Who Can Rename Sněžka? How the Czech Republic Decides on the Names of Mountains and Lakes

Quick Overview

In theory, Sněžka could be renamed. However, decisions regarding standardized names of mountains, lakes, rivers, and other non-settlement geographic features are not made by the president or the government, but by the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastre (ČÚZK). The proposal goes through a standardization process and is reviewed by the ČÚZK Naming Commission. Among other factors, the commission considers the factual and linguistic accuracy of the name as well as its locally used form. Different rules apply, for example, to the names of municipalities, streets, or squares.

Who decides what a mountain or lake will be called?

Imagine that someone no longer likes the name Sněžka. They come up with a new name, gain political support for it, and want it to appear on maps. Is that enough? No, it isn’t.

The basic rules are set forth in Act No. 359/1992 Coll., on Surveying and Cadastral Authorities. This act entrusts the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastral Security with ensuring the uniform standardization of names of non-settlement geographic features within the territory of the Czech Republic. The Act also expressly stipulates that the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastral Security (ČÚZK) approves the standardized names of geographic features.

Non-settlement geographic features include, for example, mountains, hills, valleys, watercourses, lakes, ponds, forests, and other natural or landscape features.

More detailed rules are set forth in Section 11 of Decree No. 31/1995 Coll. According to this provision, proposals for the standardization of geographical names are submitted to the ČÚZK Nomenclature Commission, which acts as an advisory body to the office.

The proposal must include the full text of the proposed name and the existing alternative name, a brief description of the geographic feature, and its location on a map. A statement from the relevant state administrative body, local government authority, or institution—whose territorial or functional jurisdiction includes the proposed name—must also be attached.

So it’s not enough to come up with a new name over lunch and then demand that it be added to the map that same afternoon.

So could Sněžka really be renamed?

Legally speaking, yes. Czech law does not stipulate that once a mountain’s name has been standardized, it must remain that way forever. If, for example, a proposal were made to rename Sněžka, political will alone would not be enough to effect the change. The proposal would have to go through the system for standardizing geographical names.

Moreover, this process does not merely address whether the new name sounds good or is linguistically correct. The decree explicitly requires an expert assessment of the factual and linguistic correctness of the name, taking into account the locally used form of the name and its geographical location. And this is precisely where a hypothetical renaming of Sněžka would run into a very practical question: how much weight would the new name carry compared to a name that people have commonly used and widely recognized for several centuries? The Czech standardization system is not designed so that political wishes automatically take precedence over a geographic name that is actually in use. At the same time, the hierarchy of state administration must be taken into account. According to the decree, the result of standardization is a single, binding form of a geographic feature’s name.

The president can propose a new name, but cannot mandate it

Let’s imagine that one day the Czech president announced: “From now on, Sněžka is called the Mountain of Czech Statehood.” Legally or cartographically, the declaration itself would change nothing. The President of the Republic does not have the authority to determine standardized geographical names. Neither does the prime minister nor the government as a whole have such authority. The proposal would have to enter the standardization process. The Nomenclature Commission would evaluate it from a technical standpoint, and final approval of the standardized name rests with the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastre (ČÚZK) by law.

It is therefore necessary to distinguish between two things: who can propose a new name and who has the authority to make it a standardized geographical name. Simply submitting a proposal does not give the proposer the right to rename a mountain, river, or lake.

Lake Mácha shows that even well-known names are not eternal

Renaming Sněžka may sound like a purely theoretical legal exercise. However, Czech history offers a case that demonstrates that the name of a very well-known body of water can indeed change over time.

