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S19: Toponymical Planning
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I - Name changes can be due to - C) New administrative names |
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The advisory committee on geographical names in the Netherlands,
that operated under the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences, employs the following criteria in its judgement or selection
of new (municipality) names (when existing municipalities are
merged) in the Netherlands:
- New names should preferably be written according
to the current orthographic rules
- New names should not have been entered in
current lists or indexes of names or brands
- Constructions in which existing names are strung
together (with or without hyphens) should be avoided
- New names should reflect the history or historical
geography of the region
- Avoid sensibilities by selecting a completely
new name instead of promoting existing names for a municipality
- Avoid as a new name for the joined municipalities
constructions that link parts of existing names
- It is only feasible to opt for the name of
the largest municipality when a number of smaller municipalities
have been joined to one
larger one
- A new name should not be too similar to an
existing geographical name either in the Netherlands or in neighbouring
areas
- New names should not bear negative connotations
For all new names it is important that there is a sufficient basis
of support. It may be opportune to invite entries for the best
name in a contest, as this may deliver suitable new names. Practice
proves, however, that most names offered are unsuitable, and the
basis for the acceptance of new names may be endangered if parties
have identified too much with the names offered for the contest.
When selecting and implementing new names it would be wise to
test the alternatives by checking them for practical criteria,
and subsequently by informing the public regarding the outcome
of these tests. This also helps in the argumentation afterwards
, if the proposed names are being subjected to a referendum.
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