Is Campos dos Goytacazes spelled with a "y" or an "i"? And São João Del Rei? How many cities named after saints are there in Brazil? What’s the origin of the name Varre-Sai, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro? And of Cantagalo, in the same state? Why would a redundant expression name a city, such as Volta Redonda (round circle)? These and other explanations are available in the Brazilian Geographic Names Database (BNGB), released today, September 23, 2011 and available at: http://www.bngb.gov.br.

It is a type of database previously unseen in Brazil, with information about more than 50 thousand geographic names, including their standardized spelling, geographic boundaries, coordinates, and historical, geographic and cartographic features. Its objective is to expand the knowledge about geographic names and also standardize their spelling, in order to make them official in the future.

For the time being, the historical aspects of these places are only available at BNGB for municipalities located in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Paraná. Up to the beginning of 2012, the database will be loaded with a set of geographic names obtained from the mapping of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goiás, other Brazilian states.

This database is a result of the Project Geographic Names in Brazil, developed by the Department of Cartography (CCAR) of the IBGE’s Geosciences Directorate (DGC) in February 2005. To access the available data, the user needs to type the name of the place (or part of it) in the appropriate field.

According to the standardization by toponym (a designation of places by name), Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ) is spelled with a "y", whereas São João Del Rei (MG), with a "i". The same way, the correct spelling of the city Armação de Búzios (RJ) has an "o" in not a "u", whereas Ilhabela (SP) forms a single word.

Having a strong Catholic tradition since its early years, Brazil has more than 2,500 cities that pay homage to saints through their names. Among these, 236 include Santo Antônio (Saint Anthony), for example, Santo Antônio das Missões (RS), Novo Santo Antônio (MT) and Barra de Santo Antônio (AL). Other 220 pay homage to São João (Saint John), for instance, São João Nepomuceno (MG), São João do Araguaia (PA) and São João do Sul (SC). São Francisco (Saint Francis) appears in the names of 127 cities, such as Amparo de São Francisco (SE), São Francisco do Conde (BA) and Barra de São Francisco (ES). Besides the aforementioned cities, other 118 refer to Santa Maria (Holy Mary). It is the case of Santa Maria do Oeste (PR), Santa Maria da Boa Vista (PE) and Santa Maria da Vitória (BA). Among the exotic and unusual names are Boa Morte (MG), Pendura Saia (GO), Saco do Boi (MA) and Vai-Quem-Quer (AM and PA), among others.

Varre-Sai: lodging in return for cleaning services 

The history of the locality of Varre-Sai (sweep and leave), for instance, dates back to the middle of the 19^th century. In the current area of the municipality there was a ranch which was used as a stop for travelers coming from the state of Minas Gerais. 

At the door there was a note that read: Varre-Sai. This sentence told everyone who passed by the place that they should clean the place before leaving. With the construction of the current Church of Saint Sebastian, a village began to be formed around the area that would become the municipality one day. In the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century, at the height of coffee economy in Brazil, the first immigrants started to arrive in Brazil, coming from Italy, mainly, and settled to work in coffee crops. No longer as a district, Varre-Sai was under political guidance of the headquarters, the municipality of Natividade. Independence only came in 1991. 

Rooster denounces escapee to the Portuguese Crown

The history of Cantagalo (rooster sings) (RJ). The first inhabitants of its lands were the coroados and goytacazes Indians, who disappeared from the region around 1855. Settlement in the area started in the middle of t 18th century, due to the search for gold in Minas Gerais. The Portuguese Manoel Henriques, an escapee from the Portuguese state known as Mão-de-Luva (glove hand), lived with his gang in a place that nowadays houses the Cantagalo plant and created a neighborhood which already had about two hundred housing units in year 1794. The arrest of members of this gang was the reason to call the place Cantagalo. The incursions of the Portuguese Crown in order to find the group failed completely. After a number of searches in the woods, when the agents were tired and discouraged and ready to leave, they heard the sound of a rooster. The sound took them a man sleeping under a tree, a member of Mão-de-Luva’s gang. After being arrested, due to the promise of being rewarded with freedom and money, this man denounced his fellows, who were also arrested without any protest. As a result, from 1796 on, the locality started to be called Cantagalo, replacing the previous name, Sertão do Macacu. The municipality was created in 1814, and received the name Vila de São Pedro de Cantagalo. In 1857, it became a city named Cantagalo.

Geographic names help identify the territory

The geographic is a reference and symbol of identification with the territory. It can be defined with the name of a place or of a geographic feature. Most of the times, the geographic name includes a specific name and a general designation, together with attributes that characterize it as an ethnic, etymological, historical and geographically referenced set of information, placed into a time scale.

The study of geographic names and their attributes adds quality to the cartographic information provided. Besides, they are considered a legacy because, through them, it is possible to identify patterns of occupation, identity and linguistic diversity. The absence of standardization brings, among other consequences, lack of subsidies for documentation and legal matters relative to fund and territory issues. A toponym is a fundamental component in the composition of geospatial bases, in the structuring of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (INDE) and, mainly, to provide quality to reference mapping in the country.