We are pleased to announce the publication of Onoma Volume 60 (2025), featuring a powerful thematic section on "The Politics of Toponymy in Europe" alongside diverse non-themed articles, eight book reviews, two obituaries, and a note on current naming developments. This substantial volume documents how place names function as political instruments, identity markers, and contested sites of memory across European contexts and beyond.
THEMATIC SECTION: The Politics of Toponymy in Europe
Edited by Přemysl Mácha and Žaneta Dvořáková, this section demonstrates that European toponymy is never politically neutral - it reflects, constructs, and contests power, identity, and historical memory.
Introduction
Přemysl Mácha and Žaneta Dvořáková
The editors frame the thematic section, outlining how toponymic politics manifests across post-communist, post-imperial, and multicultural European contexts.
Marit Alas, Tiina Laansalu, and Peeter Päll: "Estonian Street Names in the Ideological Turbulence Through the Centuries"
This collaborative article traces Estonian street naming through successive waves of political control -Swedish, Russian Imperial, Soviet, and post-1991 independence. The authors document how each regime inscribed its ideology into urban toponymy, and how contemporary Estonia navigates this layered heritage. Essential reading for understanding Baltic onomastic politics and the long-term consequences of colonial naming regimes.
Andrea Bölcskei and Gábor Mikesy: "An Overview of the History of Ideologically Motivated Place-Name Changes in Hungary"
Bölcskei and Mikesy provide a comprehensive historical survey of Hungarian toponymic politics from the 19th century to the present, examining how place names responded to nationalism, communism, and post-communist memory politics. This article offers crucial comparative perspective for scholars studying Central European naming regimes and the relationship between state ideology and geographical nomenclature.
Daniela Butnaru: "Current Trends of Official Hodonymy in Northeastern Romania"
Butnaru analyzes contemporary street-naming practices (hodonymy) in northeastern Romania, revealing how local authorities navigate post-communist commemoration, European integration pressures, and regional identity assertion. This empirical study demonstrates that toponymic politics operates not just at national but at regional and municipal levels, where local actors make consequential naming decisions within broader political frameworks.
Žaneta Dvořáková: "Koněvova Street: A Case Study on the Decommunisation and Derussification of Czech Urbanonymy"
Through intensive case-study methodology, Dvořáková examines the controversy surrounding Koněvova Street in Prague - named after Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, whose statue's removal sparked international debate. This article demonstrates how a single street name becomes a flashpoint for competing historical narratives, Czech-Russian diplomatic tensions, and domestic memory politics. A model study of toponymic contestation in post-communist Europe.
Peter Jordan: "Multicultural Identity Building Supported by Place Names. The Example of the Val Canale in the Northeast of Italy"
Jordan, a leading figure in critical toponymy, examines the multilingual Val Canale region where Italian, Slovene, and German naming traditions coexist. Rather than viewing toponymic multiplicity as conflict, Jordan argues that multilingual place names can support inclusive regional identity. This article offers a rare positive case study amid the volume's predominant focus on naming conflicts, demonstrating that toponymic politics can facilitate rather than obstruct multicultural coexistence.
Michal Místecký and Jaroslav David: "Locatives Lost: Case Distributions of Toponyms in Anti-Establishment Media"
In a methodologically innovative contribution, Místecký and David analyze how Czech anti-establishment media employ unusual grammatical case forms for place names - a subtle linguistic strategy signaling ideological distance from mainstream discourse. This corpus-linguistic study reveals that even morphological choices (which grammatical case to use) can carry political meanings, expanding our understanding of how toponymic politics operates not just through name changes but through linguistic manipulation of existing names.
Eleni Papadopoulou and Maria Vrachionidou: "Linguistic and Political Strategies of Renaming Toponyms in Greece from the 19th to the 21st Century"
Papadopoulou and Vrachionidou provide a longue durée perspective on Greek toponymic politics, tracing renaming waves from Ottoman-to-Greek transitions (19th century), through Balkan Wars and population exchanges (early 20th century), to contemporary debates over minority toponymy. This article demonstrates that Greek place-name politics involves systematic hellenization strategies -linguistic, orthographic, and symbolic - that continue shaping the geographical nomenclature today.
Halyna Zymovets: "Creating a New Ukrainian Identity: Renaming Campaign in the Capital City of Kyiv During the Ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War"
Zymovets documents the accelerated decommunization and derussification of Kyiv's street names during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war (post-2022 invasion). This urgent, real-time study shows how wartime accelerates toponymic politics: streets named after Russian cultural figures, Soviet heroes, and imperial administrators are rapidly replaced with Ukrainian national figures, resistance symbols, and war heroes. Essential reading for understanding how armed conflict intensifies naming politics and how toponymy functions as symbolic resistance.
NON-THEMED ARTICLES: Global Onomastic Diversity
Beyond the European thematic focus, Volume 60 includes seven diverse contributions spanning urban toponymy, plant names, ethnic naming practices, historical linguistics, anthroponymy, chrematonymy, and onomastic historiography.
