An advisory board for the best choice
Deciding on names for public spaces is fundamentally a task of the city government. Besides streets, this also covers bridges and viaducts, grounds, parks, sports areas and cemeteries. To help the city council make a choice, an advisory board was set up. In Amsterdam it is called the Adviesraad naamgeving openbare ruimten (Advisory Board for the Naming of Public Spaces), or ANOR for short.
What is not allowed (or preferably not)
- Naming after a company or brand is not allowed, and an easy association with a brand is in principle not permitted either. Sometimes clever tricks have been devised to make it possible after all, as with the Marie Heinekenplein.
- Naming after people who are still alive is not allowed. In fact, a person must have been dead for 5 years before a naming can take place. The rule does not apply to members of the Royal House. The Beatrixpark, for example, was named in 1938 after the princess born that year. A bridge in that same park, incidentally, was only named after Prince Friso six years after his death.
- The naming must not be trend-sensitive. Street names are meant to last a very long time and we would rather not saddle future generations with, say, a street named after a popular artist. Even André Hazes, for example, doesn't have a street of his own...
So how should it be done?
- The most important 'rule': the name must fit the theme of the neighbourhood. Think of the writers of the Kinkerbuurt, the physicians of the Helmersbuurt, or old farms from all over the country in the Bijlmermeer, sorted by first letter (K-buurt, G-buurt and so on).
- These days, when naming after a person, the city prefers to opt for diversity in gender, origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation and political persuasion. Are there several suitable options? Then naming after a woman, for example, gets priority.
- Of course there are also a number of basic 'spelling rules'. The name must be easy to pronounce and easy to write, must not be confused with existing names, and preferably ends in -straat, -laan or -plein (street, avenue or square).
- If the naming concerns historical people and matters, the choice falls on the variant that best matches today's spelling. A good example is the Daniël Stalpertstraat, named after Daniël Stalpaert.
