Evaluation of place names in Aydın Efeler district

The purpose of the study is to reveal the origin of the place names, meaning and their transitions within the boundaries of the Aydın Efeler district through geographical, historical and linguistic perspectives. The study with the previous works on place names carried out in Turkey is expected to contribute to the related literature, especially with its local coverage. The research was conducted by evaluating archives and library sources together with the field work. In this context firstly 85 neighbourhood-village type of settlements were classified primarily by the physical and human geographical features. Secondly, morphological characteristics of the neighbourhood were examined by using the 1/50,000 topographic map of Aydın. Then, dictionary meanings of neighbourhood names looked up in the Grand Turkish Dictionary by the Turkish Language Institute. Afterwards various sources were analysed to determine the historical changes in the development of the neighbourhood. In addition, field trips were organized and semi-structured interviews were also performed. This research mainly revealed that human environmental factors, primarily appeared in the central neighbourhoods while physical and human environmental factors are being weighted equally in the surrounding villages. In addition, the neighbourhoods in the name of persons were not included any women's names. It has also been observed that the villages settled on the slope of a mountain or a hillside. However, the interviewed inhabitants of the villages were found to have not sufficient knowledge about the local history and perception of space. In this case, this shows how important to transfer the local geographic knowledge to school-age children in order to keep the collective memory alive, to make a contribution in enhancing the perception of space and local cultural continuity KEYWORDS: Place Names, Toponymy, Local Geographic Knowledge.