
compiled by Dr. Eugen Schochenmaier
International Organisations | Location | Country | Year |
International Council of Onomastic Sciences | (network) | ——- | 1949 |
American Name Society | (network) | USA | 1951 |
Commission of Slavic Onomastics / Komisja Onomastyki Słowiańskiej | International Committee of Slavists | ——- | 1958 |
Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland (aka “Council for Name Studies in Great Britain and Ireland” before 1991) | (network) | UK + Ireland | 1960 |
Nordic Cooperative Committee for Onomastic Research / NORdiska samarbetskomittén för NAmnforskning | (network) | —— | 1971 |
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Namenforschung | (network) | Germany | 1990 |
Netzwerk Interferenz-Onomastik / Network for Intercultural Onomastics | Oxford, Madrid, Trier | ——- | 2003 |
Laboratorio Internazionale di Onomastica (closed 2021) | University of Rome | Italy | 2006 |
Department of Slavic Onomastics | Wroclaw University | Poland | 2021 |
Academic Centres / Units / Departments | Location | Country | Year |
Section for Name Research / Seksjon for namnegransking | University of Oslo | Norway | 1921 |
Instituut voor Naamkunde en Dialectologie (aka “Institut d’Onomastique / Instituut voor Naamkunde” before 1975, aka “Instituut voor Vlaamsche Toponymie” before 1947) | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | Belgium | 1923 |
Commissie voor Naamkunde (closed in 1968) | Amsterdam | Netherlands | 1925 |
Commission Royale de Toponymie et de Dialectologie / Commissie voor Toponymie en Dialectologie | Académie Royale de Belgique | Belgium | 1926 |
Department of Archives and Research, Onomastic Section | Institute for Language and Folklore, Uppsala | Sweden | 1928 |
Section de linguistique, d’ethnologie et d’onomastique | Institut grand-ducal | Luxembourg | 1935 |
Research Unit for Onomastics / Forschungsstelle für Namenkunde | Institute of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Bern | Switzerland | 1938 |
Nammekundich Wurkforbân / Onomastic Working Group | Fryske Akademie | Netherlands | 1948 |
Name Research Section (aka “Institut for Navneforskning” before 2003) / Afdeling for Navneforskning | University of Copenhagen | Denmark | 1950 |
Department of the Slovak language history, onomastics and etymology / Oddelenie dejín slovenčiny, onomastiky a etymológie (Oddelenie dejín slovenčiny pred r. 2010) | Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava | Slovakia | 1951 |
Board for Onomastics (aka “Inter-Academic Board for Onomastics” before 1991) / Одбор за ономастику | Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade | Serbia | 1952 |
Department of Onomastics and Etymology (aka “Department of Croatian Language History, Dialectology and Onomastics” before 2005) / Odjel za onomastiku i etimologiju | Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, Zagreb | Croatia | 1952 |
Department of Onomastics (aka “Onomastic Workshop” before 1973) / Pracownia Onomastyki | Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków | Poland | 1953 |
Namenkundliches Zentrum der Universität Leipzig (aka “Leipziger Namenkundliche Arbeitsgruppe” before) | Universität Leipzig | Germany | 1954 |
Centre for Dialect and Name Studies / Centrale voor Dialect- en Naamkunde (closed in 1988) | Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen | Netherlands | 1958 |
Etymological-Onomastic Section / Etimološko-onomastična sekcija | Institute of the Slovenian Language, Liubliana | Slovenia | 1958 |
Research Centre of the Baltic Languages and Onomastics / Baltų kalbų ir vardyno tyrimų centras (aka “Department of Onomastics” before 2015, aka “Toponymy Group” before 1991) | Institute of the Lithuanian Language | Lithuania | 1958 |
Ukrainian Onomastic Commission / Українська ономастична комісія | Potebnia Institute of Linguistics | Ukraine | 1959 |
