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.
*"
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
The following list shows acts of geographical renaming that have had been of international importance or significance.
*
Beijing – named Beiping from 1927 to 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)
*
Ekaterinberg was known as
Sverdlovsk under Soviet Union.
*
Jordan – formerly
Transjordan*
Kaliningrad from
Königsberg in 1945
*
Katowice in
Silesia,
Poland was
Stalinogród between 1953 and 1956
*
Kimchaek in
North Korea, formerly known as Songjin. Renamed during the
Korean War after the chief of staff of the North Korean army killed during the war.
*
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)
*
Nizhny Novgorod was
Gorky during the Soviet Union.
*
Oslo - known as
Kristiania prior to 1925 (spelled
Christiania before 1875) (in the
Hagar the Horrible comic strip, Oslo is used to identify Hagar and his family as Norwegian Vikings)
*
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 [
1]
*
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 until 1949.
*
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).
*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).
*
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
*
Buffalo, Texas temporarily renamed itself "Blue Star, Texas" in 1993 and 1994 when the
Dallas Cowboys faced the
Buffalo Bills in the
Super Bowl, and later renamed itself "Green Star, Texas" in 1999 when the
Dallas Stars faced the
Buffalo Sabres in the
Stanley Cup Finals (Buffalo is approximately 100 miles southeast of
Dallas; in all three instances the supportive name change proved successful for the Dallas-area team)
*
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 [
2]
*
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. [
3]
*
Eastpointe, Michigan, incorporated as the village of
Halfway in
December 1924 and reincorporated as the City of
East Detroit in
January 1929. The city changed its name to "Eastpointe" after a vote in
1992; the name change had been proposed to reduce its association with the adjacent city of
Detroit (a move that offended many Detroit Residents), and the "-pointe" is intended to associate the city with the exclusive communities of the
Grosse Pointes. The school district that serves most of the city was unaffected by the municipal name change, and still uses the name East Detroit Public Schools. In fact, the local
highschool is called EDHS. Standing for
East Detroit High School.
*
Exonym and endonym*
List of city name changes*
United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names*
United States Board on Geographic Names*
Geographic Names Information System*
Placename etymology*
List of places*
Street sign theft*
List of city name changes in Russia and Soviet Union*
List of placenames containing the word "new"*
List of double placenames*
Africanization*
South African Geographical Names Council*Branford, Becky (
26 May 2005). "
City names mark changing times" at
BBC News. Accessed
26 November 2005.
*
Name Changes Since 1990: Countries, Cities, and More at Mapping.com
