Village names ending in -ens and -ins

By NovaGB · Published on 20.10.2026

Renens, Lucens, Échallens, Cuarnens, Bursins, Prangins: many villages of the Vaud plateau have a name ending in -ens or -ins. This ending has a history, which the oldest documents allow us to follow.

Old forms in -ingis and -ingus

The first documents written in Latin do not yet have the ending -ens. They write -ingis, -ingus or -inges. Eclépens appears in 814 as «Sclepedingus», Renens between 888 and 896 as «in villa Runingis», Lucens in 964 as «in villa Losingus». The old German name of Lucens, Losingen, has kept this ending.

The pages of this site give many examples: Cuarnens is «Quarningis» in 1001, Lovatens «Lovatingis» between 996 and 1017, Ressudens «Ramsoldingis» in the 10th century, Bofflens «Boflinges» in 1011, Bursins «Bruzinges» the same year. Thierrens is written «Teoderinco» between 1004 and 1007.

Both forms could exist at the same time. For Ecublens, the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland gives «in villa Escublens» in 958 or 959, then «Scubilingis» in 964.

«At the home of the people of...»

In 1906 Henri Jaccard, author of a study of the place names of French-speaking Switzerland, traced this suffix to the Germanic «ingum», latinised as «ingis». According to him, from the 9th century the ending becomes «ens, eins, enges or anges, inges». The name is formed on that of an owner: Renens, from «Runingis», would mean «at the home of the descendants of Runo».

The pages suggest personal names for several villages, without certainty: Scarilo for Échallens, Huno or Unno for Onnens, Obbo or Oppo for Oppens, Wisihar for Vucherens, Willihari for Vullierens, Ido or Ito for Yens, Cotto for Cottens. For many others, no explanation has been published.

An ending that changes from region to region

Jaccard noted in 1906 that the same suffix takes different forms in different regions. The form -ens dominates in the canton of Fribourg and around Échallens (Berlens, Sullens). The form -ins is found south of the Aubonne (Bursins, Prangins) and towards Neuchâtel. Genève and neighbouring Haute-Savoie have names in -inges (Presinges and Puplinges, now written Presinge and Puplinge). The form -enges occurs in the Broye valley (Auboranges, Martherenges) and near Morges (Préverenges, Bassenges). Finally, Jaccard sees in names such as Renan, Chevran or Valavran a shortened form in -an.

Jaccard quotes the count by Zimmerli, who found 111 villages and hamlets formed with this suffix in French-speaking Switzerland.

Burgundian names?

For Jaccard, these names form the most recent layer of French-Swiss place names, «due à l'invasion burgonde, au commencement du cinquième siècle»: each Burgundian chief would have received his share of land, and the village would have taken his name. Jaccard notes that these names are concentrated on the plateaus between the valleys: between the Sarine and the Glâne, between the Glâne and the Broye, in the Gros-de-Vaud, and between the Venoge and the foot of the Jura.

Historians have since qualified this reading. The article «Burgundians» in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (2006) recalls that Aetius settled the Burgundians in Sapaudia in 443, and that their kingdom ended after the Merovingian victory at Autun in 532 and the partition of 534. It describes as not accepted the old hypothesis that names in -ens or -ans (from Germanic -ingos) were Burgundian, and names in -anges or -enges (from -ingas) Frankish or Alemannic. According to this article, these names mainly reflect settlement in the Merovingian period, in the 6th and 7th centuries.

The same article, however, quotes the linguist Stefan Sonderegger, for whom the spread of -ingos names as far as the Sarine and the south-west of the Bernese Jura could point to the «survivance d'éléments linguistiques burgondes dans le parler roman». The pages of this site that mention a Burgundian origin therefore do so with caution.

Not every name in -ens comes from -ingos

An ending in -ens or -ins is not enough to place a name in this family. The old forms sometimes show another origin. Givrins is written «Givriacus» around 1087, then «Givriacum» between 1155 and 1185. Presinge is first «in Presiago» after the year 1000, before «Presingium» in 1180.

Other names have a different explanation. Saint-Oyens owes its name to Saint Oyend (Eugendus), because of an oratory founded by the abbey of Saint-Claude. Daillens is said to come from «daille», a name for the Scots pine. Ursins is linked to the Latin ursus, «bear», and its coat of arms has shown bears' heads since 1921. For Bursins, despite the form «Bruzinges», a Latin personal name, Bruccius or Bruttius, has also been suggested. Explanations based on a Roman name followed by another suffix have also been put forward for Eclagnens and Epalinges, and Marin («Marens» in 1179) has received several explanations unrelated to this suffix.

To explain a name, one has to start from the oldest forms, where they exist. This is what each page of this site does in its section on the origin of the name, with its own sources.

Village names ending in -ens and -ins

Old forms in -ingis and -ingus

«At the home of the people of...»

An ending that changes from region to region

Burgundian names?

Not every name in -ens comes from -ingos

Places mentioned

Sources

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