A Little Town with a Long Name

Earth Observatory

Science

Earth Observatory

Earth

Earth Observatory

Image of the Day

EO Explorer

Topics

All Topics

Atmosphere

Land

Heat & Radiation

Life on Earth

Human Dimensions

Natural Events

Oceans

Remote Sensing Technology

Snow & Ice

Water

More Content

Collections

Global Maps

World of Change

Articles

Notes from the Field Blog

Earth Matters Blog

Blue Marble: Next Generation

EO Kids

Mission: Biomes

About

About Us

🛜 RSS

April 9, 2025

On the southeastern coast of Anglesey, an island off the coast of mainland Wales, lies a little town with a big name. Following a

Welsh tradition

of naming towns after churches and nearby geographic features, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch roughly translates to “St. Mary’s Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the red cave.”

Though Wales has many towns with long names, the unusual length of this one is intentional. The settlement, now home to about 3,000 people, was once called Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, but a local resident pushed for the longer version of the name in the 1860s as part of an effort to promote tourism and give its train station the longest name in Britain. Locals usually use a short version of the name—either Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG.

The

OLI

(Operational Land Imager) on

Landsat 8

captured this image of the town on April 9, 2025. The image below shows a wider view of the same area. The whirlpool mentioned in the name likely refers to a section of the

Menai Strait

between the Menai Suspension Bridge and

Britannia Bridge

known as the Swellies. The area is known for having exceptionally treacherous waters because of its complex bathymetry and because tides enter the strait from both ends at different times, creating strong swirling currents.

Menai Suspension Bridge

, often described as the first modern suspension bridge, was completed in 1826.

April 9, 2025

Llanddaniel Fab, a village nearby, is the hometown of NASA luminary

Tecwyn Roberts

. Roberts was a shy boy who grew up without electricity but went on to become one of NASA’s first flight dynamics officers. He is credited with helping to conceptualize NASA’s Deep Space Network, helping design Mission Control at Johnson Space Center, and leading the development of key systems used to communicate with Apollo astronauts.

Llanfairpwll’s full name, with 58 characters, is still shorter than the ceremonial

168-character

name for Bangkok, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. However, Llanfairpwll’s full name is said to be the longest one-word place name in Europe and

among the longest

in the world.

Neighboring planets also boast some lengthy place names. Among the contenders on these other worlds:

Schiaparelli crater

on Mars,

Nantosuelta

valley on Venus, and

Tchaikovsky

crater on Mercury. But even these are less than half the length of the Welsh town’s name. The International Astronomical Union working group responsible for naming planetary features recommends that the first consideration for potential names is that they be

“simple, clear, and unambiguous.”

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the

U.S. Geological Survey

. Story by Adam Voiland.

Downloads

April 9, 2025

JPEG (4.14 MB)

References & Resources

BBC (2019, July 18)

The Welshman behind Nasa’s Apollo 11 moon landing mission

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

BBC (2015, March 4)

Welsh place names

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

Comerford Way (2016, May 1)

I know what Llanfair PG means, but can I pronounce the longest name in Wales

? Accessed March 4, 2026.

HistoryHit (2022, March 30)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

History Points (2012)

NASA space officer’s school, Llanddaniel-fab

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

History Extra (2019, July 18)

NASA’s unknown Welsh hero: the story of Tecwyn Roberts

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

NASA (2019, November 5)

Goddard Honors an Apollo-era Pioneer, His Legacy

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

The Travel (2025, April 27)

The Longest Town Name In The World Doesn’t Actually Hold The Guinness World Record For The Longest Place Name

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

University of Southampton (2019, July 17)

Rocket Man: Welsh hero of NASA’s moon landings

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

USGS Astrogeology Science Center

Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

. Accessed March 4, 2026.

Yahoo (2015, September 12)

Here’s the story behind the 58-letter town name in Wales that everyone is talking about

. Accessed March 4, 2026.