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Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)

Genesis of UNGEGN

Standardizing geographical names has both a national and an international aspect. Continuous efforts to standardize geographical names for international use are largely related to UN activity. The uniform use of names of localities and physiographic features is a fundamental element of world-wide communication. That was what the United Nations Organization had in mind when it established the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN).

The UNGEGN had its first meeting in New York in 1960. Consistent with the recommendations approved at that meeting and at the second in 1966, the United Nations Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) passed a resolution on the need to introduce uniform geographical names in international traffic, a purpose which was to be fulfilled by so-called national gazetteers (formal list of geographical names for a given country).

Materials

UNGEGN Brochure
broszura​_ungegn​_english.pdf 1.26MB
The basic aims of the UNGEGN
  • To emphasize the importance of the standardization of geographical names at the national and international levels and to demonstrate the benefits to be derived from such standardization
  • To collect the results of the work of national and international bodies dealing with the standardization of geographical names and to facilitate the dissemination of these results to States Members of the United Nations
  • To study and propose principles, policies and methods suitable for resolving problems of national and international standardization
  •  To play an active role, by facilitating the supply of scientific and technical help, in particular to developing countries, in creating mechanisms for the national and international standardization of geographical names
  • To provide a vehicle for liaison and coordination among Member States, and between Member States and international organizations, on work associated with the standardization of geographical names
  • To implement the tasks assigned as a result of the resolutions adopted at the United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names
UNGEGN’s operations
  • To develop procedures and establish mechanisms for standardization in response to national requirements and particular requests
  • To undertake preparatory work for the periodic international conferences on the standardization of geographical names, to provide continuity for activities between conferences, and to provide leadership in the implementation of resolutions adopted at the conferences
  • To encourage the discussion and study of practical and theoretical steps directed towards standardization
  • To coordinate the activities of linguistic/geographical divisions formed to further the work at the national level, to encourage the active participation of countries and divisions, and to promote a degree of uniformity in the work undertaken
  • To create any necessary structure to supplement the work of divisions and to deal with issues beyond the scope of a division
  • To develop appropriate programmes to assist individual countries and group of countries, to achieve standardization where it is lacking
  • To make mapping organizations aware of the impor-tance of using standardized geographical names
  • To maintain liaison with international organizations dealing with related subjects and encourage group divisions to participate in the United Nations regional or other cartographic conferences
  • To work at the highest possible national, international and United Nations level to interrelate toponymy and cartography
  • To make standardization principles and standardized geographical names available as practical information for as wide a user community as possible, through all appropriate media
UNGEGN current activities
  • supporting the creation of national collections of names and their publication in the form of gazetteers
  • standardizing exonyms appearing in individual languages
  • recommendations for elaboration of lists of country names in national languages
  • promotion of usage of geographical names in indigenous, minority and regional languages
  • recommendations for elaboration of toponymic guidelines
  • elaboration of romanization systems
  • unification of the terminology applied in standardization of geographical names
  • training courses in toponymic
UNGEGN Divisions

In 1972 the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names was officially divided into 14 linguistic/geographical divisions. In the following years new divisions were created. The names of several divisions were also changed during that time. At the moment 24 divisions are established. Each country autonomously chooses the divisions affiliation.

UNGEGN Working Groups

Under the umbrella of UNGEGN, several working groups have been created to follow up topics and issues which cut across the Divisional structure of UNGEGN.

There are currently six working groups:

Other UNGEGN Working Groups that have been created, fulfilled their functions, and been disbanded, include: Working Group on names of undersea and maritime features, Working Group on extraterrestrial topographic names, Working Group on pronunciation, Working Group on Country Names, Working Group on Publicity and Funding, and Working Group on Evaluation and Implementation.

In addition to working groups, UNGEGN also has a task team and coordinators:

UNGEGN Resolutions and Recommendations

Resolutions on the standardization of geographical names were adopted at the UN Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names held 1967 to 2017. These resolutions, which were then approved by the UN Economic and Social Council, are recommendations to UN member states. After the UNGEGN reform, started in 2019, “resolutions” were replaced by “recommendations”, also approved by the UN Economic and Social Council and having an analogous status to the previous “resolutions”.

  1. Resolutions of the UN Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names (1967-2017), UNGEGN website [https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/resolutions/]
  2. Recommendations of the 1st Session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, 2019 (in the report of the session), UNGEGN website [https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/sessions/2019-new-york-ungegn-1st-session/documents/1st_Session_UNGEGN_report-e.pdf]
  3. Recommendations of the 2nd Session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, 2021 (in the report of the session) UNGEGN website [https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/sessions/2nd_session_2021/documents/E_2021_69_report_e.pdf]
  4. Recommendations of the 3rd Session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, 2023 (in the report of the session) UNGEGN website [https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/sessions/3rd_session_2023/documents/E_2023_84_2023_UNGEGN_Report_e.pdf]
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