Type Settlement
Usage English, Popular Culture
Meaning & History
From Old English gat "goat" and ham "home". This is the name of a town in Nottinghamshire, famous for folk tales about its inhabitants pretending to be imbeciles in order to avoid a visit from the king. Based on this tale, writer Washington Irving applied the name to New York City in his satirical periodical Salmagundi (1807). Subsequently, Gotham or Gotham City was used as the setting of the Batman comics, starting 1940.
Related Names
