - the suffix kill in Dutch meaning "river")
• Šešupė River, Lithuania (Sixth River River - Lithuanian)
• Skookumchuck River and Pilchuck River, Washington, United States - the suffix chuck in Chinook Jargon meaning "river"
• Uruguay River, Uruguay and Argentina (River of the painted birds River - Guaraní Language)
• Vaslui River, Romania - uj meant "body of water" in Cuman
• Walla Walla River, Washington, United States (Little River River; Walla means "river" in Sahaptin, repeated to express the diminutive ("little river"))
• Most river names in Java, Indonesia starts with the prefix "ci-", which is Javanese for "river". Many people refers the names redundantly using both the Indonesian word "sungai" and prefix "ci-", for example, "Sungai Cihampelas" ("Cihampelas River") translates to "Sungai Sungai Hampelas"/"Hampelas River River".

Lakes and other bodies of water

• Dal Lake, Kashmir (Lake Lake - Balti)
• Gaube Lake, Hautes-Pyrénées (Lake Lake - French and Gascon)
• Hayle Estuary, Cornwall (Estuary Estuary - Cornish Heyl "estuary")
• Järvijärvi, Sodankylä, Finland (Lake Lake – Finnish)
• Jaurajärvi and Jaurakkajärvi, Finland (Lake Lake - Sami javri "lake", Finnish järvi "lake")
• Laacher See, Germany - A caldera lake and potentially active volcano (Lake of the Lake)
• Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria - 'lagos' is Portuguese for 'lakes', and 'lagoon' derives from Latin 'lacus' "lake, pond"
• Laguna de Bay, Philippines - also referred to as Laguna Lake (Lake Lake - Spanish)
• Laguna Lake, California (Lake Lake - Spanish)
• Lake Chad, Chad (Lake lake - Bornu word tsade: "lake")
• Lake Ellesmere, New Zealand (Ella's lake lake - Old Norse. Several English lakes, such as Windermere, are often incorrectly referred to using the incorrect "Lake -mere" form, but New Zealand's has this form as its official name)
• Issyk-Kul Lake, Kyrgyzstan (Hot Lake Lake - Kyrgyz)
• Lake Lagunita, Stanford, California (Lake Little Lake - Spanish)
• Lake Nyassa (now called Lake Malawi), Malawi/Mozambique (Lake Lake - Yao)
• Lake Rotorua, New Zealand (Lake Lake Second - Māori. Many other New Zealand lakes have the tautological "Lake Roto-" form)
• Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California (Lake the lake - Washo Native American Tribal language)
• Lakeville Lake, Michigan, USA - The village is Lakeville, the adjacent lake is Lakeville Lake.
• Loch Loch, Scotland. Not to be confused with Loch Lochy.
• Loch Lomond Lake, near Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
• Loch Watten, Scotland, from Gaelic loch, plus Norse vatn
• Loughrigg Tarn, from Gaelic loch, plus Norse "ridge", and "tarn" meaning a body of water
• Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, USA (Thousand Lakes Lake - French)
• Østensjøvann is a Norwegian lake name that concatenates sjø ("lake that is not as narrow as a fjord") and vann ("lake"). Similarly Møsvann in Telemark, Norway combines mjøsa meaning lake with vann meaning lake.
• Tal-y-Llyn lake, Wales (End-of the-lake lake - llyn is Welsh for lake)
• Vatnshlíðarvatn, Iceland (Lake-slope-lake - The farm Vatnshlíð (Lake-slope) named after the lake, which in turn is named after the farm.)
• Vatnvatnet, Norway (Lakelake - Norwegian), a lake near Bodø
• Wast Water, England - 'water's valley water' from Old Norse "vatns dalr" (= Wasdale) and Old English "wæter"
• Lake Hayq, Ethiopia - hayk Amh. means lake.
• Sandefjordsfjorden, Norway, Sande fjord's fjord
• Lake Michigan, United States - 'Lake Large Lake' (Michigan is French alteration on the Ojibwe word mishigamaa)

