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TOPONOMASTIKA IN HODONOMASTIKA JEZIKOVNIH MANJŠIN IN NARODNIH SKUPNOSTI: SOOČENJE PRAKS

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Romano-Hellenic Division
International Scientific Symposium

“How toponymy can contribute to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”

Roma [Rome] – Italia, 3 – 5 June 2026

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Romano-Hellenic Division (RHD) of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical
Names (UNGEGN) announces its fifth International Scientific Symposium focused on

“How toponymy can contribute to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”

The event will be held in Roma [Rome], Italia, at “Palazzetto Mattei in Villa Celimontana”,
headquarters of Italian Geographical Society, from 3 to 5 June 2026, in partnership with the Joint
ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy, and in close cooperation with the Italian Geographic Military
Institute and the Italian Geographical Society.

Members of UNGEGN, scholars (geographers, cartographers, historians, linguists etc.), administrators
and planners are cordially invited to attend the symposium. Participation is free of charge. Languages:
English and French.

The symposium will focus on the contribution of toponyms – particular historical placenames and the
implementation of policies for the assignment of new toponyms – to the achievement of the United
Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Building on discussions launched in 2024 and 2025, the event will explore how geographical names
can serve as instruments for fostering bio-cultural heritage preservation, gender equality and
sustainable communities. Particular attention will be given to two strategic perspectives: enhancing
gender balance in the naming of public spaces and urban features, and drawing lessons from historical
toponymy to inspire more sustainable human-environment relationships. The symposium will provide
an interdisciplinary platform for scholars (geographers, historians, linguists, cartographers…)
policymakers, and practitioners to share research findings, methodologies and case studies.

Presentation proposals: proposals should be submitted through the specific form accessible through the following LINK and QR Code:

Deadlines
- 31 January 2026: abstracts submission (max. 400 words);
- 28 February 2026: authors of accepted abstracts are notified by the Scientific Committee
- 2 December 2026: submission of final papers, complete with images and captions

Scientific committee
- Andrea Cantile, Honorary Chair of the Romano-Hellenic Division, IGMI, and University of
Florence (Italia);
- Gianluca Casagrande, Chair of the Romano-Hellenic Division, European University of Rome
(Italia);
- Catherine Cheetam, Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (United Kingdom);
- Annalisa D’Ascenzo, Roma Tre University (Italia);
- José Miguel Delgado Barrado, Universidad de Jaén (España);
- Elena Dai Prà, Co-Chair of Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy University of Trento (Italia);
- Peder Gammeltoft, University of Bergen (Norge);
- Helen Kerfoot, Former Emeritus Scientist Natural Resources Canada, Honorary Chair of UNGEGN
(Canada);
- Joan Tort i Donada, Universitat de Barcelona (España).

Download the PDF file

CONVEGNO INTERNAZIONALE

Following Matjaž Geršič’s presentation, I would also like to take this opportunity in the newsletter to introduce myself to all of you as the new Co-chair of the Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy, on behalf of the International Geographical Union. As a first step, I believe it is necessary to thank my predecessor, Cosimo Palagiano, for the excellent work carried out during their term and for the promising prospects they have opened up for the future. I would also like to express my gratitude to those who have entrusted me with this role. Finally, I would like to thank Matjaž Geršič for providing this space for my introduction; I am excited to begin this new journey together. A few words about myself: I am a historical geographer and a professor at the University of Trento (Italy). I believe that Trentino, historically a border area between different worlds and cultural areas, with a long history of toponymic layering, is a perfect example of the complexity, but also the fascination, of studying place names. The themes, approaches, and research interests involved in the study of toponymy are numerous, just as there are many different perspectives that animate this commission. In particular, I hope that in the future, some strategic research avenues may open up, such as the one that connects toponymy and migrations, or the study, recovery, and enhancement of historical toponymy, which serves both as a source for studying the relationship between society and space and as intangible cultural heritage in its own right. In conclusion, I can only welcome Matjaž’s invitations for closer integration and fruitful scientific exchange within our community. For this reason, I hope there will be many opportunities to meet in person, in the form of conferences, seminars, and panels, and I will personally commit to organizing some of these, in the hope of meeting and greeting you all.

