Stream - Other Names

Other Names

In the United Kingdom, there are several regional names for a stream:

• Beck is used in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Dumfriesshire and Cumbria.
• Bourne is used in the chalk downland of southern England (although strictly a bourne is wet in summer and dry in winter).
• Brook is used in the Midlands, Lancashire and Cheshire.
• Burn is used in Scotland and North East England.
• Nant is used in Wales.
• Stream is used in Southern England.
• Syke is used in lowland Scotland and Cumbria.
• Allt is used in Highland Scotland.

In North America:

• Kill in southern New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey comes from a Dutch language word meaning "riverbed" or "water channel", and can also be used for the UK meaning of 'creek'.
• Run in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Virginia can be the name of a stream.
• Branch, fork, or prong can refer to tributaries or distributaries that share the same name as the main stream, generally with the addition of a cardinal direction.
• Branch is also used to name streams in Maryland and Virginia.
• Falls is also used to name streams in Maryland. Little Gunpowder Falls and The Jones Falls are actually rivers named in this manner, unique to Maryland.
• Stream and brook are used in Midwestern states, Mid-Atlantic states and New England.
• Crick is used in some parts of the United States.