Abstract

Korean toponyms have changed across eras and geographical scales, aligning with the ideologies and identities pursued by the agents of renaming. From the renaming of the six bu 六部 during the ninth year of Yuri Isageum of Silla (32 CE) up to recent examples such as Digital Media City Station on the Seoul Gyeongui Line, names have been altered according to the preferences of the renaming agents of each period. This article introduces the characteristics and types of toponym renaming across different eras by consolidating relevant research to understand the history of renaming and transformation of Korean toponyms. The article particularly emphasizes the types and trends observed during the toponymic renaming process. First, it highlights that around 1914, during the Japanese colonial period, myeon toponyms in Gyeonggi-do were renamed in six types: compound toponyms, influential myeon toponyms, influential dong or ri toponyms, shared toponyms, old toponyms, and new toponyms. Second, the article describes six key tendencies observed during the process of toponym renaming and standardization: Sinicization of two character toponyms, unification of generic names, composite toponym creation, foreign-language toponym creation, dominant ideological toponym creation, and the replacement of physical toponyms with abstract toponyms. Finally, while reflecting on the narrow ontology and epistemology of previous toponym research conducted from an anthropocentric perspective, this paper suggests the necessity of non-Anthropocentric research on the non-human agents that have participated in the naming and renaming of toponyms.