Hove

Hove is a seaside resort in the county of East Sussex, and a constituent part of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in response to the development of its eastern neighbour Brighton, and by the Victorian era it was a fully developed town with borough status. Neighbouring parishes such as Aldrington and Hangleton were annexed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1997, as part of local government reform, the borough merged with Brighton to form the Borough of Brighton and Hove, and this unitary authority was granted city status in 2000.

Old spellings of Hove include Hou , la Houue , Huua , Houve , Huve , Hova and Hoova . The etymology was disputed at length during the 20th century as academics offered several competing theories. Suggestions included an Old Norse word meaning "hall", "sanctuary" or "barrow", in reference to the Bronze Age barrow near the present Palmeira Square; an Old English phrase æt þæm hofe meaning "at the hall"; the Old English hufe meaning "shelter" or "covering"; and the Middle English hofe meaning "anchorage". No other places in Britain are called Hove, and single-syllable names as a whole are rare in Sussex. The modern name was originally pronounced "Hoove" (). The present pronunciation () "is comparatively recent".

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