Prizes by Seminario Interinstitucional de Onomástica for the best Theses in Toponymy

 

English

Mark your calendars: on Wednesday, 22 October 2025, at 10:00 (Mexico City time), the Ignacio Guzmán Betancourt Prize will be awarded to the best theses in toponymy (2023–2024). The ceremony will take place in the Fray Bernardino de Sahagún Auditorium at the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA) - Paseo de la Reforma & Gandhi, Chapultepec Polanco, Mexico City - with free admission.

The prize, established in honor of Ignacio Guzmán Betancourt - a towering figure in Mexican linguistics and onomastics - celebrates original, field-grounded and theoretically robust research on place-names in Mexico and beyond. Expect a brief academic program, remarks from the Seminario Internacional de Onomástica, and recognition of early-career scholars whose work pushes our understanding of toponymy into new terrain.

Can’t be in Mexico City? The event will be livestreamed on INAH TV (YouTube), so colleagues and students worldwide can join.

Practical details

• Date & time: Wednesday, 22 October 2025, 10:00

• Venue: Fray Bernardino de Sahagún Auditorium, Museo Nacional de Antropología
  (Paseo de la Reforma & Gandhi, Col. Chapultepec Polanco, CDMX)

• Admission: Free

• Stream: INAH TV (YouTube)

• Info / contact: francisco_peral@inah.gob.mx

We hope to see you at the MNA - or online - to celebrate the new generation of toponymists and to honor the legacy of Ignacio Guzmán Betancourt.

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Español

Apunten la fecha: el miércoles 22 de octubre de 2025, a las 10:00 h, se entregará el Premio Ignacio Guzmán Betancourt a las mejores tesis sobre toponimia (2023–2024). La ceremonia tendrá lugar en el Auditorio Fray Bernardino de Sahagún del Museo Nacional de Antropología (MNA) - Paseo de la Reforma y Gandhi, Col. Chapultepec Polanco, Ciudad de México - con entrada libre.

El galardón, dedicado a la memoria de Ignacio Guzmán Betancourt, referente mayor de la lingüística y la onomástica en México, reconoce investigaciones originales y sólidas sobre los nombres de lugar en México y otras regiones. El programa incluirá palabras del Seminario Internacional de Onomástica y el reconocimiento a jóvenes investigadores cuyas tesis amplían los horizontes de la toponimia.

¿No estás en la CDMX? Habrá transmisión en vivo por INAH TV (YouTube) para que colegas y estudiantes de todo el mundo puedan acompañarnos.

Detalles prácticos

• Fecha y hora: Miércoles 22 de octubre de 2025, 10:00 h

• Sede: Auditorio Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Museo Nacional de Antropología
  (Paseo de la Reforma y Gandhi, Col. Chapultepec Polanco, Ciudad de México)

• Entrada: Libre

• Transmisión: INAH TV (YouTube)

• Informes / contacto: francisco_peral@inah.gob.mx

Les esperamos en el MNA - o en línea - para celebrar a la nueva generación de toponimistas y honrar el legado de Ignacio Guzmán Betancourt.

🕊️ In Memoriam: Ferjan Ormeling (1942–2025)

It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Ferjan Ormeling, an internationally respected cartographer, toponymist, and educator. Born in Utrecht, and raised partly in the former Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Ormeling was a professor of cartography at Utrecht University and a guiding figure in the development of modern toponymic standards and cartographic education.

His work spanned many areas: atlas cartography, cartographic data quality, visualization, media use of maps, and the history of cartography. He was a central contributor to the Atlas of the Netherlands and a tireless advocate for the recognition and standardization of minority place names, even when this view was controversial.

As a long-standing member of both the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), Ormeling shaped global approaches to naming and training. His role as Convenor of the UNGEGN Working Group on Toponymic Training Courses from 1984 to 2016 was marked not only by administrative dedication but by personal involvement in organizing and teaching.

His vision - that place names are cultural heritage and deserve documentation and protection - has since become a foundational principle in international toponymic policy.

In his final years, vision loss limited his travel, but his legacy endures. Ferjan Ormeling will be remembered as a brilliant mind, a kind mentor, and one of the great organizers and thinkers in the field of toponymy. He leaves behind a lasting impact - both in theory and in practice - for generations to come.

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🕊️ In Memoriam: Ferjan Ormeling (1942–2025)

Een pionier in de cartografie en toponymie

Met groot verdriet delen wij het nieuws van het overlijden van Ferjan Ormeling, een internationaal gerespecteerd cartograaf, naamkundige en docent. Geboren in Utrecht en deels opgegroeid in voormalig Nederlands-Indië (Indonesië), was Ormeling hoogleraar cartografie aan de Universiteit Utrecht en een sleutelfiguur in de ontwikkeling van moderne normen voor naamgeving en cartografisch onderwijs.

Zijn werk omvatte een breed spectrum: atlassen, datakwaliteit, visualisatie, kaarten in de media, en de geschiedenis van de cartografie. Hij leverde een essentiële bijdrage aan de Atlas van Nederland en verdedigde krachtig het officieel erkennen van minderheidstoponiemen, lang voordat dit breed werd geaccepteerd.

Binnen de International Cartographic Association (ICA) en de United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) bekleedde hij vele leidende functies. Als voorzitter van de UNGEGN-werkgroep voor toponymiecursussen (1984–2016) combineerde hij organisatietalent met actieve deelname als docent.

Ormeling geloofde dat plaatsnamen deel uitmaken van het cultureel erfgoed, en zijn standpunten hebben het internationale beleid op dit vlak blijvend beïnvloed.

In zijn latere jaren weerhield slechtziendheid hem van reizen, maar zijn invloed blijft groot. Ferjan Ormeling wordt herinnerd als een bevlogen wetenschapper, een nauwgezette werker, een warm persoon en een bruggenbouwer in de wereld van de toponymie. Zijn werk wijst ons nog altijd de weg.

Moldavian “Guardian” of Toponymy Anatol Eremia is 90 years old !

 ResearchGate

This year, 2021, the researcher Anatol Eremia turns 90 years old. He is the personality who remained faithful during his entire scientific career to the Institute of Romanian Philology “Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu“, in its various forms of existence so far. He dedicated his life to onomastics research, demonstrating a special predilection for the phenomena of toponymy. 

Evolving in his career at all levels of the academic hierarchy, from laboratory in the field of Onomastics to scientific coordinator and scientific consultant, he managed to gather scientific information and make relevant analyzes by publishing 25 monographs, dictionaries, guides and 465 scientific articles and popularization of science. 

Among the most famous works signed by Anatol Eremia are: Names of localities. Toponymy study, 1970; The secrets of geographical names, 1986; The unity of the Romanian onomastic patrimony, 2001; Cahul in time and space, 2007; Chisinau. History and current affairs, 2012; The Romanian toponymic treasure. Republic of Moldova. Cantemir area, 2016; Leova. Localities, people, traditions, 2018 etc. 

He has had and continues to work in several commissions, councils, editorial boards dealing with issues of onomastics (toponymy, anthroponymy): UN Expert Group for Standardization of Geographical Names of International Circulation, Scientific Council of the Institute of Romanian Philology, Interdepartmental Commission for Study the state and development of the Romanian language, the Republican Commission for the regulation and protection of national onomastics, the Commission for the regulation of urbanism of Chisinau, the Editorial Board of the dedicated journal. 

Anatol Eremia is a patrimonial personality for onomastic and toponymic research, who became, in time, a “guardian” of toponymy, as he had once been a “guardian” in the Romanian school of Cahul.