Maybe,

Cassian:

Connect that tautological place names: the Gobi Desert (literally the desert desert). The River Avon. Eas Fors (waterfall waterfall).

(And right now I'm not talking about the doubling part, with its history of immigration and colonization and all that baggage. I know. Another time.)

I have to wonder how many of those places were originally called just The Proper Noun, because it was a unique feature in those people's lives. When you said "I'm going to the lake," that you didn't have to specify which lake-- it was the biggest or the most famous or the only lake you knew about.

Because for a lot of humans for a lot of our history, we didn't travel much. But even sedentary people always knew someone who did, and maybe those travelers would have to differentiate-- which ocean. Which desert. Which city.

(The same way certain events only seem to get specific names in hindsight: The Pandemic. The War.)

But to the people who lived there, who had only ever had the one?

You don't need names for that. Not really.