SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

For those who don't already know Leodis/Loidis was the victorian name for Leeds before it changed. It comes from the meaning Loiner or citizen of Leeds.Heres how the name has changed over the years......(Not in order)Loidis -> Leodis -> Ledes -> Leedes -> (currently) Leeds

I always thought the name "loidis" and indeed "leodis" was much older than Victorian, i could be wrong.

Well yes and no...... Leodis is the victorian name for Leeds but was recorded as you correctly state in the Anglo-saxon era.

Thought Leodis was roman?

Hi all, first post here. I have several Victorian documents from my family history research such as wedding, birth & death certificates plus some maps and they all refer to Leeds as Leeds. I too think that Leodis was the Latin name for Leeds. On one pre Victorian map dated 1610 Leeds is called Ledes. So one could work out that sometime between the early 1600's to Victorian times the town became known as Leeds. Does anyone out there know when the name change took place ? Interesting stuff.Regards.

Possibly we are missing the point here, in that the idea of the standardisation of spelling was not introduced until the advent of Samuel Johnson's dictionary in 1755. Any variants in the spelling before that indicate the fact that spelling was not standardised. At most, the change from Leodis to Leeds over the space of a thousand years will indicate a change in pronunciation.There won't have been a moment where it was announced that 'From today, we are no longer called Leodis, from now on we will be called Leeds'.However, I'm sure that someone out there knows the oldest recorded, written example of today's spelling. Answers, please...LeodisLive ItLove It

Im sure the original writer is badly mistaken - "Leodis" has nothing to do with the Victorians ( era is 1837-1901 to be exact) but is much, much older. I believe Leedes and Leeds were both in use and acceptable in the early to mid 18th century ( i.e.the 1700's) but the latter spelling was eventually established as the 'correct' spelling.

wsmith wrote: Possibly we are missing the point here, in that the idea of the standardisation of spelling was not introduced until the advent of Samuel Johnson's dictionary in 1755. Any variants in the spelling before that indicate the fact that spelling was not standardised. At most, the change from Leodis to Leeds over the space of a thousand years will indicate a change in pronunciation.There won't have been a moment where it was announced that 'From today, we are no longer called Leodis, from now on we will be called Leeds'.However, I'm sure that someone out there knows the oldest recorded, written example of today's spelling. Answers, please...LeodisLive ItLove It Yes I understand that but what I was getting at was that the Victorians did not call Leeds `Leodis`, that name is far older than the 19th century. It seems more likely that Ledes or Leedes was how the town was spelt in the years before the modern spelling was adopted.Regards.

I thought people from leads were Leonitans...Whered that come from :S

People from Leeds are Leodensians, although some would have it as loiners.I agree with the bit on standardized spelling but I am sure I have seen a doomsday map of Yorkshire which has the spelling as Ledes so I would thinkLeodis - Ledes - Leedes - Leedsinroman - norman - plantagenet/tudor - stewart/hanoverian eras is something close to the chronology of the evolution of the predominantly correct spelling