Greater London as we know it is 60 years old on 1 April 2025. But its 32 boroughs might have been given very different names...
If you live in Romford, Uxbridge, Wimbledon, Acton, Croydon or anywhere east of the River Lea, then 1 April 1965 marked the day when your home became part of London (handy map here).
That momentous date in the capital's history saw the abolition of the London County Council and the creation of the much larger Greater London Council.
The county of Middlesex was entirely abolished from an administrative point of view. Meanwhile, Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire all lost territory to the newly embiggened London.
1 April 1965 also saw the creation of the 32 London boroughs. Their names and locations are well established today, but it wasn't ever thus. The run-up to 1 April 1965 saw fierce debate among councillors as to how the new authorities should be named. For example, the Metropolitan Boroughs of Kensington and the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea were to be merged; but which should get priority in the new borough name? Or should some entirely new name be coined?
We've compiled a list below of some of the suggested borough names, which range from the plausible alternative ('Heathrow' for Hillingdon) to the laughable (Wibley for Brent).
Alternative borough names suggested 1963-1965
The list below is not comprehensive (Camden alone had 60 or so proposals), but includes some of the more popular and unusual suggestions from the time.
Barking & Dagenham: Becontree, Rippleway, Rodingbean
Barnet: Northsex, Barfindon, Northern Heights
Bexley: Crayborough, Greater Bexley
Brent: Brentside, Willesden & Wembley, Wibley (a sardonic newspaper suggestion combining Willesden and Wembley)
Bromley: Kentgate
Camden: St Holstead or St Bornstead (both imaginary saints created from portmanteaus of the merging boroughs of St Pancras, Holborn and Hampstead). Penhamborn, Bornhamcras and Hohampion were among the other suggestions.
Croydon: No known alternatives
Ealing: No known alternatives
Enfield: Enfield Chase, North Middlesex
Greenwich: Royal Charlton (as a compromise to favour neither of the historical heavyweights of Greenwich and Woolwich)
Hackney: Kingstoke Downs, Newlee, Stoke Kingsland
Hammersmith & Fulham: Daneswich (and variations), Fulhammer. This borough was originally called simply 'Hammersmith' until 1979 when the good people of Fulham got some redress.
Haringey: No known alternatives
Harrow: No known alternatives. The only London borough to keep the same borders as its previous incarnation (as a borough of Middlesex). Consequently, it needed no name change.
Havering: Liberty, Inglebourne, Romford
Hillingdon: Heathrow, Uxbridge
Hounslow: Osterley, Brentford, South Middlesex
Islington: Whittington, Sadler, New River
Kensington & Chelsea: Chelsington, The Royal Borough, Kensington, Chelsea
Kingston upon Thames: No known alternatives
Lambeth: No known alternatives
Lewisham: Ravensbourne, Deptford (much wrangling ensued between Deptford and Lewisham over who was the most historic, and Ravensbourne was suggested as a neutral compromise, riffing off the river. Ultimately, Lewisham won the naming rights)
Merton: Wimbledon-on-Wandle, Wimmercham, Wimbledon
Newham: Uniham, Listerham, Twainham (newspaper suggestions)
Redbridge: Ilford, Roding, Churchill (Winston Churchill was MP for the area for many years, and his statue stands in Woodford)
Richmond upon Thames: Royal Parks, Hampton, Thames Vale
Southwark: Elephant, Walworth
Sutton: Treeswater, Aultone, Wandletowns
Tower Hamlets: No known alternatives
Waltham Forest: Stowchingley
Wandsworth: Spencer, Batworth, Newtownard
Westminster: Maryminston, Westboneton, Mae West Padding (silly newspaper suggestion combining Marylebone, Westminster and Paddington)
The themes in this article will be explored in greater detail in The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, out in October 2025 from Batsford.
