The present article discusses toponyms in different languages referring to the
same geographical location, making a distinction between similarity in
sound (phonetic adaptation, name quotation, etc.) and similarity in sense
(name translation, etc.). In the latter case, following Coates (2005), a
distinction is made between semantic reference, onymic reference, and
apparent etymological sense. The short theoretical introduction is illustrated
with examples from bilingual or multilingual areas such as Southern Austria
(Kärnten—with German and Slovenian place-names) and, particularly,
Hong Kong, which exhibits an intricate interplay between two varieties of
Chinese—Cantonese and Mandarin—and English, where, due to the funda-
mental differences between the Chinese and English writing systems,
particular attention is paid to the different Romanization methods for
Chinese.