GEODYSSEY

The GeoNames database is an excellent resource for georeferencing placenames, and is available for download free of charge under a Creative Commons attribution license. It contains over eight million geographical names and consists of 6.5 million unique features, including 2.2 million populated places and 1.8 million alternate names.

A text search for any named place, if it is in the database, results in a record display that includes data such as feature class and lat/long, and a link to a map display of the location.