Ständiger Ausschuss für Geographische Namen (StAGN) | Institut für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg | Germany | 1959 |
Department of History of the Ukrainian Language and Onomastics / Відділ історії української мови та ономастики | National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine | Ukraine | 1960 |
Department of Onomastics / Oddělení onomastiky | Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague | Czechia | 1960 |
Etymology and Onomastics Department / Отдел этимологии и ономастики | Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow | Russia | 1961 |
Centre d’onomastique | Archives nationales, Paris | France | 1961 |
Ural School of Onomastics, Etymology and Ethnolinguistics / Уральская школа ономастики, этимологии и этнолингвистики | University of Ekaterinburg | Russia | 1961 |
Department for Name Studies / Afdeling voor naamkunde (closed in 1999) | University of Groningen | Netherlands | 1962 |
Centro di ricerca per la storia e l’onomastica ticinese / Forschungsstelle für Tessiner Geschichte und Namenkunde | Universität Zürich | Switzerland | 1964 |
Abteilung “Deutsch-Slavische Namenforschung” | Universität Leipzig | Germany | 1965 |
Department of Onomastics / Оддел за ономастика | Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje | North Macedonia | 1966 |
Departamentul de Dialectologie, geografie lingvistică, fonetică, onomastică (aka “Departamentul de Onomastică” /”Sectorul de Onomastică” before) | Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordanˮ al Academiei Române din București | Romania | 1967 |
Institut für Österreichische Dialekt- und Namenlexika (aka “Kommission für Mundartkunde und Namenforschung” before 1993) (closed) | Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna | Austria | 1969 |
Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kartographische Ortsnamenkunde (AKO) | Österreichische Geographische Gesellschaft, Vienna | Austria | 1969 |
Toponymic Laboratory | Tbilisi State University | Georgia | 1969 |
Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics and Folklore Research (closed in 2015) | Umeå University | Sweden | 1970 |
Department of Name Studies (aka “Place-Name Institute of Iceland” before 2006, aka “Place-Name Institute of the National Museum” before 1998 ) | Archive of Icelandic Place Names, Árni Magnússon Institute | Iceland | 1970 |
Onomastic Research Center (aka “South African Centre of Onomastic Sciences” before 1981) | Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria | Republic of South Africa | 1970 |
Department of Onomastics / Ономастика бөлімі | National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan | 1970 |
Department “History of Geographical Thought and Toponymy” (aka Toponymy Department before 1991) / Coğrafi fikir tarixi və toponimika | Institute of Geography at the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan | Azerbaijan | 1973 |
Names Archive at Institute for the Languages of Finland / Kotimaisten kielten keskus | Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture | Finland | 1976 |
Onomastics Section / Секция „Ономастика“ | Bulgarian Academy of Sciences | Bulgaria | 1976 |
Department of Toponymy / Departamentul de toponimie | Institute of Romanian Philology A. Philippide Iaşi | Romania | 1977 |
Japan Place Name Research Center / 日本地名研究所 | Kawasaki | Japan | 1981 |
Placenames Research Center | University of Alabama | USA | 1982 |
Educational and Methodological Toponymic Laboratory / Учебно-методическая топонимическая лаборатория | Ural Federal University | Russia | 1983 |
Forschungsstelle Siedlungsnamen des Kantons Zürich | Universität Zürich | Switzerland | 1984 |
Centre of Bulgarian Onomastics “Nikolay Kovachev” / Центърът по българска ономастика “Проф. Николай Ковачев” | University of Veliko Tarnovo | Bulgaria | 1985 |
Department of the Onomastics / Onomastika şöbəsi | National Academy of Sciences | Azerbaijan | 1987 |
