地名是居民和當地的生活環境相結合，而創造出來的名稱，其常反映了一地的環境特或歷史發展。因此，本研究乃擇荷鄭時代漢人已入墾的水上鄉，透歷史地理的研究途徑，以釐清地名的變遷與人類活動的關係。研究目的為：①了解自然環境的基礎與人文發展的特色。②了解各種地名的生成背景與演變。③探討村落內部的地域區分與居住族群的關係。④了解地區特色的形塑過程。 所得結論如下：1)平原區地名僅少數反映自然環境的景特色；丘陵區則多反映了地形景觀和紅土礫石地層的特色。2)就生活方式而言，平原區的地名多反映農業活動的景觀，雖然占居族群的分布，與原鄉生活方式有關，但為了適應夏雨冬乾的氣候特色，乃轉為稻、蔗與旱作並行，並興掠製糖，產生與嶐相關之地名。民國時代形成的村落，地名常與維生活動或當地的生態環境脫節。丘陵區受地形和土壤因素影響，乃成墳墓和軍營集中區。3)平原地區住屋聚集度較高，村落規模較大，丘陵區則反之。村落歷史久者，多以原始地表自然景觀命名，因歷史發展或環境變遷，內部角頭地名林立；較晚形成者，不少以相對位置命名。

Place names represent people and their living environment. They often reflect the environmental features or historical development of a place. Shui-shang Hsiang, a town located directly south of Chiayi City, had been developed by Han people in the Dutch and Cheng Cheng-kung periods and was chosen as the subject of this study. Through historical and geographical analyses, I intend to establish the relationship between the change of place names and the activities of the dwellers. The following purposes were pursued in this article: 1)to understand the environmental basis and features of human development, 2)to understand the background and changes of place names, 3)to explore the relationship between geographical distribution of the villagers and their ethnicities, 4)to understand the processes in which regional features were formed. The findings of this study are as follows: 1)few place names reflected the physical landscape of the plain area, but many place names in the hilly area did; 2)place names often reflected the agricultural landscape in the plain area, and geographical distribution of the dwellers was related to their ethnic origin, though, for climate’s sake, any dwellers turned to plant sugar canes and other crops on upland during dry seasons, and many built poh to produce sugar. As a result, many local names were coined with poh. Due to the landform and soil quality, many cemeteries and military camps were built in the hilly area. 3)in the plain area the agglomeration of houses was greater, and the size of villages was larger than in the hilly area. Older villages were often named in relation to the physical features of the landscape or to historical development and environmental changes. More recent villages were often named by their relative geographical positions.