Abstract:
The author analyzes the historical onyms in terms of their potential for creating identity, as entities that might create, support or indicate the desire of the community to highlight their collective identity. There were analyzed the street names of the 19th century Torun, the city that was then multinational, dominated by the two nations: Polish and German (Prussian). During that period, the paradigm of naming streets changed, the names were not only a reflection of occupational and social structure of the residents but also they began to play a commemorative role and, therefore, became a potential tool for modeling a sense of identity. The text also presents the selected names of existing at that time restaurants and cafes in the same context.
