Meaning & History
Name of a town in Massachusetts, and name of a college, UMass Amherst.
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indicate the level to which a name has been verified.Meaning & History
The name Amherst is derived from the surname of Jeffrey Amherst, a British Army officer who played a role in the French and Indian War. The town in Nova Scotia and other places were named in his honor. The name Amherst itself is believed to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, possibly derived from a combination of "aem", meaning "home" or "homestead", and "hyrst", meaning a "hill" or "rise".