NAMES

This page is currently under construction!

Geographical names, demonyms, language and place names... often seem to lack consistency across political and linguistic and also over time. See for instance:

Campbell (H.), Whatever happened to Tanganyika? The place names that history left behind, London, 2007

Wheatcroft (G.), The Peking Games. Cities and even countries sometimes change their namens. That's fine, but why should we follow? in: The Guardian, 27 august 2008, 28.

International and national systems try to standardize the use of all those names. Important to know is that they come as exonyms and endonyms. An endonym is the common name used by a group of people to designate themselves, their place of origin or their language. An exonym is the name for the same but as established over time by a non-native group of people.

With each entry in IdEnt, the (relevant) endonym(s), the English exonym (when available -  otherwise the endonym is used) and exonyms in other languages (for the moment only in Dutch) are given.

Endonyms from non-Latin alphabets are transliterated. Different systems apply whether the transliteration is re. a native endonym or the endonym in English or in Dutch. The following pages lists the systems used in IdEnt: international (scientific), English and Dutch.