Have you ever wondered how bread gets named? Maybe it's just me, but I often wondered why a baguette was named that, or why they named the bread batard. I had been pretty sure that bread was named mainly after its shape, and some further research confirmed my suspicions.

There are some breads that are named after places, but the majority of loaves are named after their shape. Baguette translates to mean 'rod,' and batard can mean either bastard or hybrid, as its shape is a hybrid of the baguette and the traditional boule (which means 'ball' in French and refers to the bread's round shape). Then there's the ficelle (string) which is a thinner baguette, the baton (staff or baton) which is a shorter baguette, and filone (stick) which is sort of like a baton but with pointed ends.

Even ciabatta is named due to its resemblance to an old slipper, pita is the Greek word for flat, Pullman loaves are named after the old Pullman railroad cars, and the Pain d'Aix is shaped like a bow tie in honor of the university students in Aix en Provence. There are also many variations of ring shaped breads with names that reference 'crown' in the native language, such as corona and couronne.

Breads that are named after their place of origin include Pugliese, which is from the Puglia region of Italy. Also, we have the Pain de Beaucaire which is named after the region in southeastern France. Focaccia is named after the hearth on which it's baked, as is its French cousin the fougasse. Its name is derived from the Latin for 'hearth or center', so focaccia was named somewhat differently from all the others.