Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain — 10 October 2026
What happens to place names when the landscapes they describe disappear? Can the name of a field survive urban development, or the name of a coastal fishing ground remain meaningful after industrial expansion has transformed the shoreline? These questions formed the central theme of the XI Xornada de Onomástica Galega (11th Galician Onomastics Conference), held on 10 October 2026 at the Museo de Pontevedra in northwestern Spain.
Organised by the Onomastics Seminar of the Real Academia Galega (Royal Galician Academy), in collaboration with the Deputación de Pontevedra and the Museo de Pontevedra, the annual meeting adopted the theme Ecoloxía e onomástica (Ecology and Onomastics). The programme brought together researchers from linguistics, geography, biology and archaeology, alongside specialists in education and audiovisual documentation.
The conference was coordinated by Ana Boullón and Luz Méndez, both associated with the Instituto da Lingua Galega at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Its central argument was that environmental transformation has consequences extending beyond the physical landscape. When fields, rivers, paths and coastal features disappear, the traditional names attached to them may also vanish.
Place Names as an Endangered Cultural Ecosystem
Introducing the conference's underlying concerns, Ana Boullón emphasised the reciprocal relationship between human activity and toponymy. People create place names through their interaction with the environment, yet those same activities can eventually destroy the geographical features and social practices that sustain the names.
Microtoponyms are particularly vulnerable. Unlike the official names of settlements and municipalities, names referring to individual fields, springs, rocks, woodland areas and agricultural plots frequently depend on local oral transmission. Their preservation is closely connected with traditional land use and the knowledge of local communities.
The construction of reservoirs provides a striking illustration. Boullón referred to settlements such as Maiorga, submerged by the Os Peares reservoir, and Mourulle, Portomeñe and Castro Candaz, affected by the Belesar reservoir in the Miño basin. Some names of vanished settlements survive as surnames, demonstrating how geographical nomenclature can persist in anthroponymy even after the original locality has disappeared from the inhabited landscape.
Marilar Aleixandre: Defending the Names of Small Places
The opening scholarly contribution was delivered by Marilar Aleixandre, writer and member of the Royal Galician Academy, under the title Os nomes arrepóñense (The Names Resist).
Aleixandre concentrated on what she called os nomes do pequeno - the names of small places and local landscape features. Drawing on personal experience, she examined how urban expansion can erase centuries of accumulated geographical knowledge.
One example came from A Choupana, an area of Santiago de Compostela where 154 agricultural plots were acquired for a residential development comprising 240 dwellings. In 2004, Aleixandre attempted to preserve several traditional field names within the new street nomenclature. Her proposal did not receive sufficient political support.
Among the examples discussed were Eira da Palleira, a surviving traditional microtoponym, and Leiroas, a historical diminutive that disappeared from local use. Aleixandre also questioned the replacement of the traditional street name Rúa de Tras Espiñeira with Avenida de Barcelona.
Her contribution drew attention to the relationship between urban planning, cultural memory and the continuity of local naming traditions. The disappearance of a microtoponym may represent the loss of linguistic evidence that cannot easily be recovered from official maps.
Remembering Fernando Cabeza Quiles (1953–2026)
A particularly moving part of the conference was dedicated to the memory of Fernando Cabeza Quiles, the Galician toponymist who died earlier in 2026.
Cabeza Quiles had been associated with the Royal Galician Academy's Onomastics Seminar and was a member of the leadership of the Galician Onomastics Association (AGOn). He had originally been scheduled to contribute to the meeting with a presentation concerning the impact of sand-extraction activities in the Arousa estuary on local place-name heritage.
The tribute was delivered by his colleague and friend Xosé María Lema Suárez, who recalled Cabeza Quiles's contribution to making toponymic scholarship accessible beyond academic circles.
His publications helped bring questions of place-name origins, historical linguistics and cultural heritage to a broader readership. The tribute also acknowledged his interest in Galicia's pre-Roman toponymic heritage and the historical interpretation of names associated with the region's Celtic past.
Family members attended the commemoration, which gave the conference an additional personal dimension.
Valerià Paül Carril: The Changing Geography of Galicia's Regions
The relationship between geographical names and administrative structures was examined by Valerià Paül Carril, professor of geography at the University of Santiago de Compostela.
His presentation, As comarcas na Galiza autonómica: entre a agonía e a resistencia (The Comarcas in Autonomous Galicia: Between Decline and Resistance), addressed the historical development and uncertain administrative future of Galicia's comarcas, or traditional territorial regions.
The official division into 53 comarcas, approved in 1997, has had limited practical development. Paül Carril discussed the implications of proposed changes to local administration, which could further weaken the formal position of these territorial units.
He nevertheless stressed that geographical names do not depend entirely on administrative recognition. Regional names can retain their significance through collective identity, economic relationships, landscape perception and everyday usage.
Examples such as Ribeira Sacra and Costa da Morte illustrate how regional designations may develop functions that extend beyond established administrative boundaries, including tourism, cultural identification and territorial promotion.
The presentation highlighted a significant distinction between the official status of a geographical name and its continued relevance within the society that uses it.
