Toponym

Toponym is the umbrella term for geographic and extraterrestrial names. Geographical names denote topographical features on the surface of the Earth, extraterrestrial names denote topographical features on planets other than Earth or on a trabant (e.g. the moon). A topographical feature is a portion of the surface of the Earth or any other planet or trabant that has a recognizable identity. These are comprehensive definitions inclusive of all possible cases. However, since it is usually about names for topographical features on Earth, toponyms are, in the vast majority of all cases, proper names of geographical features and are synonymous with geographical names or place names.

Toponyms, geographical names or place names can designate both natural and artificial, real as well as imagined/constructed geographical features of any size, geographical features being understood to mean space-bound, but not necessarily stationary, non-moving features, e.g. also sea currents or winds. Toponyms, based on the criterion of the feature category they designate, include numerous subcategories - from continent names to country names and names of other administrative units, names of populated places, relief names (e.g. names of mountain peaks and mountain ranges), landscape names, water body names to field names, house and farm names or names of traffic areas (hodonyms), whereby these subcategories can be further subdivided as desired.
The question arises as to what extent in each of the feature categories it is not necessary to speak of constructed instead of real features, because the definition of a geographical feature is always the result of a certain human perspective of the object world, of human structuring complex reality. This is most evident in the case of names of cultural landscapes such as Dalmatia, Transylvania or Bohemia, which are neither current administrative units nor have clear natural boundaries. What is understood by the toponym is the result of convention and may change over time. It can be said with reservations that it is only through the toponym that a section of the Earth's surface enters our consciousness as an independent geographical feature. A section of the Earth's surface without its own name is perceived as part of another geographical feature.

Toponyms play the following roles in the relationship between humans and human communities on the one hand and geographical space on the other: (1) As descriptive names, they emphasize features of geographical space that the eponymous community considered essential or striking, thereby reflecting the social constitution and culture of the eponymous community and are, to a certain extent, 'condensed narratives' in two directions: about the geographical feature and about the eponymous community. Every culture has its naming motives, finds other features of the geographical space worth mentioning and emphasizing. (2) As names of the local community (i.e. endonyms), they mark the 'own', express ownership or responsibility for a part of geographical space. (3) With their help, a human community mentally structures geographical space into geographical features, making these features communicable and part of their conceptual system. (4) Toponyms contribute to a local community's emotional attachment to its slice of geographical space (one might also call it 'home'), because the sight, mention, or memorization of a toponym can create images and memories in members of that community awakening the sense of place and reminding of experiences there.

Toponyms are the result of various naming motives that vary depending on the cultural and political constitution as well as the economic interests of the name-giving community. Many names are descriptive in that they describe essential or striking aspects of features. But there are also commemorative names, intentional designations, names derived from existing toponyms, and commercial names. In the case of commemorative names, geographical features are named after people, institutions or events. They are particularly common in traffic areas (streets, squares) and often change after political upheavals. Intentional names express what the name-givers intend to do with the feature or what they expect from it (e.g. Cape of Good Hope). Names of populated places are often derived from water or field names. Commercial names are either company and product names transferred to geographical features (mountains, train stations, airports, stadiums) or attractive-sounding 'artificial names' applied Commercial names are either company and product names transferred to geographical objects (mountains, train stations, airports, stadiums) or attractive-sounding "artificial names" with a specific marketing intention or emphasizing a marketable feature or even pretending it (e.g. Ski World Amadé, Land of the Volcanos) .

Earth, Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Norway, Berlin, Mont Blanc, Bohemia, Gulf Stream