So far the place.sql file was generated form OSM Names data https://github.com/OSMNames/OSMNames, but unfortunately there has been now new release of that data since 2019.
As we only need a subset of the OSM Names data anyway (both in rows and columns), and with the new possibilities we now have with the osm2pgsql flex backend, the places table could probably generated more directly that way.
So far the place.sql file was generated form OSM Names data https://github.com/OSMNames/OSMNames, but unfortunately there has been now new release of that data since 2019.
As we only need a subset of the OSM Names data anyway (both in rows and columns), and with the new possibilities we now have with the osm2pgsql flex backend, the places table could probably generated more directly that way.