{
  "place_id": "kuldyha#8164_11220",
  "wikidata": "Q155281",
  "country": "LV",
  "local_name": "Kuldīga",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Kuldīga",
      "why": "Current official Latvian Latin-script name, retained in English with its local spelling; no Cyrillic romanization is required.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Goldingen",
          "why": "Historical German name, used in English accounts of Courland."
        },
        {
          "name": "Goldingue",
          "why": "Historical French exonym, relevant when an English text quotes older French Baltic histories."
        },
        {
          "name": "Kuldiga",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing or indexing form of Kuldīga for English retrieval; not a separate official name. Independent prose frequency is unverified."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Kuldīga",
      "why": "Same form as in English; retained in French reference usage, without a separate French exonym.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Goldingue",
          "why": "Historical French exonym for the Courland town, superseded in modern reference usage by Kuldīga."
        },
        {
          "name": "Goldingen",
          "why": "German historical name frequently retained in French histories of Courland."
        },
        {
          "name": "Kuldiga",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing or indexing form of Kuldīga for French retrieval; not a separate official name. Independent prose frequency is unverified."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Kuldīga is a town on the Venta River in western Latvia. Its old centre and brick bridge stand near the broad Venta waterfall and reflect the town's history in the Duchy of Courland.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "medium",
  "notes": "Goldingue is a historical French exonym, while current French reference usage retains Latvian Kuldīga. It is distinct from the German Goldingen spelling. Reference pages checked 2026-11-15: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuldīga ; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuldīga.",
  "rank": 984,
  "slug": "kuldiga"
}