The UNGEGN Advanced Toponymy Manual
Ferjan Ormeling
In New York, at the tenth UN conference on the standardization of geographical names in 2012, a working paper was submitted (E/CONF.101/30, titled Advanced Toponymy Courses) on behalf of the Working Group on Training Courses in Toponymy, that was meant as a discussion paper for that working group. The paper analysed the contents of current toponymy courses offered by the WG; these consisted of introduction to the terminology, the naming process, functions of geographical names, their collection through fieldwork and their processing, and the organisational framework for standardizing them. In a digital environment, the digital creation and population of toponymic databases has been part of such basic courses, as was the production of derived documents like gazetteers. The paper also signalled the changes in content of those basic courses since their first implementation in 1982. Since 2002, in a number of more atypical courses, elements were added that could be regarded as belonging to a more advanced type of course. Such elements were for instance: collecting names from indigenous/minority group cultures, legal aspects, multiple naming, sea area naming, the history of place names, data audits between different organisations with names databases, the functioning of name board meetings and the establishment of naming principles, and handling contacts with the media. Toponymic research, and its methodologies were dealt with, as was digital label placement, and regional initiatives like the small island naming programme in Indonesia.
Only personal, non-commercial use of this document is allowed.