Elena Dai Prà

Click here to download the December 2024 newsletter

Ljubljana, December 2023

Dear Distinguished Colleagues! I have the honor of chairing the Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy on behalf of the International Cartographic Association. I would like to thank my predecessor, the geographer Peter Jordan, who nominated me, and the delegates that elected me at the ICA General Assembly in Cape Town. I would also like to thank Peter Jordan for his past involvement in the work of this and other commissions and working groups, in which he has been or continues to be very active. I am also a geographer; I am employed at the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Research Center, where my work mainly focuses on issues related to geographical names. There will be no major changes in the activities of the commission. However, I have decided to publish a newsletter for members at least once a year, in which I will present past events our commission has participated in, planned events, new publications involving geographical names, and other interesting facts in this field. Please let me know if you are planning an event or have published a book or article on geographical names and would like to share it with the members of the commission. I would also like to encourage you to think about joint research projects. Some initiatives in this area have already been taken or are under way,mainly in the form of articles and books. However, I have the impression that there are also several untapped opportunities in calls for proposals. In Europe, several programs allow the submission of projects at both the European level (e.g., Interreg or COST, cross-border programs, bilateral programs, and others) and beyond. Calls for proposals from national research agencies should not be forgotten. In Slovenia, a call for proposals for research projects has just been launched, and our agency has signed contracts with research agencies in Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Flanders, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, and Hungary. This allows researchers to apply for research projects together with colleagues from other countries. I am not very familiar with project programs in other countries and continents, but they certainly exist. I would consider it a great success if we were able to apply for at least one joint research project in the next four years.If you have any ideas and would like to collaborate in this area, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would also like to hear from you about the congresses you are planning, your publications, reports on past events, and other interesting news in toponymic research.

I look forward to working with you!
With best regards from Slovenia,
Matjaž Geršič

Download the December Newsletter here

About 80 scholars with different specializations, ranging from history to history of explorations, linguistics, cartography, cultural geography and didactics attended the conference. Almost 60 reports were presented by professors and researchers from different disciplines under the umbrella of the sole subjects of place names. The major result of the conference was the discussions of the meaning of place names, according to the different scientific skills and point of view, with very interesting comparisons. The topic of critical toponymy was also touched upon, which Giuseppe Muti has been dealing with for some time. He has also established an AGEI (Associazione dei Geografi Italiani – Association of Italian Geographers) working group with the same title.

The conference achieved another significant result with the researches on micro-toponyms for imagining the past landscape. At the same time the conference emphasized the importance of adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the study of toponymic sedimentation. Several presentations highlighted how place names can offer valuable insights for advancing research in historical, environmental and social fields. At the same time, only an approach that integrates spatial, etymological, linguistic and cartographic analyses seems truly effective in reconstructing the processes of toponymic composition and transformation. Moreover, the refinement of some presentations was able to solve some problems particularly in relation to dialectal names of geographical objects no longer identifiable on the ground.

The welcome by the colleagues Silvia Siniscalchi, Pierluigi De Felice, Vincenzo Aversano (University of Salerno) and Carla Masetti(President of CISGE) was very thorough, which placed the numerous attendees and speakers in the satisfactory conditions of living two days in the best comfort. An interesting cartographic exhibition titled Carte e toponimi dal nostro Mondo ad altri Mondi – Maps and Toponyms from our Word to other Worlds was presented by Gianluca Casagrande from Università Europea of Rome and Annalisa D’Ascenzo from University of Roma Tre.

A SELECTION OF THEMES PRESENTED

Toponomastica e mutato valore dei quadri ambientali – Toponymy and changed value of the Environmental pictures. Chairwoman Anna Guarducci (University of Siena) Speakers: Lorenzo Brocada (University of Genua), Filiberto Ciaglia (Sapienza University of Rome), Rebekka Dossche (University of Genua), Giulia Ferrante (Gran Sasso Science Institute), Laura Turconi et al. (CNR-IRPI, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, University of Genua, CNR-ISMED, CNR-ISPC), Piergiovanni Genovesi (University of Parma), Nicola Gabellieri et al. (University of Trento and Cadastre Service, PAT), Claudia Cipollone (University of Perugia), Stefano Grazzini (University of Salerno).