Forschungsstelle Solothurnisches Orts- und Flurnamenbuch | Universität Basel | Switzerland | 1989 |
Республиканская ономастическая комиссия (aka “Государственная ономастическая комиссия” before 1997) | Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan | 1990 |
Institute for Name-Studies (aka “Centre for English Name Studies” before 2002) | University of Nottingham | UK | 1992 |
Laboratory of Toponymy | Latvian Geospatial Information Agency | Latvia | 1994 |
Research Group on Onomastics | University of Debrecen | Hungary | 1995 |
China Institute of Toponymy / 地名研究所成 | Ministry of Civil Affairs | China | 1995 |
Gabinet d’Onomàstica | Universitat de les Illes Balears | Spain | 1995 |
Chair of Grammar of Contemporary Polish Language and Onomastics / Zakład Gramatyki Współczesnego Języka Polskiego i Onomastyki | Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań | Poland | 1996 |
Forschergruppe NAMEN | Universität Regensburg | Germany | 1998 |
Laboratory of Lexicology and Regional Onomastics / Лаборатория лексикологии и региональной ономастики | Adyghe State University, Maykop | Russia | 1998 |
Icelandic Onomastics Society / Nafnfræðifélagiðg Íslands | The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, Reykjavík | Iceland | 2000 |
Onomastic Studies Unit | University of KwaZulu-Natal | Republic of South Africa | 2000 |
Centro Studi e Ricerche di Onomastica (aka “Centro studi onomastica piemontese” before 2020) | University of Turin | Italy | 2001 |
Grupo de investigación DEONOMA | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | Spain | 2004 |
Department of Onomastics / Névtani Tagozat | Hungarian Linguistic Society | Hungary | 2005 |
Centre of Onomastics / Centrul de onomastică | Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Baia Mare | Romania | 2009 |
Research Laboratory «Dagestan Onomastics» / Научно-исследовательская лаборатория «Дагестанская ономастика» | Dagestan State University, Makhachkala | Russia | 2009 |
Research Group on Hungarian Language History and Toponomastics / Magyar Nyelv- és Névtörténeti Kutatócsoport | Hungarian Academy of Sciences | Hungary | 2013 |
Digital Laboratory of Toponymy / Laboratorul Digital de Toponimie | Institute of Romanian Philology A. Philippide Iaşi | Romania | 2017 |
Nəsimi adına Dilçilik İnstitutunda Toponimika sektoru / Department of Toponymy | Institute of Linguistics named after Nasimi, Baku | Azerbaijan | 2020 |
UNESCO Chair in Inclusive Toponymy / Chaire Unesco en toponymie inclusive «Dénommer le monde» | University of Geneva | Switzerland | 2021 |
Department of Onomastics / Zakład Onomastyki | University of Rzeszów | Poland | |
West Polissya Onomastic and Dialectological Center / Західнополіський ономастико-діалектологічний центр | Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University | Ukraine | |
Research Group for Onomastics | University of Bergen | Norway | |
Indigenous Toponymy Research Group | Royal Holloway University of London | UK | |
Scientific-Research Center of Georgian Onomastics | Tbilisi State University | Georgia | |
Toponymic Research Center and Laboratory / 지명 조사 연구 기구 | South Korea |
Onomastics Societies / Associations | Location / Institute | Country | Year |
Commission de toponymie (aka “Commission de géographie” before 1977) | Gouvernement du Québec | Canada | 1912 |
Verband für Orts- und Flurnamenforschung in Bayern (aka “Verband für Flurnamensammlung” before 1977) | München, Bavaria | Germany | 1920 |
Oficina d’Onomàstica (aka “Oficina de Toponímia i Onomàstica” before 1992) | Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona | Catalonia | 1921 |
English Place-Name Society | University of Nottingham | England | 1923 |
South Swedish Placename Society | Swedish National Archive in Lund | Sweden | |
Place-Name Society of Uppsala / Ortnamnssällskapet i Uppsala | Uppsala | Sweden | 1935 |
