# Essex, Sussex, and Wessex... why not "Nossex"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964 "2007-05-29T18:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/1 "2007-05-29T18:32:34Z")
I know, I know. Make your joke… but then tell me why the upper compass point doesn’t have a county, shire or kingdom named after it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/2 "2007-05-29T18:36:59Z")
Well there was one, but since it was Nossex, they ran out of inhabitants after a generation. I got nothing ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/3 "2007-05-29T18:39:42Z")
There was also Middlesex (now part of Greater London). Perhaps the Saxons didn’t move north of there. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/4 "2007-05-29T19:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] There was also Middlesex (now part of Greater London). Perhaps the Saxons didn’t move north of there. [/QUOTE] They didn’t…the Angles did, which was where we get “East Anglia” from. East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria were mostly settled by Angles. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/5 "2007-05-29T19:15:25Z")
I’m told that the residents of Norfolk, VA have a somewhat related joke: “We neither drink, nor smoke, Norfolk!” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/6 "2007-05-29T19:26:15Z")
[QUOTE=CairoCarol] I’m told that the residents of Norfolk, VA have a somewhat related joke: “We neither drink, nor smoke, Norfolk!” [/QUOTE] The tagline of my local newspaper is “Suffolk and Proud”. Say it ten times quickly 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/7 "2007-05-29T19:36:07Z")
Missed the edit time limit to actually say something serious…the maps [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptarchy) should help make clear what **Captain Amazing** describes, if you’re not familiar with the geography. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/8 "2007-05-29T19:43:51Z")
Just last month I diddled around with a similar question [here](http://uclue.com/?xq=254). ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/9 "2007-05-29T21:01:24Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] They didn’t…the Angles did, which was where we get “East Anglia” from. East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria were mostly settled by Angles. [/QUOTE] My review seems to indicate that large portions of south Mercia were Saxon at one time; Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, for instance. Such areas apparently traded hands between the Angles of Mercia and the Saxons of Wessex. In fact, it may be the dominance of Wessex over that area during its Saxon period that guaranteed that there would never be a “Nossex.” Well, that and it ended up in Mercia. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/10 "2007-05-29T21:09:22Z")
In New Jersey we have East Brunswick, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, and New Brunswick, but no West Brunswick. (Or Middle Brunswick) Explain THAT. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/11 "2007-05-29T21:34:11Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] In New Jersey we have East Brunswick, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, and New Brunswick, but no West Brunswick. (Or Middle Brunswick) Explain THAT. [/QUOTE] You couldn’t spare an extra Brunswick name? The Westerners decided to split, or went on strike? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/12 "2007-05-29T21:55:44Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] In New Jersey we have East Brunswick, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, and New Brunswick, but no West Brunswick. (Or Middle Brunswick) [/QUOTE] In suburban Buffalo, there’s West Seneca, but no East Seneca, North Seneca, South Seneca, or even just plain Seneca. ---
**Author:** ![wendigo1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@wendigo1974](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendigo1974)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/13 "2007-05-29T22:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] In suburban Buffalo, there’s West Seneca, but no East Seneca, North Seneca, South Seneca, or even just plain Seneca. [/QUOTE] To tie in with the OP, There is a West Norfolk, but no East Norfolk. I can attest having worked in that god forgotten wilderness that the colloquial “Nor-fuck” is commonly used. As is “Normal for Norfolk”, a catch all statement that covers all elements of in-breeding, tractor sexing, and general absurdities that don’t usually occur in normalicy. 60 miles from london but in a world of their own, gawd bless’um. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/14 "2007-05-29T22:37:05Z")
[QUOTE=wendigo1974] There is a West Norfolk, but no East Norfolk. [/QUOTE] There is? (And surely it’s further than 60 miles? I’m sat here in Suffolk, 80 miles from London, which makes me question that one!) (Edit: Oh, you mean King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council? I suppose being in Suffolk Coastal I should have figured that out…) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/15 "2007-05-29T22:55:26Z")
Supplemental question: What is the derivation of the “-sex” suffix? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/16 "2007-05-29T23:01:40Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] Supplemental question: What is the derivation of the “-sex” suffix? [/QUOTE] See **pinkfreud** ’s link - it refers to Saxons (‘East Seaxe’ etc.), as opposed to the Angles to the north-east of this region and the Britons to the west. ---
**Author:** ![wendigo1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@wendigo1974](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendigo1974)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/17 "2007-05-29T23:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] There is? (And surely it’s further than 60 miles? I’m sat here in Suffolk, 80 miles from London, which makes me question that one!) (Edit: Oh, you mean King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council? I suppose being in Suffolk Coastal I should have figured that out…) [/QUOTE] “KLFM 96.7 the BEST radio station in West Norfolk” comes the jingle as you broach it’s boundaries. A sound I have listened to for the best part of 4 years on jaunts up to Marham. You can do the journey from Crawley in two hours ten if you are pushing it, three hours if you drive more genially and stop in at the Little Chef on the M11/A14 before pushing on to Lakenheath via Brandon. As for distance from London, how do you define where London ends. City Of or Greater London? This island isn’t actually that big when you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/18 "2007-05-30T00:04:30Z")
“KLFM 96.7 the BEST radio station in west Norfolk” It’s all in the capitalisation 😉 (And yeah, OK, Epping to Thetford is 63 miles according to the AA.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/19 "2007-05-30T02:58:52Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] In suburban Buffalo, there’s West Seneca, but no East Seneca, North Seneca, South Seneca, or even just plain Seneca. [/QUOTE] I grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio. There used to be a Liverpool, Ohio, not far to the west, but it’s now defunct. My hometown kept its directional modifier. ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964/20 "2007-05-30T03:27:30Z")
Until pretty recently, Yorkshire was divided into three: West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire. There was no South Yorkshire. There is now - modern-day bureaucrats put it there during boundary changes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essex-sussex-and-wessex-why-not-nossex/405964.md?page=2)