Sometimes answering Shakespeare’s “What’s in a name?” question is tricky, so bear with me – this whole thing is going somewhere, I promise.

First, there’s “eponym,” which comes from the Greek words “epi” (upon) and “onoma” (name), and is defined as “one for whom something is named.” Amerigo Vespucci is the eponym of “America,” for example, thank you Grammarly.

Then there’s demonym, which comes from the Greek “dēmos” (the people) and “onoma” (name), and is “a word used to denote a person who inhabits or is native to a particular place.” “Lewistonian” is a fine example.

So far, so good.

“Then what,” I wondered, “is the word for the names of things that are named after places? Does such a word even exist?”

It turns out that such a term does indeed exist and it is a “topo eponym.”

Look at it this way: Since “topo” means “place” in Greek, a topo eponym is something that takes its name from a particular place. And topo eponyms just happen to be what we’re looking at this time. (I told you this whole thing was going somewhere.)

Not surprisingly things with topo eponymous names can be broken down into several categories, so I’ll begin with the names of some wines. Sherry takes its name from Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, while port wine originated in the city of Porto in neighboring Portugal. Wines taking their names from different regions of France include cognac, champagne and bordeaux.

If you want some cheese with that wine, the name of cheddar cheese comes to us from Cheddar, England, while gorgonzola cheese originated in Gorgonzola, Italy, and parmesan cheese came to us from Parma, Italy, as does parma ham.

If you like things on the spicy side, jalapeño peppers take their moniker from Xalapa or Jalapa, Mexico, the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz. (Oh, and a certain little dog just happens to have come to us from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.)

For dessert, how about some Boston cream pie (which is really cake) or some key lime pie, which originally used the small, tart limes found in the Florida Keys.

OK, now that we’ve had enough to eat and drink, it’s time to pack up and go home. As you’re stuffing your cashmere sweater and denim jeans into your duffle bag, perhaps you’ll pause briefly to consider just where the names of that trio of items came from.

That super-soft stuff your sweater’s made from hails from the Kashmir region of India, while denim is from Nîmes, France (“serge [cloth] de Nîmes”). And that bag into which you’re stuffing those trendy threads takes its familiar name from Duffel, Belgium (where its cloth was originally made).

Finally, one surprisingly fruitful hunting ground for topo eponyms happens to be among the elements in the periodic table. The element “americium” is named for the Americas, while “californium” and “berkelium” carry the names of the places where they were discovered.

Europium gives a nod to all of Europe, while “francium” acknowledges France and “lutetium” is taken from Lutetia, the ancient Latin name of Paris. Hafnium and holmium give a tip of the hat to Hafnia and Holmia, which were the respective Latin names of Copenhagen and Stockholm.

And, thanks to the existence of “scandium,” the nation of Norway avoids being totally overlooked in this matter because that particular element is named for all of Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway).

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at [email protected].