The authors of this review article had been asked to preview Line Sandst’s PhD thesis Urbanestednavne – storbyens sproglige dimension (Urban place-names – the linguistic dimension of thecity) and subsequently to act as examiners at her public defence of it. The present article is a somewhatreworked version of the opinion we submitted in January 2016. The thesis explores placenamesin Copenhagen, in particular in three areas chosen for study: the city centre, the Carlsbergdistrict and Nørrebro. These three areas differ in character and history, making the urban namesused there (for streets, squares, shops and companies) suitable for study from three differentpoints of view. The in-depth analyses undertaken include both more theoretical reasoning aboutnames and name formation, and insightful discussions about the process of name-giving takingplace today.
In central parts of Scandinavia, place names are basically always formed from linguistic elements of Scandinavian origin. In bilingual Finland, names are of Finnish or Swedish origin. There are, however, exceptions to this uniform picture. I discuss three of these: (1) in urban settings, some elements of the toponymy can be considered multicultural; (2) throughout the Nordic region, foreign, borrowed place names occur; and (3) in the north, there are numerous indigenous Sami place names, as well as place names of Finnish origin in Norway and Sweden. An overview is given of non-Scandinavian place names in the Nordic countries, with brief comments on name standardisation, legislation and revitalisation.