The scientific study of place-names is known as 'toponomastics'. It is as an important science in as much as place-names almost always provide some sort of clue to the local history of an area, its former inhabitants and their way of life.

Most place-names in Southern England date from before the Norman Conquest of 1066 and so characterize the landscape of the Anglo-Saxon occupation. Findon is no exception to this pattern. Although the first mention of 'Findune' is to be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, the form itself is Anglo-Saxon and is undoubtedly much older than the records might suggest.

Findon comprises two Old English elements 'Fin-' and '-dune' which are generally agreed to mean 'heap (typically of logs)' and 'hill' or 'down' respectively. Given that archaeological evidence places the early site of the village near St John the Baptist Church, it seems probable that Church Hill - very much a heap-shaped hill - is the 'Findune' in question. There is, however, an alternative argument that 'Fin-' does not refer to a landscape feature at all, but rather means 'woodpecker'.

Although the name Cissbury appears to derive its name from Cissa, one of the earliest Saxon invaders (449 AD), this is not in fact the case. The earliest attested form is in fact 'Sith(m)esteburh' which occurs some 500 years later in the reign of King Ethelred the Unready (978-1016).

A 'burgh' - from which we get '-bury' - is a fortification, not a burial site and 'Sith(m)est-' means the latest or last and possibly refers to the site's re-fortification at some time after the completion of some neighbouring Saxon fort, perhaps at Burpham.

Spelling - varying from 'Sieberie' (1588), to 'Sissabury' (1610), 'Cis(i)burie' (1637), 'Cissibury' (1732) and 'Sizebury' (1774) - seems to suggest that the name was consciously altered (most probably in the late 16th Century) to accommodate a local legend which linked the earthwork to the Saxon warlord.

Findon itself originally fell within the Anglo-Saxon 'hundred' or administrative district of 'Staninges' (Steyning) but later came under the jurisdiction of 'Bredford' (Broadwater?).

Nepcote is Findon's village-within-a-village. However, as a name, 'Nepcote' is very much younger than 'Findon' and is almost certainly medieval (its earliest record is 1256). The name appears to have arisen from an association with the family of Philip le Nulp (Nolp?) and up to 1823 Nepcote seems to have been known by the name of 'Nob Gate'. The modern form has perhaps been influenced by 'nep', a Sussex dialect word for catmint.

'Ramsdean' plantation is referred to in a C12th document (itself a copy of a charter dated 947 AD) as 'H(e)remnesdun'. Although the name actually has nothing to do with rams - meaning 'raven's hill' - it is unclear whether 'H(e)remn-' is an animal name or the name of a man (since the Anglo-Saxons commonly used the names of animals as personal names). The name 'Muntham', however, is almost certainly derived from the personal name of an Anglo-Saxon called 'Munda' whose 'ham' or homestead at some stage it must have been.

'Kingswood' appears to be pre-C14th as it features in the name of one John de Kingeswode (1330) and 'Rogers Farm' is comparatively late and takes its name from one Robert Roger of Clapham (1557). The exact meaning of 'Tolmare' remains a puzzle though the word '-mare' suggests an ancient pond site. The 'Pest House' is plainly associated with the plague or 'peste' and, as a name, may well date back to the period of the Black Death (1348-9).