Three Slovenian towns bear names of world metropolises
Ljubljana - Statistics show that there are around 6,040 settlements of various types in Slovenia, and some of their names have a very positive or rather negative connotation, such as "party" or "injustice". However, there are also towns named Rome, Vienna and Jerusalem, although much much smaller than the world's eponymous cities.
Rim (Rome) in the municipality of Črnomelj, SE, had only 21 inhabitants at the start of the year, Dunaj (Vienna) in the Krško municipality, E, 31, and just as many Jerusalem in the Ljutomer municipality, NE.
The capital Ljubljana is the country's largest city, spreading on an area of almost 164 km2 and having 284,290 inhabitants.
According to Statistics Office (SURS) data, 80% of all toponyms in Slovenia appear only once, while there are some that can be found in various parts of the country.
The most frequent are Gradišče (fort) and Pristava (manor house), each appearing as many as eight times.
Also quite frequent are Brezje (birch town), Dolenja Vas (lower village), Potok (stream) and Ravne (flatland town), each appearing seven times.
Some of the towns have rather "unpleasant" names such as Hudo (horrible), Polom (fiasco), Blato (mud), Tlaka (forced labour), Grobišče (graveyard), or Drama.
If one was to choose a place to visit based on the toponym, one would be more likely to go to Vesela Gora (happy hill) or Zabava (party), SURS says.
Despite the "happy" names, Vesela Gora and Zabava had only 68 and 44 inhabitants, respectively, at the start of the year.