It is not an everyday vacancy: Eindhoven is looking for a street name inventor. Anyone who wants to can come for a job interview in June. And it’s a paid feature too. For four meeting sessions a year, you get just over 500 euros.
The municipality of Eindhoven has a street names committee. It also includes experts in the field of urban planning. But citizens have also been helping to come up with names since 1966. The six-member committee therefore has room for two ‘ordinary citizens’. The last word belongs to the college of mayor and aldermen.
One of the citizens is now stopping and that’s why a spot becomes available. “This rarely happens”, says Wim Canninga. He is chairman of the street names committee in Eindhoven. “It is precisely from outside the civil service that we want people to help. Everyone should be given the opportunity. That sometimes results in surprising candidates.”
He calls it a small, but important function. “Municipalities must provide street names because places must be findable. To know where someone lives. For emergency services. On average we supply twenty names per year.”
We want names that refer to the history of the city.
Not everyone can become a street name maker. You must be an expert in local cultural history and geography. “We want names that refer to the history of the city. That is becoming increasingly important.” You also have to know the city like the back of your hand and you have to know what is going on in Eindhoven. Ideally, the street name creator should also come from Eindhoven.
The committee does not have to come up with everything itself. “We ask project developers to contribute ideas. They then hold a competition. That often yields thirty to forty names. We then choose the most suitable names.” Sometimes proposals also come from outside. For example, in 2017 an Eindhoven street was named after former mayor Rein Welschen. This happened after former alderman Mary Fiers started an online campaign for this. “When naming names, we do make sure that the ratio of men to women is fitfty-fifty.”
Eindhoven also got a PSV avenue in 2013 for the centenary. The then chairman of the supporters’ association Harrie Timmermans had insisted on this. With the unveiling of the PSV avenue, a long-cherished wish of the club was fulfilled. Salient detail: there was already an Ajaxlaan before. Incidentally, not named after the football club, but after a term from literature and mythology.
