-hou

-hou or hou is a place-name element found commonly in the Norman toponymy of the Channel Islands and continental Normandy.

[1][2][3] This toponymic appellative appears as a final -hou or associated with the Romance definite article le Hou.

The English toponymy uses this Saxon or Anglo-Saxon element the same way, but its result is phonetically -hoo or -hoe, sometimes -(h)ow or -ho e. g. : Northoo (Suffolk); Poddinghoo (Worcestershire); Millhoo (Essex); Fingringhoe (Essex); Rainow (Cheshire); Soho (London); etc.

In Normandy, it may have sometimes mixed up with Old Norse hólmr, meaning a small island, and often found anglicised elsewhere as "holm".

The Norman toponym and diminutive hommet / houmet also derives from this element.