endonym

A name used by a group of people to refer to themselves, their region, or their language, as opposed to a name given to them by other groups. For example, Köln is a German endonym; Cologne is the English exonym and Colonnia the Italian exonym for Köln.

See also:

• Exonym
• Name That -nym
• Onomastics
• Toponym

Examples and Observations:

• "If an important topographic feature is located or contained entirely within a single country, most good world atlases and maps print the endonym as the primary name, with the translation or conversion into the language of the atlas either in brackets or in smaller type. If a feature transcends political boundaries, and especially if it carries different names in the different countries, or if it lies outside the territorial waters of any one country--exonymisation or translation into the target language of the atlas or map is almost always resorted to."
  (Naftali Kadmon, "Toponymy--Theory and Practice of Geographical Names," in Basic Cartography for Students and Technicians, edited by R. W. Anson, et al. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996)



• "For a toponym to be defined as an exonym, there must exist a minimum degree of difference between it and the corresponding endonym. . . . The omission of diacritical marks usually does not turn an endonym into an exonym: Sao Paulo (for São Paulo); Malaga (for Málaga) or Amman (for ʿAmmān) are not considered exonyms."
  (United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Manual for the National Standardization of Geographical Names. United Nations Publications, 2006)