Geographical renaming

Geographical renaming is the act of changing the name of a geographical feature or area. This can range from the uncontroversial change of a street name to a highly disputed change to the name of a country. Some names are changed locally but are not recognised by other countries, especially when there is a difference in language. Other names may not be officially recognised but remain in common use.

There are many reasons to undertake a renaming, with political motivation being the primary cause, such as reverting to the original names of cities that were renamed to honour Stalin. (See de-Stalinization and history of the Soviet Union (1953-1985).) One of the most common reasons for a country changing its name is newly acquired independence. When borders are changed, sometimes due to a country splitting or two countries joining together, the name of the areas can change. This, however, is more the creation of a different entity than an act of geographical renaming.

Other more unusual reasons for renaming have included:

To stop having an unusual or embarrassing name
As part of a sponsorship deal or publicity stunt

A change might see a completely different name being adopted or may simply be just a slightly different spelling.

Naming disputes

"British Isles" is disliked in Ireland
The Hyphen War of 1990 – Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia?
Derry/Londonderry name dispute
Indian renaming controversy
Iran naming dispute starting in the 1980s
Sea of Japan naming dispute
Dispute over the name of the Republic of Macedonia
Northern Ireland naming dispute
Persian Gulf naming dispute starting in the 1960s

Significant name changes

The following list shows acts of geographical renaming that have had been of international importance or significance.

Beijing – named Beiping from 1927-1949, during which time Nanjing was the national capital. In English-speaking countries, Beijing was generally known as Peking before its name change, but following the Communist takeover, the pinyin transliteration of Beijing was adopted.
Benin – formerly Dahomey
Burkina Faso from Upper Volta in 1984
Cape Canaveral – to Cape Kennedy on 27 November 1963 and back again on 9 October 1973 after the government of Florida passed a law to change it back
Central African Republic – from Ubangi-Shari on independence in 1958
Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany, was Karl-Marx-Stadt between 1953 and 1990.
Chennai (4th largest city of India) – from Madras in October 1996 during the rule of DMK party led by K. Karunanidhi.
Democratic Republic of the Congo – was Zaire between 1971 and 1997.
Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh) – previously Dacca
Djibouti – formerly French Somaliland, then Afars and Issas
Ethiopia – historically known as Abyssinia as well as Ethiopia
Ghana – formerly the Gold Coast
Ho Chi Minh City – formerly Saigon, changed in 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam
Iran – known as Persia before 1979 (both names were used in the mid-20th century)
Ireland (republic) – before 1937 the Irish Free State. Since 1949 commonly referred to by the official description Republic of Ireland, apart from in treaties, etc. State does not include all of the island of Ireland.
Istanbul since 28 March, 1930 – formerly Byzantium (under Greek rule) then Constantinople (under Roman rule)
Jordan – formerly Transjordan
Kaliningrad from Königsberg in 1945
Katowice in Silesia, Poland was Stalinogród between 1953 and 1956
Kiribati – known as the Gilbert Islands prior to independence in 1979
Mumbai – from Bombay in December 1995 by right wing Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government.
Myanmar, in 1988 the military junta changed the name but Burma is still widely used in English (see explanation of the names of Burma/Myanmar)
Namibia – formerly South-West Africa
New York City was once New Amsterdam (see History of New York City)
Oslo - known as Kristiania prior to 1925 (spelled Christiania before 1875)
Pretoria to Tshwane – set to be changed to sound more African with local government approval in 2005 but yet to be ratified by the central government ^*
Kolkata – from Calcutta in January 2001 by the Left Front government in order to be phonetically closer to the Bengali version
St Petersburg – originally St Petersburg (in 1703), then Petrograd (in 1914), Leningrad (in 1924) and back to St Petersburg in 1991
Sri Lanka from Ceylon in 1972
Thailand – formerly Siam
Tokyo – formerly Edo, until it became the capital of Japan in 1868
Toronto – known as York at the time of the War of 1812
Tuvalu – known as the Ellice Islands prior to independence in 1978
Vanuatu – from New Hebrides on 30 July 1980 after gaining self-governance, independence and then full sovereignty.
Volgograd – originally Tsaritsyn, Stalingrad between 1925 and 1961.
Western Sahara – formerly Spanish Sahara
Zimbabwe – part of Rhodesia until 1910; then known as Southern Rhodesia until a year before it declared independence in 1965; known as Rhodesia until 1979, then became Zimbabwe-Rhodesia until it assumed the current name in 1980; Numerous cities and towns in Zimbabwe were also changed in an attempt to eradicate symbols of British colonialism and white minority rule (such as Salisbury to Harare).

Changes resulting from splits and mergers

Czechoslovakia separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Yugoslavia was created by joining various regions (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro), and then split again
Tanganyika and Zanzibar joined to become Tanzania
Egypt and Syria were briefly joined as the United Arab Republic
Various places split with compass directions, such as North and South Dakota, West Virginia and Virginia, North and South Yemen, North and South Korea, East and West Germany, et al., as well as the reunification of some of these places (Vietnam, Germany, Yemen, et al).

Unusual name changes

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico changed from the name "Hot Springs" in 1950 when Truth or Consequences host Ralph Edwards announced that he would do the show from the first town that renamed itself after the popular radio programme.
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, formerly Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk, negotiated a deal with the heirs of athlete Jim Thorpe to become the site of his tomb in a bid to increase tourism.
Ismay, Montana unofficially took the name of "Joe, Montana", after the NFL quarterback Joe Montana, as part of a 1993 publicity stunt
Clark, Texas renamed itself "Dish" after the EchoStar Communications' Dish Network – all 55 households in the town are given free satellite television for 10 years
Halfway, Oregon became the first place to accept the money from a dot-com to change its name to match the web site "Half.com"
Santa, Idaho, a hamlet with a population of 115 became "secretsanta.com" on 9 December 2005 ^*
Pippa Passes, Kentucky, originally Caney Creek but renamed after the Robert Browning poem Pippa Passes through the influence of Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd, founder of Alice Lloyd College.
Washington, Pennsylvania temporarily renamed itself "Steeler" when the Pittsburgh Steelers made it to the Super Bowl in 2006. ^*

References

Branford, Becky (26 May 2005). "City names mark changing times" at BBC News. Accessed 26 November 2005.

External links

Name Changes Since 1990: Countries, Cities, and More at Mapping.com

Place names | Former place names

Geografsko preimenovanje