Miguel Conde Teira: Six Centuries of Microtoponymic Change
A historical perspective was provided by the biologist Miguel Á. Conde Teira, whose presentation was entitled Unha viaxe toponímica no tempo en Posmarcos: de 1396 a 2013 (A Toponymic Journey Through Time in Posmarcos: From 1396 to 2013).
Conde Teira compared historical documentation relating to the boundaries of the parish of Lesón, in A Pobra do Caramiñal, with microtoponyms preserved through modern oral tradition.
His investigation demonstrated that some geographical boundaries and their associated names can remain remarkably stable over several centuries. Other names change as a consequence of agricultural development, urbanisation, alterations in landownership or the disappearance of physical landmarks.
The linguistic evidence was equally important. Some recorded changes could be explained through the internal historical development of the local Galician language rather than through geographical transformation.
The study offered an instructive example of how philological comparison, historical documentation and fieldwork can be combined to reconstruct the evolution of a local toponymic system.
Andrea Santiso: Bringing Microtoponymy into the Classroom
The educational dimension of place-name preservation was represented by Andrea Santiso Arias, teacher of Galician language and literature at IES Val do Asma in Chantada and secretary of the Galician Onomastics Association.
Her presentation, Cando a terra perde o nome: o impacto das industrias extractivas na microtoponimia (When the Land Loses Its Name: The Impact of Extractive Industries on Microtoponymy), introduced an interdisciplinary educational project involving secondary-school students.
The students are compiling a corpus of microtoponyms associated with their own families' lands. Their research also examines the potential impact of extractive industries on the landscape and its traditional nomenclature.
The project connects language education with geography, history, environmental awareness and the documentation of local heritage.
It also demonstrates the value of intergenerational cooperation. Students can contribute to the preservation of place names by interviewing relatives and other local residents whose knowledge may otherwise remain undocumented.
Lukas Santiago: Recovering the Lost Toponymy of Lourizán
The final research presentation was delivered by Lukas Santiago, archaeologist, toponymist and audiovisual professional, who examined the microtoponymy of Lourizán, near Pontevedra.
His presentation, Lourizán: desenterrando a súa toponimia (Lourizán: Unearthing Its Toponymy), drew on research conducted through the municipal project Chamámonos así (This Is What We Are Called).
Santiago worked with local residents, including members of his own family and women who had traditionally gathered shellfish along the coast. Their testimony helped recover names associated with sandbanks, rocks, fishing grounds and other maritime features.
Particular attention was paid to Areo de Pau, a former coastal sandbank affected by industrial development and dredging, and As Pedras Carneiras, a group of rocks remembered as an especially productive shellfish habitat.
These examples illustrated how the transformation of coastal environments can destroy both ecological resources and the place names through which generations of residents understood and navigated the shoreline.
The presentation concluded with a screening of Santiago's documentary Paraíso roubado (Stolen Paradise, 2017), produced by the Asociación pola Defensa da Ría. The film draws on local testimony and explores the environmental and cultural history of Lourizán.
Digital Cartography and the Future of Place Names
Beyond the individual presentations, the conference raised questions concerning the representation of Galician place names in digital environments.
Ana Boullón criticised the replacement of official Galician forms by Castilianised variants in certain online maps, navigation services and Spanish-language digital resources. She described this problem in terms of cartographic colonialism, arguing that digital platforms may weaken the visibility of locally established naming traditions.
The issue connects regional language policy with wider international discussions concerning geographical-name standardisation, endonyms and the responsibilities of cartographic institutions.
It also reveals a second dimension of toponymic preservation. Recording traditional names is only part of the task: ensuring their accurate and appropriate representation in widely used geographical information systems is another.
Conclusion: Environmental Loss and Toponymic Memory
The XI Xornada de Onomástica Galega demonstrated the importance of bringing environmental research and onomastics into closer dialogue.
Its contributions ranged from the historical reconstruction of medieval field names to the contemporary consequences of urbanisation, industrial development and administrative reorganisation. They also showed that documenting microtoponyms requires cooperation among scholars, teachers, local residents and cultural institutions.
Perhaps the most significant outcome was the recognition that environmental and toponymic preservation are closely connected. The loss of a forest, field, spring or coastal feature may eventually cause the disappearance of the name through which it was recognised, remembered and incorporated into local cultural knowledge.
Galicia's experience provides a valuable case study for the international onomastic community. Similar processes are affecting traditional geographical names in rural and urban landscapes throughout the world.
The conference therefore offered more than a regional discussion of Galician toponymy. It raised a fundamental question for contemporary place-name studies: how can linguistic heritage be preserved when the physical and social landscapes that gave rise to it are disappearing?
Conference information
Event: XI Xornada de Onomástica Galega — Ecoloxía e onomástica
Date: 10 October 2026
Venue: Museo de Pontevedra, Edificio Castelao, Galicia, Spain
Organiser: Seminario de Onomástica da Real Academia Galega
Coordinators: Ana Boullón and Luz Méndez
Collaborating institutions: Deputación de Pontevedra and Museo de Pontevedra
Online resources
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