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S17: Legal status
of names
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1. Different notions of "officiality"
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There is no uniformity in defining what would constitute an official
name. Names might be given the official status by:
- a special name decision, or naming act, issued
by an authorized agency;
- another legal act that would, inter alia,
approve an official name to the place in question;
- mentioning the name(s) in official acts and
documents;
- being published in official maps;
- being written on road signs, public signboards,
etc.;
- the established usage.
Obviously, these methods are not all equally clear and efficient.
For example, names mentioned in official acts might too often
be contradictory and varying in their spelling. Road signs seem
to be universally the least trustworthy sources for any names,
including official ones. The "established usage" is
also vague as there should be an authority to define what is meant
by that. Even name decisions might be contradictory if it is not
clear who exactly is authorized to name a certain feature as,
for example, different agencies might name the same feature differently.
Basic questions that should be answered,
though, in each case, are:
- Who has the naming power?
- How is the official status granted to
names?
Click here
or on image for enlargement.
Map of the Wieringermeer polder in the Netherlands, with the
official names bestowed on this newly reclaimed area (1930)
by the authority that had reclaimed the area.
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