Toponimi e cartografia – Place names and cartography. Chairman Massimo Rossi (Benetton Foundation Studies and Researches) Speakers: Carla Masetti et al. (University of Roma Tre), Angelo Campanella et al.(University of Palermo), Giulia Annunziata (University of Salerno), Camillo Berti et al. (University of Florence, University of Bologna), Arturo Gallia et al. (University of Roma Tre), Angela Paolini et al. (MIC – Ministry of Cultural Heritage, SS-PNRR, ISPRA – Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), Luca Fois (University of Pavia), Guido Luisi (University of Bari).

Approcci metodologici e applicativi per lo studio della toponomastica – Methods and Praxis for the study of place names. Chairman Vincenzo Aversano (University of Salerno). Speakers: Luisa Spagnoli (CNR– Institute for Environmental Research Council), Marina Castiglione et al. (University of Palermo), Roberta Cevasco et al. (Gastronomic Sciences University of Pollenzo, University of Genua), Francesco Crifò (University of Salerno), Elena Dai Prà et al. (University of Trento), Elisa Giunta (University of Roma Tre), Francesca Lemmi et al. (University of Trento), Giuseppe Muti (University of Insubria), Vincenzo Aversano (University of Salerno).

Toponomastica nella letteratura di viaggio – Place names in the travel literature. Chairman Rosario Pellegrino (University of Salerno). Some speakers: Roberta De Felici (University of Calabria), Paola Labadessa (University of Messina), Rosario Pellegrino (University of Salerno), Alfonso Tortora (University of Salerno), Carolina Stromboli (University of Salerno), Irene Zanot (University of Macerata), Lorenza Gasparella (University of Venezia – Iuav – Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia).

Toponomastica partecipativa e collaborativa e forme testuali del potere – Participatory and collaborative toponymy and textual forms of power. Chairman Andrea Cantile (UNGEGN’s Romano-Hellenic Division – Italy). Some speakers: Simonetta Acacia et al. (University of Genova and Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Pierluigi De Felice (University of Salerno) and Maria Cristina Cardillo (University of Cassino and of Southern Lazio), Silvia Siniscalchi et al. (University of Salerno and Cararro Lab), Valeria Anna Vaccaro (University of Salerno), Paola Pontani and Chiara Colombo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore).

Toponimi come strumenti di controllo simbolico del territorio – Place names as symbolic territorial control devices. Chairman Francesco Senatore (University of Napoli Federico II). Some speakers: Viviana Ferrario (University of Venezia – Iuav – Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia), Giuseppe Muti (University of Insubria) and Gianluigi Salvucci (Istat), Simonetta Conti (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli), Massimo Rossi (Benetton Foundation Studies and Researches).

The conference concluded with a panel (Challenges and perspectives for an inclusive and representative toponymy) under the coordination of Elena Dai Prà (IGU Chair of the Commission on Toponym jointly with ICA), who brought greetings from the international committee and coordinated an interesting debate involving the audience. Andrea Cantile (Chair of UNGEGN’s Romano – Hellenic Division – Italy), Cosimo Palagiano (Honorary Chair of the IGU-ICA Commission on Toponymy), Vincenzo Aversano (University of Salerno) and Domenico Proietti (Vanvitelli University) assisted to this panel.

Elena Dai Prà, Cosimo Palagiano

IMPORTANT NEWS: CONFERENCE – LITERARY, POLAR, AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL PLACE NAMES. ROME, 23-24 NOVEMBER 2023

The International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) invites us to the approaching October lecture of the Onomastics Online series, Wednesday 19 October 2022, 5 p.m. (CET), Carole Hough (University of Glasgow) ”Metaphor and Metonymy in Names”. Link to the Zoom event:

https://tuni.zoom.us/j/67034471884?pwd=aDB0eXludGlEcEt2Z2dmU1hta1F2UT09 Please find the abstract enclosed.

