Online European name-geographic research and digital databases

An international overview

Abstract

Online European name-geographic research and digital databases. An international overview

This paper aims to provide an overview of public online databases that show the geographical distribution of surnames or place names in European languages. Such repositories contain primarily surnames as theese are of interest outside scientific research as well. The paper categorizes and describes the websites (French, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, etc.) based on their functions and search options, including the limited (paywalled) data repositories. In a separate section, we the project of the German surname atlas and digital surname dictionary is detailed, as it also presents the geographical distribution of surnames and its structure and elaboration can serve as an example for Hungarian research. The Swiss online toponymic database is described detail of the fewer, scientific toponymic databases. Finally, a selection of the results of Hungarian surname and place name geography is offered, mainly by reviewing the online access and practical functions of available databases, and by presenting possible future plans and possibilities.