{
  "place_id": "yelsk#7878_11619",
  "wikidata": "Q955726",
  "country": "BY",
  "local_name": "Ельск",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Yelsk",
      "why": "Conventional English reference form based on Belarusian; dated national geographical romanization is listed separately where different.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Jelsk",
          "why": "Polish and diacritic-free Belarusian form used in historical references."
        },
        {
          "name": "Jeĺsk",
          "why": "Belarusian national geographical romanization of 2007, recommended by the UN in 2012; dated system form, not a claim that domestic rules remained unchanged after 2023."
        },
        {
          "name": "Ельск",
          "why": "Original Belarusian spelling for matching local titles quoted in English."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Yelsk",
      "why": "Same form as in English; used in French geographical references.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Jelsk",
          "why": "Polish name explicitly given in French references."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Yelsk is a town in the Gomel region of southern Belarus. It is a district centre in the Polesia lowlands near the Ukrainian border.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "medium",
  "notes": "The national 2007/UN 2012 romanization is dated; Belarus changed its domestic rules in 2023. Reference pages checked 2026-11-15: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelsk ; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelsk.",
  "rank": 1137,
  "slug": "yelsk"
}