Please find attached also an advertisement for a postdoctoral fellowhship at the University of the Free State (South Africa) with a focus on toponymy.

At this occasion I would also like to hint you at our Commission’s events in 2023:

(1)   IGU Thematic Conference ”The Ocean and Seas in Geographical Thought”, Milan [Milano] (Italy), University of Milano-Bicocca, 6-8 June 2023: Our Commission is co-organizing this conferences and has submitted a proposal for a session titled “Names and naming of oceans and seas as a specific and politically delicate issue”. The call for papers starts 21 November 2022 and ends 9 January 2023. You are also free to submit additional session proposals up to 21 October. For details see the conference website  https://igu-online.org/igu-thematic-conference-on-the-ocean-and-seas-in-geographical-thought/

(2)  Names and naming of oceans and seas as a specific and politically delicate issue

(3)   Session presenters: Cosimo Palagiano (Sapienza Università di Roma), Peter Jordan (Austrian Academy of Sciences, University of the Free State), both members (co-chairs) of the Joint I CA/IGU Commission on Toponymy

SESSION PROPOSED

Names and naming of oceans and seas are specific for at least four reasons: (1) They refer to unpopulated features. (2) They refer to usually large features, some of which have for this very reason (3) been perceived as geographical entities only rather late in the age of discoveries, through the development of sciences, especially of a geographical world view and its cartographic representation. (4) They only exceptionally refer to features under a single sovereignty and are thus exposed to political conflict. Names of oceans and seas are therefore a mixture of some having emerged from local use and others applied from the outside. Dual and even multiple naming in the narrower sense (not confined to translations) from different coasts is not an exception. Due to the symbolic power of place names in general, names of oceans and seas are sometimes understood as political claims causing conflict. An international authority, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), is in charge of standardizing maritime names for the purpose of international navigation and charts but cannot prevent deviating use in the media and education. The session will be open for papers on all these issues starting from the history of naming across the practical and emotional relation of coastal dwellers to ‘their’ sea as reflected by naming, the question of whether toponomastic terminology applicable to names for features on land (like ‘endonym’ and ‘exonym’) is completely transferable to maritime features or whether additional terms like ‘international name’ or ‘thalassonym’ are needed. The session is to cover also the specific problems of standardizing maritime names as well as name conflicts and their character as indicators of deeper political conflicts, of which names are just the symbolic surface. The session will very likely show that geographical names are also in the case of names of oceans and seas points of convergence of many geographical perspectives.

(2) 31^st International Cartographic Conference (ICC), Cape Town/Kaapstad/ iKapa (South Africa), 13-18 August 2023, with toponymy as one of the conference themes. Our Commission will organize a toponymic session with a focus on toponymy in cartography. Abstracts are due by 5/12 December 2022. For details see the conference website https://icc2023.org/ We were also invited to organize a pre-conference workshop but are still considering the topic. All ideas are welcome.

Important dates:

5 December 2022: Submission of full papers closes
12 December 2022: Submission of abstracts closes
February 2023: Conference registration opens
28 February 2023: Notification of acceptance
8 May 2023: Submission of revised abstracts and papers
15 May 2023: Early Bird registration closes

15 May 2023: Registration deadline for presenters of abstracts, papers and posters

(3) International Symposium on Place Names (ISPN 2023), Bloemfontein (South Africa), 25-29 September 2023, organized by the University of the Free State in cooperation with our Commission with the general theme “The presence of minority and indigenous languages in urban naming” and subthemes like (a) The rate of change of urban names, and the implications thereof, (b) National and municipal regulations regarding urban naming, (c) Best practices in urban naming, (d) In what way are the presence of minority and indigenous languages important in the namescape? (e) For whom is it important to have their names in the public space? Keynotes will be presented by Thapelo Otlogestwe (Botswana) und Phil Matthews (New Zealand). Abstracts are due by 10 March 2023. A pre-conference workshop on “Management of toponymic files” will try to answer the questions how to store toponymic data, what aspects and variables are useful and necessary to include, and how to disseminate data (e.g., online databases, dictionaries, etc.)?

