Does your local town have anickname? If so, what does it say about the area and the people who live there?

Many cities are recognised across the world by their unofficial titles. New York is the Big Apple, London is the Big Smoke, and Los Angeles is famously called La La Land.

Now Britain's national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey, and the Britishlinguistics charity, the English Project, are launching an interactive project to uncover the pet names people use for local places.

The initiative, which launched last week to coincide with English Language Day, is called Location Lingo. It aims to identify the names people use every day, whether it's a term of endearment or a hate name.

The University of Winchester's Professor Bill Lucas is a patron of the English Project. He explains that unofficial place names often show what people think about a place.

"The name that people conjure up or create for a place forms an emotional connection," he says.

"So Basingstoke becomes Amazingstoke, Swindon is known as Swindump and Padstow, hometown of chef Rick Stein, is nicknamed Padstein."

Basingstoke is a town in central England. The local nickname, Amazingstoke, shows the affection that locals seem to have for the area.

Swindon, on the other hand, is sometimes called Swindump, showing that some people think it's a dump. Stanford Le Hope in Essex is called Stanford No Hope by locals. And Padstow in Cornwall is so closely associated with the local celebrity Rick Stein that it's become known as Padstein.

Since launching the online database last week, the creators have already received 3,000 alternative titles for places and landmarks.

Some also claim that the project could even have a practical use. Glen Hart, Ordnance Survey's head of research, says the information could be very helpful to the emergency services, for example. "By having the most complete set of nicknames we could help the emergency services quickly locate the right place, and maybe even save lives," he says