Names

Feature page: Names

Description

The name tag is the primary tag used for naming a Element.

Tags

We use name=* to tag the name of things. We tag names of roads, pubs, railway stations, parks, buildings and anything which has a name. See more at Map Features#Name

ITO Map has a layer to highlight named and unnamed and/or addressed buildings.

Contents 1 Key Variations 2 Notes 2.1 Abbreviation (don't do it) 2.2 Name is the name only 2.3 No name 2.4 Localization 2.5 loc_name 2.6 alt_name 2.7 sorting_name 3 Further reading

Key Variations

Descriptions and examples.

• name=* – Default name

  name=Channel Tunnel

• int_name=* – Internationally known as

  int_name=Eurotunnel

• nat_name=* – Nationally known as

  nat_name=That debt-ridden hole in the ground (obviously a joke, not an actual valid tag usage)

• reg_name=* – Regionally known as

  reg_name=Gateway to France

• loc_name=* – Locally known as

  loc_name=The way to Carrefour

• old_name=* – Historically or previously known as

  old_name=A long swim (obviously a joke, not an actual valid tag usage)

• alt_name=* – when alternative name exists (which doesn't fit in one of the tags name above)

  alt_name=Chunnel

• short_name=* – for a common abbreviation, useful for searching (recognized by Nominatim)

  short_name=UK

• official_name=* – The fully qualified official name. It has been created for country names but we need a clarification for other cases between name, int_name, loc_name and official_name.

  official_name=Principat d'Andorra [where name=Andorra]

• sorting_name=* - name, used for correct sorting of names.

  sorting_name=Communication street (where name=street of Communication)

Notes

Abbreviation (don't do it)

Do not abbreviate words. Computers can easily shorten words but not the other way (St. could be Street or Saint). If the signs have abbreviated words and you don't know what the full word is, then use it temporarily until someone else complete it. Using short forms is a decision of software i.e. the underlying data should have the full street name. This will allow a renderer, a router or a location finder to introduce abbreviations as necessary. See for instance the list of abbreviations used by Name Finder and Nominatim.

Use mixed case with the first letter of each word capitalised (for example, Church Street, not Church street) Note: We can apply this rule quite strictly for latin-based languages but less so for some other languages.

Apart from following the above rules, you should always enter the full name as it appears on the street name signs.

Be aware that street signs may contain errors.

Watch out for apostrophes. The same rule applies. If the street sign has an apostrophe, the OSM data should have an apostrophe. There is no obvious consistency; the London Underground station Barons Court is adjacent to Earl's Court, one with an apostrophe, one without.

Name is the name only

The names should be restricted to the name of the item in question only and should not include categories, types, addresses or notes. Any addition information should be included in separate tags to identify its meaning.

Some examples of incorrect usage:

• Manchester City (for a city named Manchester; note that New York City may be correct as the common name for The City of New York)
• Multipolygon Baldo Forest
• The Royal Albert Hall, London
• closed pub (due for demolition)
• no name
• Interstate 5 southbound lanes

No name

Streets which have no name could be tagged noname=yes, but; there are several tagging proposals under discussion: Proposed features/Noname. The idea is to clearly indicate that the street genuinely doesn't have a name, because the absence of a name tag is increasingly used to indicate areas which need to be surveyed still.

Localization

By now the majority of rendering systems can deal with unicode characters, so you can use the local script for the default name tag. There is no need to use the Latin script.

For adding localized names in different languages, add additional name tags with a two letter suffix on the name key. For example, name:fr, for the name in French and name:en for the name in English. The default name (occupying the 'name' tag without suffix) should be the name in whatever language is used locally.

Here is an example of the usage. All these tags might appear on the same element :

name=Irgendwas        (the default name, used locally)
name:en=Something     (the name in English)
name:el=Κάτι          (the name in Greek)
name:de=Irgendwas     (the name in German)
name:fr=Quelque chose (the name in French)
name:es=Algo          (the name in Spanish)
name:it=Qualcosa      (the name in Italian)
name:ko=뭔가           (the name in Korean)
name:ko_rm=Mweonga    (the name in Romanised Korean)

This leads to a more precise definition of alternative names.

Example of language codes according to the alpha-2 code of ISO 639-1 :

de  German
el  Greek
en  English
es  Spanish
fa  Persian
fr  French
it  Italian
ko  Korean
ru  Russian
zh  Chinese

ko_rm Romanised Korean

A short discussion on this language extension can be found on the discussion page.

Renderer support: There are a few experimental rendering systems displaying these localised names. See Map Internationalization

Import: using osm2pgsql allows users to define new .style files which can include other language's name columns and bring them into the database. In order to render from these columns, it is necessary to set up PostGIS views which present these columns as 'name' instead of 'name:languagecode'.

Editor support: JOSM builds 1044 and newer support the display of local names. It detects the current system locale and tries to display names in this language first. You can change the order JOSM looks for names in the JOSM expert settings. Example: To display names written in Thai first, even if the current locale is 'en' set the following property:

 mappaint.nameOrder=name:th;name:en;int_name;name

loc_name

loc_name is for the name of a feature as it is known locally, but only where this is deemed to be too much of a slang name or otherwise unofficial-sounding. Ordinarily though, the name which local people use is the name we set in the name tag! Examples where we have used loc_name:

• There is a bridge in Glasgow known as the Squinty Bridge, but its official name is the Clyde Arc. I have never heard anyone calling it that, so the bridge is tagged loc_name=Squinty Bridge name=Clyde Arc.
• In Reading there's Union Street, but it's been known for decades as Smelly Alley on account of the fishmongers that lined it. The loc_name is ideal.

alt_name

Apply when an alternative name exists e.g. a street name has different syntax (sometimes even on street signs) although it is not only for street names.

Don't use it for abbreviations and only when one of the other name types don't apply (e.g. reg_name or name:lg_code for regional translations).

These alternative names are usually not rendered but can be used by applications like Nominatim.

sorting_name

sorting_name=* is a proposed approach to supply an alternate name which systems can use for the purpose of sorting alphabetically. This would be useful for street names in some languages/countries, particularly Russian, where words like "Street" are frequently used as a prefix (This is problematic if you simply sort on the main 'name' tag)

Further reading

• United States Postal Service Official Abbreviations (e.g. street-type abbreviations)