Today’s Máchovo Lake was originally called Velký rybník. The body of water, established during the reign of Charles IV, bore this name for centuries. The name Máchovo Lake did not become widespread until later, in connection with Karel Hynek Mácha. The poet visited this region and set the story of *Máj* here. Yet the path to recognition of the new name was not straightforward. In the 1930s, a dispute arose over the name, and in 1936, the naming commission of the time rejected a proposal for the official recognition of the name Máchovo Lake. After World War II, however, the name “Máchovo jezero” gained increasing acceptance among the Czech population. This name already appears in a 1956 tourist guide, and its official adoption, along with the spread of the term “Máchův kraj,” is typically associated with the year 1961. Today, the situation has reversed. “Máchovo jezero” is the standard name, while the term “Velký rybník” is known mainly to those interested in the history of the place.

The story of Máchovo Lake clearly illustrates one of the principles of today’s system: official nomenclature does not arise in a vacuum. Standardization also takes into account the names that people in a given place actually use. Sometimes, therefore, a change does not begin in an office but in everyday language. An official map may only confirm it later.

A government map is not the same as Google Maps

What does it actually mean for a name to be “standardized”? The decree stipulates that standardized geographical names are binding for publication in national map series and in the relevant national geographical database. However, this does not mean that the government can dictate to people what they should call a specific place at a bar, on a trip, or at home. Alongside the standardized name, folk, historical, or local names can continue to be used. After all, many people commonly refer to Máchovo Lake as “Mácháč.”

Private online maps operate under a different system. Google, Mapy.com, Apple, and other providers are not the Czech authority for the standardization of geographic names. If a particular name appears in their application, that alone does not make it a standardized Czech geographic name.

The Czech Republic Has Already Dealt with Trump’s Renaming Once

This isn’t the first time a similar issue has arisen. A prime example was Donald Trump’s earlier decision to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in the U.S. The Czech Nomenclature Commission of the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastre (ČÚZK) did not change the Czech name as a result. It pointed out that the Gulf of Mexico is a traditional Czech exonym, and the name change implemented in the United States does not in itself imply a change to its standardized Czech form. This is an important distinction. A state may decide on the names of geographical features within its territory, but it cannot simply determine how the same feature will be named in other languages and countries.

Different rules apply to streets, municipalities, and historical sites

You might be wondering: if the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastre (ČÚZK) decides on the name of Sněžka, does it also decide what your street will be called? No, it does not. In the Czech Republic, there is no single, universal authority that names everything from mountain peaks to cities to town squares. For municipalities, the Municipalities Act applies. The Ministry of the Interior grants approval for a change in a municipality’s name upon the municipality’s proposal.

Conversely, the municipality decides on the names of municipal districts, streets, and other public spaces. The municipal council can therefore rename a street or a square. However, it cannot decide in the same way that a mountain outside the city will bear a different standardized geographical name starting the next day. Furthermore, the law sets its own restrictions for streets and public spaces. Among other things, they may not be named after living public figures.

What about Karlštejn or other well-known landmarks?

In the case of specific structures, such as castles, chateaus, or cultural monuments, the situation is different again. The protection of a structure as a cultural monument does not in itself mean that its commonly used name is subject to the same rules as the standardized name of a mountain or lake. It is therefore necessary to distinguish between the legal identification of a property, its registration as a cultural monument, and the name by which the property is publicly known.

Summary

Sněžka may not remain Sněžka forever. Czech law does not preclude a change to its standardized name. However, neither the president, the prime minister, nor the government can rename it by mere declaration. For mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, and other non-settlement geographic features, a system of standardizing geographic nomenclature operates under the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping, and Cadastre (ČÚZK). Proposals are reviewed by the Nomenclature Commission, and the standardization process takes into account, among other things, the factual and linguistic accuracy of the name as well as its actual local usage. Different rules apply to other types of names. The Ministry of the Interior is involved in changing the name of a municipality, while the municipality itself decides on the naming of streets or squares. And the history of Máchovo Lake shows that geographical names can indeed change. At the same time, it highlights another interesting point: sometimes it is not the authorities who create a new name. The name first catches on among the people, and the map ultimately merely confirms a change that has long since taken place in the language. After all, this is also common practice in the legal field.