Key:old name

Main article: Names

The tag old_name=* is used for old / previous / historic name(s) for an element.

The tag should typically be combined with the current name=*.

For correct historic context of old names, the key may be suffixed with the date namespace. Example:

old_name:1921-1932=* (the name from 1921 until 1932)

If the start date of the name is the same as the start date of the feature/object, this can be clarified by instead using:

start_date=1921 (feature/object exists since 1921)
old_name:-1932=* (the name from the beginning until 1932)

The key can also be combined with the language suffix old_name:<lg>=* with <lg> being the ISO code of the language. See: Multilingual names. Example:

old_name:en=Constantinople

When combined, the language code comes before the date range:

old_name:ru:1925-1961=Сталинград

or

old_name:uk:1918-1926=Січеслав

It should be considered that historical objects of which there are no visible traces left do not belong into the OSM database.

Values

The general rules as for name=* apply.

Date ranges

The date ranges should follow the ISO 8601 date format.

When only ranges of years are specified (no month or other details), a single hyphen may be used, such as "old_name:1953-1990 = Ernst-Thälmann-Straße".

When full dates are specified or the simple notation is not sufficient, a double hyphen ("--") can separate the from and to date - e.g. "amenity:1965--1971-12-18 = school".

See also

• name:etymology=*
• Multilingual names
• Date namespace