Princeton

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A municipality in central New Jersey, home to Princeton University and located between New York City and Philadelphia
2. A town in Mercer County, New Jersey, known for its prestigious university and historic Revolutionary War significance
3. A New Jersey city situated in the northeastern part of the state, notable for its Ivy League institution and residential character

Etymology: The name "Princeton" is a place name built from "prince" and the Old English-derived suffix "-ton," meaning "town." The most striking part is how many towns carry it for entirely different reasons. The New Jersey borough was named for William III, who became king of England through his marriage to Mary II, and the title honored was his separate Dutch one, Prince of Orange. The university that later gave the town its wider fame took its name from that place, and the word then spread as a given name in its own right. The same pattern repeats across North America. A British Columbia town honors Edward VII, who as a young man was known as Albert, Prince of Wales, during his mother Queen Victoria's reign. A Massachusetts town honors the clergyman Thomas Prince, and Wisconsin's city and town borrowed the name from it. Several other places were named after individual men called Prince, such as a Minnesota founder, an Indiana politician, and a Kentucky landowner.