Geonames: Find Yourself on the Map!

Geonames is an interesting little site where you can type in your name to see if there are any places in the world called the same. I tried it and was surprised to find 6 places called Abena, including one in Spain.

When considering the educational value of this service, I though it might be an nice way to get learners exploring a range of possibilities. Rather than spinning a globe and pointing a finger, this could be an engaging way of launching a topic. It could be used as part of a research project, a writing prompt, a starting point for exploring any data on landscapes, populations or anything else that is to be the subject of study.