Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland

The publication of toponymic guidelines by individual countries was recommended by the fourth and the fifth United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names, held in Geneva in 1982 and in Montreal in 1987. These guidelines should provide cartographers and other foreign users with information to help them understand the rules of using geographical names in particular countries.

According to the UNGEGN’s recommendations, in 1993 “The Polish toponymic guidelines” was published. In 1999 the second, updated and extended edition of the guidelines entitled “ Toponymic Guidelines of Poland for Map Editors and Other Users” was published and included description of new administrative division of Poland. The third updated edition of the toponymic guidelines, was published in 2002 in an English version (as the previous two) and in Russian (Польское топонимическое руководство для издателей карт и других потребителей) as well. The fourth edition of the toponymic guidelines from 2010 was thoroughly revised and extended – this resulted from the significant changes that took place in Poland in the field of geographical names after the publication of the third edition. In 2003 the “Act on official names of localities and physiographic objects” came into force and regulated the rules of establishing, changing and abolishing official geographical names. In 2005 the “Act on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional language” was accepted which enabled the introduction of supplementary geographical names in the languages of national and ethnic minorities and regional languages.

The fifth edition of the toponymic guidelines was published 14 years after the previous edition. It incorporates updates resulting from changes in the principles and legal bases for the standardization of geographical names, as well as updates to the available source materials – especially maps and databases provided by the National Geodetic and Cartographic Service, data on national and ethnic minorities, communities using regional languages, and administrative divisions of Poland. In the section on the Polish language, information has also been added on changes to the orthography of proper names which will come into force in 2026. The appendices have been updated, including the list of counties and their seats by voivodship, the dictionary of archaic topographic terms, and an updated 1:2,500,000 map showing the administrative divisions of the country as of 1 January 2024. 

Similarly to the 2010 edition, the toponymic guidelines is a bilingual publication - with parallel texts in English and Polish. This means that the publication can be used by both foreign and domestic recipients.