Do you know how streets, lanes and cliffs get their names in Helsinki? Turning 80 this year, the City of Helsinki's Naming Committee is responsible for place names.
When people talk about Helsinki, they are constantly using the names of various places. They refer to the city and its life through things such as their home street, workplace address or neighbourhood. The names carry layered meanings built up over decades, colourful urban history and a great deal of thought that has gone into their design.
The work of naming places is carried out by the City of Helsinki’s Naming Committee, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. The Committee is responsible for deciding what new names appear on the maps and road signs in the city. Around a hundred new names are created in Helsinki every year.
Suvi Tyynilä has chaired the committee since 2017. She sees the naming system as an essential part of how Helsinki is perceived:
– Names are the material through which people use this city. They verbalise urban life strongly through names and are oriented to thinking about the city as a whole.
Last summer, the City of Helsinki organised walks to mark the Naming Committee's anniversary, where the names of various areas were explored with a guide. On a walk held in Kuninkaantammi in June, participants learned about the area's "name family", which is built around the work of a painter. The area has one of Suvi Tyynilä's favourite street names.
If I had to pick a favourite, it would be Oranssikuja ("Orange Street"), because it is so sunny and positive. Orange has a role as a pigment in art, but in a way it is also a state of mind that I hope people will experience there. It can create a positive neighbourhood identity for visitors.
The names in Kuninkaantammi are an example of a "name family" that contains more meanings than are apparent at first glance. The lanes are named after different colour pigments, and they form a spectrum around Taidemaalarinkatu ("Painter Street"). The names of Temperankatu ("Tempera Street") and Akvarellinkatu ("Watercolour Street"), in turn, refer to different forms of painting. On the edges, the streets are named after different painting types, such as Muotokuvankatu ("Portrait Street") and Asetelmankatu ("Still Life Street"). The area's swimming spot is called Palettilampi ("Palette Pond").
According to Johanna Lehtonen, who has worked as a name planning officer since 2003, such meanings are one of the strengths of the naming system.
– Sometimes, clever insights are deliberately hidden in names. It is absolutely delightful when a resident, or anyone passing through the area, picks up on them. One of the secret powers of names is that they can offer new knowledge and awareness. Education has also historically been one of the main goals of the naming system.
Designing a new name usually starts with a need: something new is coming, and it needs a name. The Naming Committee convenes about once a month to decide on names, and the decisions it makes are later approved by the City Council as part of the local detailed plans.
"A name's journey from an idea to a road sign can take years," says planning officer Hanna Ikonen, who has worked extensively on naming.
It comes as a surprise to many that names are created as part of the local detailed plan and its schedule. It can take a very long time from the moment a name is designed to when it is actually introduced into use.
The Naming Committee meetings are a colourful forum for discussion and brainstorming. A name bank can be used as a tool, where previous ideas and name suggestions from residents are stored.
When deciding on new names, several factors need to be taken into account. For example, the mental images that a name might evoke must be considered. According to Suvi Tyynilä, a good name is a combination of a few things.
– A name must be highly useful, for example as an address, but also fit the history and events of a given area.
When designing the future city, the planners always look to the past and to history, according to Johanna Lehtonen.
– First, we do a bit of research to see if there is anything in the environment that could serve as a continuation of the existing themes. However, that is often not possible, so we have to come up with something completely new. For example, old maps are a very good source for learning of things that used to be in the area.
The bilingual nature of Helsinki must also be taken into account. A name must work equally well in Finnish and Swedish. According to Suvi Tyynilä, this is key to designing names.
As names are created in Finnish and Swedish at the same time, they must both work equally well. There have been many times when a really good street name has been suggested, but no equally good translation has been found.
So, a name that works in one language may end up being discarded if there is no equivalent in the other. The planners must also stay mindful of the overall whole created by all the names. The nearby municipalities are checked to avoid using the same names. Hanna Ikonen says that managing the whole also poses some challenges.
– We have more than 7,000 names in use, and naturally we cannot give the same name twice. In addition, for the sake of clarity, the name themes of certain areas cannot be repeated in other places.
New names are conceived by coming up with word families that follow various themes and help identify different areas of the city. For example, vocabulary related to children's fairy tales is used in Roihuvuori, and if you know this, you might be able to guess where in Helsinki you might find, say, Lumikintie ("Snow White Road"). Consideration is also given to the ease of understanding the name and hence its usability. According to Tyynilä, Lehtonen and Ikonen, coming up with names and deciding on them is a team effort.
The 80-year-old Naming Committee has evolved alongside a changing society, and the priorities of naming have shifted over time. While Suvi Tyynilä has been chairing the Committee, one of the main focal points has been to increase the number of female names. This is also evident in Kuninkaantammi, where, in addition to colours and art-related terms, visibility has been given to female painters of Finland’s Golden Age.
– I wanted to bring women's names into Helsinki's street nomenclature, because they are strongly underrepresented. The idea about female artists of the Golden Age was found in the name bank, and the area began to develop from that.
The area includes names such as Venny Soldanin polku ("Venny Soldan Path") and Ellen Thesleffin puisto ("Ellen Thesleff Park"). The artists' names also serve as an example of how different words play different roles in naming. Long and potentially difficult names, such as Helene Schjerfbeck, are preferably given to parks and squares rather than residential streets. It is easier to say or write Okrakuja ("Ochre Lane") to a taxi driver than Fanny Churbergin kallio ("Fanny Churberg Rock").
Another recent focus has been on culture, according to Suvi Tyynilä.
– Lately, a lot of culture has been highlighted in the naming system, bringing it closer to the present day. For example, in Hermanninranta, the names are based on hit music and musicians from the 50s and 60s.
It is customary that people only become part of the naming system posthumously. The exception to this is retired presidents. According to Johanna Lehtonen, the newest trendy words are also not immediately adopted in the naming system.
Naming requires a long-term perspective. A trendy word, such as emoji, might seem silly in five years' time. Twenty years from now, when we look back to see if a word has stood the test of time, we can consider including it in the naming system.
However, current phenomena can inspire names. For example, in Malminkartano, names such as Värssypolku ("Verse Path") and Tuplariiminpolku ("Double Rhyme Path") have their origins in the area’s vibrant rap scene, i.e. its music. Additionally, verse and rhyme fit the area's historical system of names.
