Prohibited street names
Esther Weidema-Dreijer works as secretary for a names committee. She talks about the choice of a street name: “There are names that we will never use. For example, a street will never be named after Hitler and nowadays it is also investigated (as far as possible) whether the person in question has a ‘criminal’ past. You must also be deceased to be appointed, with the exception of members of the royal family. Furthermore, the names are carefully considered. If a new street is added in a certain neighborhood, the existing names in that neighborhood are looked at and the new street is given a name that fits the others.”
Other rules
Of course there are other rules that apply to a street name. Esther: “A name must be usable in the spoken language and unique in the relevant municipality. In total, the name cannot be more than 24 characters long. Otherwise, the street name sign will be too long and will no longer fit in the envelope window when you send a letter. The committee is trying to come up with groups of similar street names, so that when hearing the name people know approximately where to find that street.”
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