The origins of the village’s unusual name are uncertain; however, theories include a shortening of “North Place”, “Near Place” or “Nigh Place”, or that the original houses of the village stood on a boundary between two parishes, neither of which would accept the village. It could also be a literary play on the word “Utopia”, which comes from the Greek: οὐ (“not”) and τόπος (“place”) and translates as “no-place”.