(4) Conference “Literary, polar and extraterrestrial place names”, Rome [Roma] (Italy), 23-24 November 2023, organized by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in cooperation with our Commission. A call for papers will be disseminated in May 2023.

It is also our great pleasure to announce that the proceedings of the virtual SIPAT Conference 2021 in Rio de Janeiro are now available also in English translation under https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7133279 (ISBN: 978-65-00-52999-9). Thanks to our Brazilian colleagues and financial support by ICA and IGU this could be made possible.

With kind regards

Peter [Jordan]

Milan (Italy), University of Milano-Bicocca

6-8 June 2023 and Post-conference excursion in Venice, 9-11 June 2023

ORGANIZING COMMISSIONS

• Commission on the History of Geography (Proponent)
• Commission on Gender and Geography
• Commission on Mediterranean Basin Commission on Political Geography
• Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change
• Commission on the Geography of Governance
• Commission on Toponymy
• Proposed Commission on Oceans

Chair: Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg (University of Milano-Bicocca)

MAIN THEMES

• History of Ocean and Sea
• The Ocean and diversity
• Livelihoods and Life in and on the Ocean and the Seas
• Imaginaries and representations of the Ocean and the Seas
• Heritage, culture, tourism in coastal and maritime areas
• Planning and governance of coastal and maritime regions
• Ocean and Seas: spaces of inclusion and exclusion
• The climate emergency from a maritime perspective
• Adaptability and resilience of coastal and maritime areas

Conference website: https://igu-chg-2023.unimib.it (under construction)

For more information: geografia@unimib.it

Wednesday, 20 July 2022

Session A103331PJ Place names as (positive or negative) brands (Chair: Peter Jordan, Co-chair: Cosimo Palagiano)

Institut de geographie, Room 412

Slot 1 (10.30-12.15)

A105148MA Malak Alasli (Hungary): The impact of place names as brands

A104893KC Kim Chanho (Republic of Korea): An experimental study on the negative brand value of place names adopting the context of toponymic stigma: A case of Wuhan, China

A105506JC Jonathan Cherry (Ireland): Colonial naming and renaming in Ireland: creating a ‘civilising’ brand

A105103S Sungjae Choo (Republic of Korea): Place Names as Brands: Academic Achievements and Further Issues

A103622EC Eugenio Climent-López (Spain): The use of place names (or their lack) in the brands of the Protected Designations of Origin: the case of the wine-growing areas of the Ebro Valley (Spain)

Slot 2(12.30-14.15)

A103039JF Josip Faričić (Croatia): Dalmatia – name as a sign, name as a brand

A103743NF Nuria Font-Casaseca (Spain): Renaming neighborhoods through digital platforms in Barcelona

A103062MG Matjaž Geršič (Slovenia): Standardization of geographical names through research projects – two examples from Slovenia

A104842KH Xenia Havadi Nagy (Romania): Do all roads lead to Rome? Place names and landscape elements in Hungarian, Romanian and German proverbs and sayings

A103230PJ Peter Jordan (Austria): Place names as (positive or negative) brands: Examples from Europe

Slot 3 (14.30-16.15)

A105077EM Ekaterina Mikhailova (Switzerland): Insights on Critical Toponymy Based on Developing an online course “Naming the World”

A104378DN Daniel Orongo Nyangweso (Hungary): Trending perspectives of place names on geopolitics, identity and effects in the advent of Covid-19

A103301PC Cosimo Palagiano (Italy): Place names as negative brands. Some disasters are still alive in the memory due to the consequences they brought about

A104255SP Suraj Prasad (India): Dichotomy of Economic and Cultural Space: Re-examining the impact of ‘Madhubani Painting’ on ‘Mithila Art’

A103604AV Antonio Violante (Italy): #Go Montenegro: A global pandemic as the ultimate rebranding tool