Terhi Ainiala and Pia Olsson: "Urban Toponymic Detachment. Place Names as Symbols of Urban Change"
Finnish toponymists Ainiala and Olsson introduce the concept of "toponymic detachment" - when rapid urban transformation severs the semantic connection between place names and their original referents (e.g., "Mill Street" where no mill exists). This theoretical contribution advances critical toponymy by examining how urbanization produces onomastic alienation, complicating place-name interpretation and urban historical memory.
Abdulai Akuamah and Osei Yaw Akoto: "On Ghanaian Phytonymy: A Socio-Onomastic Typology of Plant Names Among the Asantes in Ghana"
Akuamah and Akoto provide the first systematic typology of Asante plant names (phytonyms), documenting how botanical nomenclature reflects ecological knowledge, medicinal use, cultural values, and social organization. This contribution to African onomastics demonstrates that plant naming is not merely utilitarian but encodes complex ethnobotanical and cosmological systems. Essential for scholars of ethnobiology and non-European naming systems.
Maria Khosa, Jong Hui Ying, Hasmidar Binti Hassan, and Durdana Khosa: "Baloch Naming Practices in the Wake of Ethnic Conflict: A Socio-Onomastic Study of Balochi Names in Pakistan"
This collaborative team examines how Baloch communities in Pakistan use personal names to assert ethnic identity amid ongoing conflict with the Pakistani state. The authors document naming patterns that resist assimilation, commemorate martyrs, and preserve Baloch cultural heritage under political pressure. A powerful demonstration of anthroponymy as ethnic survival strategy and identity politics.
Adelina Emilia Mihali: "Slavic Toponymic Connections in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains"
Mihali, a specialist in Romanian toponymy, traces Slavic substratum place names in the Carpathians - linguistic evidence of medieval Slavic settlement layers beneath Romance-speaking populations. This historical-linguistic study reconstructs settlement history through toponymic archaeology, revealing how place names preserve memory of vanished or assimilated populations. Important for Balkan and Carpathian linguistic historiography.
Ephraim Nissan: "Personal Names Motivated by 'Wolf'"
In his characteristically erudite style, Nissan surveys wolf-motivated anthroponyms across languages, cultures, and historical periods - from Germanic Wolfgang and Turkic Börte to Hebrew Ze'ev and Slavic Vuk. This comparative onomastic study demonstrates the cross-cultural symbolic potency of the wolf as a naming motif, connecting personal nomenclature to mythology, folklore, and warrior cultures. A tour de force of comparative anthroponymy.
Anthony R. Rowley: "Names of British Railway Companies"
Rowley analyzes British railway company names (chrematonymy) from the 19th-century railway boom through nationalization and privatization cycles. This study reveals how corporate names encode geographical identity, technological modernity, and commercial strategy. Particularly valuable for scholars of industrial nomenclature and the semiotics of corporate naming in transportation history.
Eugen Schochenmaier: "The 1938 Onomastics Revolution: Why the Name Researchers Needed a Congress and Its 8 Lasting Impacts"
Schochenmaier provides a historiographic analysis of the 1938 International Congress of Onomastic Sciences - the founding moment of ICOS and modern organized onomastic scholarship. Through archival research, Schochenmaier reconstructs why 1930s name scholars felt the need for international coordination, what the 1938 congress achieved, and how it shaped contemporary onomastic institutions, methodologies, and networks. Essential reading for understanding onomastics as a discipline and ICOS's institutional history.
BOOK REVIEWS: Recent Onomastic Scholarship
Volume 60 includes eight substantial reviews of major onomastic publications, demonstrating the field's global reach and interdisciplinary breadth.
Sheila Embleton reviews: Smita Joseph, Proper Names of Telugu Catholics and Kerala Syrian Catholics (LIT Verlag, 2023)
Embleton assesses Joseph's study of Catholic anthroponymy in southern India, where Christian naming traditions intersect with Telugu and Malayalam linguistic structures and caste systems. This review highlights an understudied area: religious minority naming practices in South Asian contexts.
Oliviu Felecan reviews: Enzo Caffarelli, L'anima medievale nei nomi contemporanei [The Medieval Soul in Contemporary Names] (Leo S. Olschki, 2024)
Felecan reviews Caffarelli's exploration of how medieval Italian anthroponymic traditions persist in modern Italian naming - a study of onomastic continuity and revival. This review signals growing scholarly interest in historical name revivals and their cultural politics.
Oliviu Felecan reviews: Stéphane Gendron, Noms de lieux en France. Origine et signification (Errance et Picard, 2025)
Felecan assesses Gendron's comprehensive survey of French place-name origins - a reference work synthesizing decades of French toponymic research. This review positions Gendron's contribution within the French toponymic tradition and evaluates its utility for comparative European toponymy.
Octavian Gordon reviews: Corinne Bonnet (ed.), The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge, 2024)
Gordon reviews Bonnet's edited volume on theonymy (divine names) in ancient Mediterranean religions - a specialized study at the intersection of onomastics, religious studies, and ancient history. This review highlights how divine naming encodes theology, cosmology, and intercultural religious exchange.
