Find or propose a name
 | Find a name – to find the name of a feature, road, municipality or naming authority search Victoria's Register of Geographic Names, VICNAMES online. |
 | Propose a name - information for the general public including individuals, community groups and developers on the process for naming or renaming a place, road, places of regional, state or national significance or locality boundaries. For naming authorities seeking information on the process for submitting a naming proposal see Information for naming authorities. |
Proposing to name or rename a place
If you are interested in proposing a new name or renaming a place contact your local council, which will in most cases be the naming authority. Your council will provide background details on the name you are proposing and consider your submission. If it decides to proceed it will check the name for conformance with the Guidelines for Geographic Names (Oct 2004) and if the council sees merit in the proposal it will:
- consult the local community
- consult with Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), Australia Post and other relevant stakeholders (this might include distributing a questionaire)
- prepare a report for council members to consider and vote on. If council approve the name it will send the proposal to the Registrar of Geographic Names.
For details on what a naming authority will include in their consultation phase and final proposal see Information for naming authorities.
Proposing to name or rename a road
Road naming is a local government responsibility under the Local Government Act 1989 and The Act stipulates that road names must conform with the Guidelines for Geographic Names.
If you are interested in naming a road, contact your local council for details. If your proposal conforms to the Guidelines and is endorsed by the community, emergency service organisations, Australia Post and council, it will submit the proposal to the office of Geographic Names. For information on how the local council will submit a proposal see information for naming authorities.
For more on information on naming roads download A Guide to road naming in Victoria:
Guide to road naming (PDF - 3.9 MB)Proposing to rename places of regional, state or national significance
Places considered to be of wider than local significance include those which are:
- in two or more municipalities
- demonstrate cultural or heritage significance
- associated with Victoria’s history in important ways
- exhibit characteristics representative of a class or type of place or feature
- a place or feature of regional, state or national tourist significance
- a major waterway
- a major undersea or shoreline feature
- where health and safety may be compromised
- where a policy or guidance does not exist.
The committee consults with all parties who may be affected by the proposal. It then makes a recommendation to the registrar for inclusion in the register. By law, the Registrar must adopt this recommendation. If you are interested in naming a significant feature, contact the Office of Geographic Names to discuss the process.
Locality Boundaries
A locality is a suburb, town or regional area with a clearly defined boundary. Maps showing the currently registered boundaries for all localities in Victoria can be viewed at locality names and boundary maps. If you are interested in changing a locality boundaries, contact your local council who are the naming authority for boundaries.
Councils will only consider a proposal to change a locality boundary where it can be strongly demonstrated that the change is in the wider public interest and will not cause emergency service or delivery issues. For information on how a local council will submit a proposal see Information for naming authorities.
Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe web site.