On Value and Preservation of Names - a Historical Viewpoint

The article contributes to understanding of the cultural value and preservation of the geographic names, discussed recently in Czech and worldwide geographic and onomastic literature. The starting point is a survey of the historical development of Czech and German place names and minor-place names on the territory of the contemporary Czech Republic during the first half of the 20th century. The presented description clarifies the factors that influenced living and linguistic forms of both official and unofficial geographic names. It shows changes of their perception as a cultural heritage as well. On this basis, contemporary possibilities and limits of the preservation of geographic names are discussed.