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Place names (toponyms) are proper nouns describing natural and cultural features of a landscape. They often become fossilized over time. The diachronic perspective offered by some place names allows to virtually reconstitute part of the natural and cultural elements of disappeared landscapes. Toponymy also has a referential value, because it designates places and distinguishes them from other places. It also has an identity value, since the inhabitants of a place feel affectionately linked to their living place and, therefore, to the place name. Finally, it is also an ideological science, because the political context determines the choice of one precise place name and not another plausible one. In this paper, which focuses on the case of the municipalities of the Valencian region of La Plana de Castelló, we carried out a new method of classification and interpretation, linked to the rise of critical toponymy recently developed among English-speaking geographers. Certain patterns of toponymic behavior are detected from this study method, which help us to understand the dominant ideological context in our study area. These patterns can be extrapolated to other related territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]