Tag Frankfurt ambiguity

Question

Looking at a question I just see there's a tag Frankfurt. As a German everytime someone says Frankfurt I ask which one, as there is another town in far east Germany Frankfurt an der Oder. I'm wondering if that name is so unique that it's understood worldwide to relate to the German city Frankfurt am Main. I'd rather call it Frankfurt (Main) as it seems so much clearer to me.

Answer 1

A longstanding convention here is to adopt the orthography used by the English Wikipedia, in order to avoid fights over historical rivalries and grudges (e.g. Derry vs. Londonderry, Danzig vs. Gdansk). We do not observe this perfectly, especially with tags (e.g. san-jose), and there is still quibbling (e.g. kiev). Nevertheless, it remains the consensus third party standard, and Wikipedia holds that Frankfurt am Main is sufficiently important to be the default Frankfurt.

Beyond that, for what it's worth, this is a travel-oriented site. Whatever the historical or political significance of Frankfurt (Oder), it is not a major business or tourist destination or transportation hub. Frankfurt (Main) is all of those things, at a world-class level. This is not a situation like Birmingham or Georgia, where one can legitimately argue both ways that one outweighs the other in recognition.

If I had to list things I thought TSE visitors might confuse the tag frankfurt for, they would be as follows:

1. the airport (fra);
2. the association football club Eintracht Frankfurt;
3. the Frankfurt Auto Show;
4. the Frankfurt School of intellectuals;
5. the Philadelphia neighborhood of Frankford, one of the termini of the El;
6. Frankfort, Kentucky, a backwater even by Kentucky standards, but the state capital nevertheless and therefore a place all American schoolchildren must learn exists.

As for Frankfurt an der Oder, I think there is about as much risk that someone might confuse las-vegas for Las Vegas, New Mexico.