Maria Chiara Moskopf-Janner reviews: Artur Gałkowski, Italianità nella marchionimia polacca [Italian Character in Polish Brand Names] (Peter Lang, 2024)
Moskopf-Janner reviews Gałkowski's massive study (644 pp.) of Italian-inspired brand names in Poland - an analysis of how "Italianness" functions as a marketing resource in Polish commercial onomastics. This review engages with questions of linguistic prestige, cultural capital, and globalized naming aesthetics.
Domenico Giuseppe Muscianisi reviews: Caroline Waerzeggers & Melanie M. Groß (eds.), Personal Names in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonia (c. 750–100 BCE) (Cambridge, 2024)
Muscianisi assesses an introduction to Babylonian cuneiform anthroponymy - a specialized reference for ancient Near Eastern name scholars. This review signals the technical sophistication of ancient onomastic studies and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between onomasticians and Assyriologists.
Sabrina Palinkas reviews: Oliviu Felecan & Alina Bugheșiu (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Onomastics "Name and Naming": (In)correctness in Onomastics (Editura Mega, 2024)
Palinkas reviews the proceedings from ICONN 6, the 2023 Baia Mare conference, assessing the volume's contributions to debates on onomastic normativity, prescription, and usage. This review highlights the ICONN conference series' importance for international onomastic exchange.
Paula Sjöblom reviews: Paola Cotticelli-Kurras (ed.), Names in Times of Crisis (Narr Francke Attempto, 2025)
Sjöblom reviews a timely volume examining how crises - pandemics, energy shortages, wars - affect naming practices. This review positions the volume within growing scholarly attention to onomastics in emergency contexts and the relationship between crisis and nomenclature.
OBITUARIES: Remembering Two Onomastic Giants
Stéphane Gendron: "Jean-Pierre Chambon (1952–2025)"
Gendron memorializes the late French linguist and toponymist Jean-Pierre Chambon, whose work on French place-name etymology and historical linguistics profoundly influenced Francophone onomastics. This tribute documents Chambon's scholarly contributions and mentorship legacy.
Peter Jordan: "Ferjan Ormeling (1942–2025) – An Exceptional Toponymist Has Left Us"
Jordan honors Ferjan Ormeling, the distinguished Dutch cartographer and toponymist whose work on exonyms, toponymic standardization, and international geographical nomenclature shaped UNGEGN (United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names) policies. This obituary celebrates Ormeling's contributions to both theoretical toponymy and applied cartographic practice.
NOTE: US Place-Name Changes
Peter Jordan: "US Place-Name Changes"
Jordan provides a brief note on recent American toponymic politics, including debates over Confederate memorials in street names and the movement to restore Indigenous place names. This note contextualizes European toponymic politics within a broader transatlantic frame.
Why This Volume Matters
Onoma Volume 60 captures onomastics at a critical juncture. The thematic section on European toponymic politics arrives amid:
- Ongoing decommunization in Eastern Europe
- Accelerated derussification in Ukraine and Baltic states
- Debates over colonial commemoration in Western Europe
- Rising nationalist mobilization of place-name politics
The volume demonstrates that toponymy is never merely descriptive - it is always political. Place names encode power, memory, and belonging; they are instruments of state-building, ethnic assertion, colonial erasure, and postcolonial resistance. The eight European case studies reveal convergent patterns (decommunization, derussification, nationalist renaming) alongside context-specific dynamics (Czech-Russian tensions, Greek hellenization, Ukrainian wartime naming).
Beyond Europe, the non-themed articles expand onomastic inquiry to African ethnobotany, South Asian religious anthroponymy, Pakistani ethnic conflict, and British industrial history - demonstrating onomastics' global reach and interdisciplinary breadth.
The reviews, obituaries, and note situate this scholarship within living academic networks, honoring past contributions while documenting contemporary developments. Volume 60 thus functions not merely as a research archive but as a snapshot of onomastics as a discipline: its debates, its methods, its international community, and its engagement with urgent political questions.
Access the Volume
Onoma Volume 60 (2025) is freely available online:
https://onomajournal.org/vol-60/
All articles, reviews, and obituaries are published under open access, with individual DOIs for citation.
About Onoma
Onoma is the official journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS), published annually since 1950. It is the world's premier multilingual onomastic journal, accepting contributions in English, French, and German. Onoma publishes original research, reviews, and scholarly notes across all onomastic subfields: anthroponymy, toponymy, chrematonymy, zoonymy, phytonymy, theonymy, and more.
Indexing: Onoma is indexed in major bibliographic databases including Scopus, MLA International Bibliography, and Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts.
Congratulations to all contributors, editors, and reviewers for this outstanding volume!
Keywords: Onoma, ICOS, onomastics, toponymy, anthroponymy, European naming politics, decommunization, derussification, place-name changes, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Italy, critical toponymy, onomastic historiography
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