Mountains and hills

• Bergeberget, Norway (The Hill Hill - Norwegian)
• Bredon Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill - Brythonic/Old English/Modern English); compare Bredon and Brill (Hill Hill - Brythonic/Saxon) and Breedon on the Hill (Hill Hill on the Hill - Brythonic/Saxon/Modern English)
• Brincliffe Edge, Sheffield, UK (Burning Hill Hill Welsh/English)
• Bryn Glas Hill, Wales (Blue Hill Hill - Welsh/English)
• Brynhill, Wales (Hill Hill - Welsh/English)
• Djebel Amour, Algeria: (Arabic & Tamazight)
• Eizmendi: Haitz Mendi 'mount mount' (Euskara)
• Filefjell, Norway (The mountain mountain - Norwegian)
• Fjällfjällen, Sweden (The mountain mountains - Swedish)
• Garmendia: Garr- Mendi(a) (fossil & modern Basque)
• Gibraltar, commonly "The Rock of Gibraltar" From Arabic Jebel-Al-Tariq, which means "The Rock of Tariq"
• Hill Mountain, Pembrokeshire, Wales
• Hueco Tanks, an area of low mountains in El Paso County, Texas.
• Knockhill, a common placename in the Scottish Lowlands, deriving from either Scottish Gaelic, cnoc meaning a "hill" or a similar word originating in either Danish or one of the West Germanic languages that predated Old English.
• Kukkulamäki, in 24 distinct locations (Rautjärvi, Jyväskylä, Salo, ...) in Finland, is kukkula "hill" and mäki "hill".
• Mongibellu, Sicilian name of the volcano Etna, in Sicily, Italy (Mountain Mountain, from Romance monte and Arabic žabal).
• Montcuq, Lot, France: Mont Kukk 'mount mount'
• Mount Katahdin, Maine (Mount The Greatest Mountain - English/Penobscot)
• Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Mount Mount Njaro - Swahili)
• Mount Lushan, Jiangxi, China: Mount Lu Mountain.
• Mount Maunganui, New Zealand (Mount Mount Big - Māori)
• Ochil Hills, Scotland (Hill hills)
• Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England. (Hill Hill Hill) - "Pen" -(Cumbric language) and the suffix "dle" from the Old English language.
• Pic de la Munia in Piau-Engaly, France: Pic Muño (Romance & Euskara)
• Picacho Peak (Arizona, U.S.) (Peak Peak - Spanish)
• Pinnacle Peak (Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S.) and Mount Pinnacle (southwestern Virginia, U.S.). Both English. Other locations have the same names.
• Slieve Mish Mountains and Slieve Bloom Mountains, Ireland - (Mish Mountain Mountains, Bloom Mountain Mountains - from sliabh, the Gaelic word for mountain)
• Summit Peak, New Zealand (Peak Peak - both English) - also the U.S. has five hills called Summit Peak.
• Table Mesa, Colorado (Table Table - Spanish) - also Table Mesa, Arizona
• Torpenhow Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill Hill - SW-British (Tor) / Brythonic (pen = "head") / Anglo-Saxon hōh = "spur of high ground" / English (hill)) (disputed )
• Tuc de la Pale, Ariège, France: Tuk Pal 'mount mount'
• Vignemale, Pyrenees: Went Mal 'mount mount'

Islands

• Canvey Island, UK (Cana's island island - Anglo-Saxon)
• Jejudo Island, South Korea (Jeju Island Island), the suffix -do means island.
• Dodecanese Islands, Aegean Sea (Twelve Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Dodecanese)
• Faroe Islands, sometimes Faeroe Islands, also Faroes or Faeroes (Faroese: Føroyar, Danish: Færøerne, Icelandic: Færeyjar, Bokmål: Færøyene, Nynorsk: Færøyane), North Atlantic (Sheep Islands Islands - Faroese) — It is the -oe part of Faeroe that means 'islands' (Faroese: oyar, Danish: øerne, Icelandic: eyjar, Bokmål: øyene, Nynorsk: øyane); the first part of the name (Før- or Fær-) is thought to mean 'sheep'; see History of the Faroe Islands.
• Gili Islands, North-west of Lombok, Indonesia (Small Island Islands - Sasak)
• Isle of Sheppey, UK (Island of sheep island - Saxon)
• Lundy Island, UK (puffin island island - Norse)
• Motutapu Island, New Zealand (Island Sacred Island - Māori)
• Orkney Islands, UK, (Boar Island Islands), suffix ey means island
• Walney Island, UK (British island island)- Old Norse

