Country Names on the Euro Coins

[chrisild]

The euro circulation coins are issued by the member states but are legal tender in the entire euro area. Initially there was no need to put a country name on the pieces - but that changed due to the growth of the currency union ... and because of the many different circulating €2 coins.

So European law specifically states that "The national side of all denominations of circulation coins shall bear an indication of the issuing Member State by means of the Member State's name, or an abbreviation of it." (Source). This also applies to the four countries that are not member states but can issue euro coins.

Existing designs do not have to be modified (well, not until 2062), but most euro countries already have their names on the coins. Sometimes it is the full version of the name, sometimes the common short name, and sometimes it's just a code or abbreviation. This list is a brief overview of the country "indicators" on the circulation (and the commemorative €2) coins.

Andorra
circ/comm: ANDORRA

Austria
circ: none (but an Austrian flag)
comm: REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH

Belgium
circ: BE (since 2008)
comm: BE is also used on many €2 commems; some have the three country name versions; one (2006) had B

Cyprus
circ/comm: ΚΥΠΡΟΣ KIBRIS

Estonia
circ/comm: EESTI

Finland
circ: FI since 2007 (also SUOMI FINLAND on the €2 edge since 1999)
comm: FINLAND (2005), otherwise FI or SUOMI FINLAND

France
circ: RF
comm: usually RF, sometimes REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE

Germany
circ: none
comm: BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND until 2009, then D (full country name on the common issues)

Greece
circ: none, but Greek characters (and ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ on the €2 edge)
comm: ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ

Ireland
circ/comm: éire

Italy
circ: RI
comm: RI (common issues: REPUBBLICA ITALIANA)

Latvia
circ: LATVIJA (1-50 ct), LATVIJAS REPUBLIKA (€1, €2)
comm: LV or LATVIJA

Lithuania
circ/comm: LIETUVA

Luxembourg
circ: LËTZEBUERG
comm: sometimes LËTZEBUERG, sometimes LUXEMBOURG
(Jean's accession anniversary 2014: none)

Malta
circ/comm: MALTA

Monaco
circ/comm: MONACO

Netherlands
circ/comm: (KONING/IN DER) NEDERLANDEN
(common issue 2007): KONINKRIJK DER NEDERLANDEN
(c.i. 2009/2012/2015): NEDERLAND

Portugal
circ: PORTUGAL (two times)
comm: PORTUGAL (except anniversary of the republic 2010: REPÚBLICA PORTUGUESA)

San Marino
circ/comm: SAN MARINO

Slovakia
circ/comm: SLOVENSKO

Slovenia
circ: SLOVENIJA
comm: SLOVENIJA (except independence anniversary 2016: REPUBLIKA SLOVENIJA)

Spain
circ/comm: ESPAÑA

Vatican
circ/comm: CITTÀ DEL VATICANO

Christian

[Figleaf]

Pulling the list together, there are five categories of circulation coin indicators:

None: AT, DE
Traditional: FR, IT
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2: BE, FI
Long name: GR, LV (sometimes), NL, VA
Short name: AD, CY, EE, IE, LV (sometimes), LT, LU, MT, MC, PT, SM, SI, SK, ES

Only two need to change eventually. Judging from their commemorative coins, it looks like the long name is popular in both, but there is more space on commemorative coins.

Peter

[chrisild]

Right, Germany does not have the country name on the circulation coins. Guess that in Austria the flag does not count as an abbreviation either ...

But they (AT) will have to adapt the designs within the next 44 years anyway because, unless the alphabet is different, the face value is not to be repeated on the country specific side. Just for the record, Luxembourg is not "compliant" when it comes to to the stars on the 1 to 50 cent coins. France, Greece and Slovenia are in my opinion not OK either (too much going on between the stars). With regard to the country name or identifiers, however, yes - it is DE and AT that have to change. Unfortunately Germany seems to prefer the plain "D" (which looks like a mint mark) over the "DE" code.

Christian