Commemorative place name

With the exception names of populated places after founders or street names after landlords and landowners, commemorative place names only appeared in the middle of the 19th century with the spread of liberalist ideas, whereby individuals emerged from society and hero worship and personality cults spread. The great majority of commemorative place names refer to traffic areas (streets, alleys, paths, squares) in populated places, but some also to populated places and in rare cases also to relief features such as mountain peaks (e.g., Titov vrv in North Macedonia).

With the exception names of populated places after founders or street names after landlords and landowners, commemorative place names only appeared in the middle of the 19th century with the spread of liberalist ideas, whereby individuals emerged from society and hero worship and personality cults spread. The great majority of commemorative place names refer to traffic areas (streets, alleys, paths, squares) in populated places, but some also to populated places and in rare cases also to relief features such as mountain peaks (e.g., Titov vrv in North Macedonia). Commemorative place names are particularly fitting examples of the fact that the assignment of geographical names is closely related to political trends, values and the dominant forces in a society and culture. They are therefore often subject to changes after political upheavals or in the course of the emergence of new values (e.g., the recognition of minorities and indigenous groups and languages or the equal treatment of women and men). It is precisely the commemorative names of very symbolic places such as main streets and main squares that change most frequently. It is primarily politicians, artists and scientists who are honoured in this way. Among the events, battles and national commemorations (Days of the Declaration of Independence, Liberation Day, etc.) are particularly important. Commemorative place names are always determined by administrative bodies, so they are always official toponyms. Only rarely are there clear guidelines for awarding; mostly these are political decisions. The United Nations advocates restraint in assigning commemorative place names. Best practice when assigning commemorative names to traffic areas includes not naming after living people, but allowing an intercalary period of up to five years to elapse; to assign the name of a person to a place to which it was related (e.g., place of birth, place of work); avoid commercial names. Because of the historically explicable asymmetry of names after women and men (women have only recently become more numerous in public and publicly visible functions), efforts are also being made today to increase the proportion of women in commemorative place names.

Charles Bridge (Prague, after King Charles IV), Republican Square (Rome and some other places, after the Republic), Trafalgar Square (London, after the Battle of Trafalgar)