Understanding Slovenian Place Names

Hi JIm,

many older addresses in Slovenia use so called "house names". In your case Jurjevčevi (this is plural of Jurjevec) is a such a name by which people living at Podcerkev 16 were known. My grandfather was born at Žapuže 56, but that house/property was commonlv known as Kolarjevi (plural of Kolar). For most people it is more practical/easy to memorize a name rather than a number.

Nowadays the naming of localities is not always consistent. Loška dolina is an občina near Cerknica (another občina) but it wasn't always so. There are now over 200 občine in Slovenia, many more than there were when I was young. So Podcerkev may well have been administratively part of Cerknica.

Slovenia is not divided into states or provinces, county would be the closest approximation to občina. But many times people will just use the nearest larger city if there are more than one locality with the same name, for ex. Planina nad Vrhniko, Planina pri Sevnici, Planina pod Golico.

Region names like Gorenjska, Primorska, Notranjska, Dolenjska, Štajerska are not generally used to specify locations in the administrative sense, unless they are part of the place name, like Ravne na Koroškem, Begunje na Gorenjskem. They are used in a broader sense, like "he is from Dolenjska", "she lives in Notranjska".

Hope this helps, Oton

Oton,
Thank you for your kindness in taking the time to further my education.
My conclusions:
Both Geni and my genealogy program use the US model city/county/state. These don’t map easily onto any other country. Each has its own system. Even so, I need a consistent plan to fit random country place names into the US model.
You explained there are many more občina today than in the past. To further explore this, I went to Wikipedia and entered Loška dolina. The US Wiki told me nothing, but I noticed there is a Slovenian Wikipedia. It was far more helpful.
It appears that Loška dolina and Bloke were separated from Cerknica in 1994 and then in 1998 Bloke separated again to become its own občina.
So, individuals born in Podcerkev in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries were born in Podcerkev, Loška dolina, občina Cerknica. Anyone born there today would be born in občina Loška dolina (no longer part of Cerknica).
This changing of boundaries and administrative areas happens everywhere. My preference is to try to use the correct names at the time of birth. Its not perfect, but at least it is a consistent system.
As to Jurjevčevi, you say it is the plural of Jurjevčev. I had wondered if Jurjevčevi might be male plural and Jurjevčeva might be female plural. Apparently, this is not so and Jurjevčeva is likely a typo. Would it be fair to say that Jurjevčevi suggests that at some time in the past, the Jurjevčev family owned or lived in the house and regardless of who lives there now, the house continues to be called Jurjevčevi?
While you suggest that the občina probably maps best onto county, I see a problem. Often, I need multiple fields below the level of občina. Therefore, I’m inclined to put občina in the state field (as the highest administrative division), so I can put Loška dolina in the county field.
Again, Oton, thank you for your reply. You have helped me very much. Hvala

I see you're getting the hang of it. Just some additional points to consider

- you may well map občina to state, but the smallest občina in Slovenia (Osilnica) has fewer than 400 inhabitants. Compare this to the state of California for example.
- občina is a relatively new entity, from 20th century. You can't say that someone born in 1848 was born in občina Cerknica. They had totally different administrative entities in the past (for example banovina, okraj). It wasn't even the same country. Austro-Hungarian empire until WWI, then either Italian occupation or Kingdom SHS, later Yugoslavia.
It can become quite complicated so I mostly just accept what Google throws out. This brings out problems like this: enter Solkan as a place of birth and Google correctly identifies it as a city in občina Nova Gorica. But Nova Gorica is a new city, created in 1947, whereas Solkan is more than 1,000 years old.

Oton,
imena krajev in meje držav se stalno spreminjajo, jaz včasih v oklepaju zapišem takratno ime, obvezno pa vpišem današnje ime kraja in države. Če je bil nekdo rojen naprimer v Šleziji, je potrebno identificirati današnje ime kraja in države, tako je lažje priti do arhivov, najti grobove, izvor itd.

Glede Podcerkve:

nahaja se v občini Loška dolina, ta pa spada v regijo/okraj Cerknica

Oton,
I understand your comments. You have hit on one inconsistency I practice. Even though all the people I am researching were all born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Slovenia did not exist), I prefer to record them as born in Slovenia.
All of the issues we have been discussing apply also to the US and every other country. No country lasts forever and boundaries and administrative names change over time. Sigh, life and history are complex.
I'll leave consideration of banovina, okraj and the history of Slovenia for my advanced education on another day.
Once again, I thank you. I am in your debt, sir.