the romans named london londinium..but when was this name dropped for the name london?

Answer 1

Roman Londinium fell into obscurity as its protective Legions withdrew; history records no trace of it between 457 and 600. During that time, however, it gradually became a Saxon trading town, eventually one of considerable size. The Saxons called it Lunduntown or Lundunburg, so it is easy to see how eventually the full name of London Town (as it would sound) was shortened to London. In fact the name of London Town is still used nowadays by some people.

Answer 2

Roughly 978 AD, however in 368 AD it was renamed Augusta.

The name Londinium is thought to be pre-Roman in origin although there is no consensus on what it means. However, recent research by Richard Coates has suggested that the name derives from pre-Celtic Old European — Plowonida — from 2 roots, "plew" and "nejd", meaning something like "the flowing river" or "the wide flowing river". Londinium therefore means "the settlement on the wide river". He suggests that the river was called the Thames up river where it was narrower, and Plowonida down river where it was too wide to ford. The BBC History website claims that the name Londinium is actually "Celtic, not Latin, and may originally have referred to a previous farmstead on the site"; the root is 'Lond' meaning 'wild' (i.e. overgrown or forested) place. (For suggestion that the name of the city is derived from a mythical King Lud see above).

By the late 4th century London was a smaller but wealthy city with additional defences in the form of a riverside wall. By this point, the population had declined to around 10-20,000, with large areas of the city abandoned. In around 368 Londinium was renamed as Augusta . In the same century, Roman Britain was divided again. And Londinium became the capital of the province of Maxima Caesariensis.

Following the abandonment of the Roman city, the area's strategic location on the River Thames meant that from the 6th century, Anglo-Saxons began to inhabit the area.

Later in the 7th Century a Saxon village and trading centre named Lundenwic ("London settlement") was established approximately one mile to the west of Londinium (named Lundenburh or "London Fort" by the Saxons) in what is now Aldwych, in the 7th century, probably using the mouth of the River Fleet as a trading ship and fishing boat harbour.

Attacks from Vikings became increasingly common from around 830 onwards. There were attacks in 842 and 851, and in 865 a large scale Viking invasion of East Anglia occurred, and by 871 they had reached London, although it is unclear what happened during this time. By 878 however King Alfred the Great forced the Viking leader Guthrum to sue for peace. Within ten years settlement within the old Roman walls was re-established, but known as Lundenburgh. The Roman walls were repaired and the defensive ditch re-cut. As the focus of the city was moved back to within the old Roman walls, the older settlement of Lundenwic gained the name of ealdwic or "old settlement". The name survives today as Aldwych.

Alfred appointed his son-in-law Earl Aethelred of Mercia, who was the heir to the destroyed Kingdom of Mercia, as Governor of London and established two defended Boroughs to defend the bridge which was probably rebuilt at this time. The southern end of the Bridge was established as the Borough of Southwark or Suthringa Geworc (defensive work of the men of Surrey) as it was originally known. From this point, the City of London began to develop its own unique local government.

After Aethelred's death, London came under the direct control of English kings. By the early 10th century London had become an important commercial centre. Although the capital of the Kingdom of England was in Winchester, London became increasingly important as a political centre. King Aethelstan held many Royal Councils in London and issued laws from there. King Aethelred the Unready favoured London as his capital and issued the Laws of London there in 978.

Answer 3

1996.

Answer 4

It has changed its name more recently; 1997-now its known as Londistan.