Courthouse Naming Guidelines

Deciding what to name a courthouse can be a tricky process. Remember that we are collecting courthouse buildings, not individual courts within the courthouse. So whichever name you decide to enter when editing a courthouse point, it should be representative of the main building.

NOTE: If the name comes from an authoritative source, it will be accepted. If you're unsure about what to name a courthouse, feel free to contact us at nationalmapcorps@usgs.gov.

Don't forget to leave a note in the comment field to let us know which authoritative sources you used to verify the name and location of each courthouse!

Sometimes a courthouse building is named after a public figure, such as the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center in Denver, CO, or the Leonard L.Williams Justice Center in Wilmington, DE.

In these cases you could name the buildings 'Ralph L Carr Colorado Judicial Center,' and 'Leonard L Williams Justice Center' respectively.

If you wish, you may also add '[Name of State] + Supreme Courthouse,' or '[Name of County] + Courthouse' to the name:

e.g. 'Ralph L Carr Colorado Judicial Center - Colorado State Supreme Courthouse'
e.g. 'Leonard L Williams Justice Center - New Castle County Courthouse'

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In some cases, a courthouse may simply be named after the county in which it resides, such as the Jefferson County Courthouse in Golden, CO.

In these cases, you can simply enter the '[Name of County] + Courthouse'

e.g. 'Jefferson County Courthouse'

www.google.com/maps

And in other cases, the courthouse building may have a very generic name, such as the First Judicial District Court in Brigham City, Utah.

In this case, there might be many courthouses simply referred to as 'First Judicial District Court.' To distinguish this one from other 1st Judicial District courthouses, we can examine the website very carefully for clues regarding the county in which the courthouse resides, and whether the court is referred to as 'county,' 'district,' or 'circuit.'

According to the Utah Courts website, this particular courthouse serves the 1st Judicial District in Box Elder County. An appropriate name for this courthouse would be 'Box Elder County - First Judicial District Courthouse' or 'Box Elder County - First District Court', because this name matches the information listed on the authoritative Utah Courts website.