Other

• Ardtornish Point, Scotland (High/Heights or Point Point) - "Aird" from Gaelic, "Nish" from the Norse Ness and Point from English - all referring to some form of cape, point or headland).
• Barna Gap, Ireland - (Gap Gap - Barna is the Irish word for a mountain gap)
• Beechhurst Holt Wood, England (beech wood wood wood - Anglo-Saxon)
• Boulder Rock, Ross Dependency, Antarctica
• Carmarthen, Wales (Welsh : Caerfyddin) - (Fort fort by the sea - "Caer"/"Car" = Welsh for fort (from Latin castra), "marthen"/"m(f)yrddin" is Welsh name derived from Latin Moridunum, which itself derived from Brythonic "môr" (sea) and "din"/"dun" (fort))
• Cartagena, Spain - (New New City - from Latin Carthago Nova, 'New Carthage'; but Carthago itself is from Phoenician Qart-ḥadašt, 'New City')
• Châteaudun, France (Castle Stronghold - French and Gaulish)
• Col de Port, Ariège, France (Pass Pass - French and Occitan)
• Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France (Coast of Coast - French and Breton)
• Eas Fors Waterfall on the Isle of Mull in Scotland (waterfall waterfall waterfall)
• El Camino Way in Palo Alto, California (The way way - Spanish)
• El Puente de Alcántara, Toledo, Spain, (The Bridge of the Bridge - Puente from Spanish, Alcántara from Arabic al-qanṭara^ht 'the bridge')
• Forumtorget in Uppsala, Sweden. Forum being the Latin word for square and torget also meaning square. Thus, Square-square.
• Glendale - Anglicisation of the Gaelic Gleann Dail. Gleann simply means "valley", and dail is a borrowing from the Norse for "valley", which in Gaelic specifically means a valley containing fertile arable land, or any low-lying farmland. The anglicised form appears more tautological as the word dale in English is used to describe any valley.
• Gobi Desert, central Asia (Very large and dry desert, Gobi means 'very large and dry' in Mongolian)
• Jiayuguan Pass - (Jiayu Pass Pass - Mandarin Chinese)
• Kaieteur Falls in Kaieteur National Park, Potaro-Siparuni Region, Guyana - (Kai falls Falls - Patamona language)
• La Brea Tar Pits, California (The Tar Tar Pits - Spanish)
• Lee Mead - (Meadow Meadow)
• Milky Way Galaxy (Milky Way milky way — Greek; for this reason some scientists, such as the late Isaac Asimov, have argued that the Milky Way should be renamed the "Home Galaxy" or some such.)
• Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota (Waterfall Falls - Lakota)
• Moorestown Township, New Jersey
• Nathu La Pass, Indo-China border, (Listening Ears Pass Pass- Tibetan)
• Nesoddtangen, Norway - (The Cape cape cape, Norwegian, from nes (promontory or cape), odde (promontory or cape) and tange (promontory or cape))
• Nyanza Lac, Burundi - ("Nyanza" and "Lac" are the Bantu and French words for "lake" respectively. Interestingly, Nyanza Lac is not a lake - it's a city)
• Sahara desert, Africa (Deserts desert - Arabic)
• Playalinda Beach, Florida (Pretty beach beach - Spanish)
• Sharm Old Harbour (a common English name for the old harbour at Sharm el Sheikh) (harbour old harbour - Arabic)
• Skarðsskarð, Iceland (Pass's Pass: A mountain pass named after a farm which in turn is named after tha pass to begin with.)
• Staðarstaður, Iceland (Staður means "a pastor's farm" and is a common suffix to the names of such farms -- this means "Pastor's farm which is a pastor's farm")
• Te Rere Hau Wind Farm, New Zealand (The flowing wind wind farm - Māori/English)
• Timor-Leste, East Timor, (East East - Indonesian/Malay, Portuguese) - Note: this is the eastern half of an island that is the easternmost major island in its chain.
• Trendle Ring earthwork in Somerset, England (Circle Circle)
• University Coffee Café in Palo Alto, California
• Val d'Aran, Spain (Valley Valley - Gascon and Euskara (Basque))

See also

• List of repeated names
• Pleonasm
• RAS syndrome
• Boda boda