Abstract
The article addresses the denominations of Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Czechia, contributing to the academic debate about the relationship between the formation of regions and regional identity, and about the forming of regions by means of regional marketing. On the basis of an analysis of appellations of 179 newly emerging regions the paper examine the substance of the symbolic shape of regions.
It affirms the importance of territorial approach towards regional appellations and identify four different strategies of the approach held by regional actors to the process of identity formation and institutionalization of regions. It has equally been affirmed that region naming strategies are spatially fragmented.
Nevertheless, the territorial differentiation of LAG regions mirrors the elementary spatial patterns traditionally reproduced in the Czech context, namely the west-east gradient of development Ievel, the distinction between historical lands and the difference between areas with continuous development and areas recolonized after WWII.