S17: Legal status of names
 
 

5. Can official names be wrong?

 


Yes, if we consider geographical names from a point of view of linguistics, name planning or geography (location). The name might be orthographically incorrect, it might not correspond to the name actually used by the local population or an otherwise correct name might be applied to a wrong feature.

It must be emphasized that an official status of a name would not automatically guarantee correctness of the name and it cannot replace standardization in the true sense. Official names must be standardized according to the accepted set of rules prior to their approval. Quite a lot of efforts have been made in many countries to correct official names that are not linguistically or otherwise suitable.

Sometimes, when names are copied from a superseded edition of a map to a new one, mistakes are made. In that case, although still official, the new name version is no longer valid!
Take from example the name Noordplaatje van den Steur, the name for an inlet in a tidal area in the Netherlands. When it was copied in the 1960's to a new map edition, it was changed by mistake into: Noordplaatje van de Steen, although on commercial map products the original name was maintained. Still, the new, faulty name found its way into the Gazetteer of the Netherlands.

left: 1930 edition topographic map / right: 2000 edition topographic map 1:25,000




From a commercial map of the same area, 1960

 
Print this page
 

 

Copyright United Nations Statistics Division and International Cartographic Association, July 2012