Expert: Mark Smith - 8/6/2009

Question
I live in the United States. The town I live is called Wantage and it borders another town of Sussex. Both Wantage and Sussex are looking into merging together and are looking for a new name. My concern is that we will throw away our  these names that came from England. Do you have any historical background on these town names that I can share with the local government in the states when they consider renaming our towns?

Answer
Hello Sue.
Sussex is an English County, on the south coast, since 1974 it has been divided into East and West Sussex for administrative purposes.
Wantage is a town in Oxfordshire best known as being an ancient Saxon town and the birthplace of the most famous of the Saxon Kings, Alfred the Great in 849. It will probably have its own website.
There is no obvious link between the two.
Mark