Ulster Place-Name Society | Queen’s University, Belfast | Northern Ireland | 1952 |
The Placenames Branch | Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media | Republic of Ireland | 1955 |
Arbeitskreis für Namenforschung | (network) | Germany | 1957 |
Société Française d’Onomastique | (network) | France | 1960 |
Slovak Onomastic Commission / Slovenská onomastická komisia | Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava | Slovakia | 1964 |
Canadian Society for the Study of Names / Société Canadienne d’Onomastique (aka “Canadian Institute of Onomastic Sciences / Institut Canadien des Sciences Onomastiques” before 1975) | (network) | Canada | 1967 |
Отдел географических названий и картографической научной информации | ФГБУ «Центр геодезии, картографии и ИПД» | Russia | 1971 |
Kommission für Mundart- und Namenforschung Westfalens | Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Münster | Germany | 1972 |
Limburgian Dialect and Name Society / Vereniging voor Limburgse Dialect- en Naamkunde | Limburg | Belgium/Netherlands | 1975 |
Komisja Onomastyczna Komitetu Językoznawstwa PAN / Onomastic Commission of the Linguistics Committee | Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa | Poland | 1978 |
Place Names Society of India | Mysore | India | 1978 |
Association Bourguignonne de Dialectologie et d’Onomastique (aka “Association Bourguignonne d’Études Linguistiques et Littéraires” since 1999) | Longvic | France | 1979 |
Societat d’Onomàstica | Barcelona | Spain | 1980 |
Association Onomastique Grecque | Athens | Greece | 1980 |
Names Society of Southern Africa | (network) | Republic of South Africa | 1981 |
Norwegian Society for Name Studies / Norsk Namnelag | (network) | Norway | 1983 |
Azərbaycan Onomastika Elmi Cəmiyyəti / Azerbaijan Onomastics Scientific Society | Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University | Azerbaijan | 1986 |
Republican Toponymic Commission / Рэспубліканская тапанімічная камісія | National Academy of Sciences of Belarus | Belarus | 1991 |
Associazione “Onomastica & Letteratura” | Pisa | Italy | 1994 |
Scottish Place-Name Society | (network) | Scotland | 1996 |
Toponymic Laboratory | National Center of Geoinformatics and Cadastre | Uzbekistan | 1997 |
Network of Finnish Onomastics | (network) | Finland | 1998 |
Asociación Galega de Onomástica | Santiago de Compostela | Spain | 1999 |
Adriatic Centre for Onomastics and Ethnolinguistics (aka “Adriatic Onomastic Research Center” before 2019) / Centar za jadransku onomastiku i etnolingvistiku | University of Zadar | Croatia | 2003 |
New Society for Applied Toponymy / Neue Gesellschaft für Angewandte Toponymie (closed in 2016) | by Cordula Daus | Germany | 2009 |
Welsh Place-name Society | (network) | Wales | 2011 |
Zentrum für Namenforschung | Prof. J. Udolph, Leipzig/Schwanewede | Germany | 2011 |
Society for the Study of Names in Nigeria | Redeemer’s University | Ede, Nigeria | 2013 |
Geographical Names Department | General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information | Saudi Arabia | 2014 |
Société Basque d’Onomastique / Onomastika Elkartea | (network) | Spain | 2016 |
New Trends in Nordic Socio-onomastics | (network) | ——– | 2018 |
Polish Onomastic Society / Polskie Towarzystwo Onomastyczne | Kraków | Poland | 2018 |
African Neotoponymy Observatory in Network | University of Geneva | Switzerland | 2018 |
Onomastic Observatory / Observatório onomástico | (network) | Brazil | 2020 |
Société savante d’onomastique en Algérie | Centre de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle, Oran | Algeria | 2021 |
People’s Names Research Network (closed in 2024) | (network) | UK | 2021 |
Union of Onomasts / Ономастар одағы қоғамдық бірлестігі / Общественное объединение “Союз ономастов” | Private Association by Gulnara Bekenova, Astana | Kazakhstan | 2022 |