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Geographical renaming
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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 renaming, with political motivation being the primary cause, such as renaming places to honour Stalin, and reverting to the original names (see de-Stalinization).
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Encyclopedia
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 renaming, with political motivation being the primary cause, such as renaming places to honour Stalin, and reverting to the original names (see de-Stalinization). 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.
In some cases established institutions preserve the old names of the renamed places in their names, such as the Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea; the Peking University in Beijing, People's Republic of China; Bombay Stock Exchange, IIT Bombay and the Bombay High Court in Mumbai, Republic of India; Persian Gulf, south of Iran (formerley Persia); and the University of Madras, Madras Stock Exchange, the Madras High Court, and IIT Madras in Chennai, Republic of India.
Naming disputes
Significant name changes
The following list shows acts of geographical renaming that have had been of international importance or significance.
Countries and territories
Subnational entities
- Free State – formerly Orange Free State - (South Africa)
- Gauteng – formerly Pretoria Witwatersrand-Vereeninging - (South Africa)
- Guangdong – formerly known in English as Canton - (China)
- Hebei – formerly Zhili - (China)
- KwaZulu-Natal – formerly Natal - (South Africa)
- Limpopo – formerly Northern Province, formerly Northern Transvaal - (South Africa)
- Mpumalanga – formerly Eastern Transvaal - (South Africa)
- Newfoundland and Labrador – formerly Newfoundland - (Canada)
- Papua – formerly Irian Jaya, Irian Barat, West New Guinea and Netherlands New Guinea. Also known as West Papua - (Indonesia)
- Phuket, an island belonging to Thailand in the Andaman Sea was formerly known as Talang in Thai, Ujong Salang in Malay and Junk Ceylon - (Thailand)
- Puducherry – formerly Pondicherry - (India)
- Sabah from British North Borneo in 1963 - (Malaysia)
- Sughd from Leninobod in 2004 - (Tajikistan)
- Tasmania – Large island south of mainland Australia which was formerly known as Van Diemens Land - (Australia)
Cities and towns
- Beijing – named Peiping from 1927 to 1949, during which time Nanking was the national capital. In English-speaking countries, Beijing was generally known as Peking before its name change, but following the introduction of the pinyin transcription scheme, Beijing was adopted.
- Bengaluru, India – named Bangalore till November 1, 2006
- Bogotá – Changed to Santafé de Bogotá D.C. (Distrito Capital) in 1991 from Bogotá D.E. (Distrito Especial). Changed back to the simplified Bogotá D.C. (Distrito Capital) in 2000.
- Busan – named Dongrae until 1910, during 6·25 War was the temporary capital. 1920 renamed to Busan.
- Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany, was Karl-Marx-Stadt between 1953 and 1990.
- Chennai – from Madras in October 1996.
- Cobh, Ireland – formerly known as Queenstown
- Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh) – previously Dacca
- Daegu – formerly Dalgubeol
- Dún Laoghaire, Ireland – formerly known as Kingstown
- Faisalabad was known as Lyallpur in Pakistan (then under British Raj)
- Gdansk, Poland - known as Danzig when Free City and part of Germany.
- Guangzhou – formerly known in English as Canton.
- Harare – Salisbury until 1982. Other place names in Zimbabwe also changed.
- Heraklion in Crete, Greece: Its ancient name was Heraklion. After the Arab conquest in 824 it was named "Handaq" (The Moat) from which derived the Greek name "Chandax" in Byzantine times (961-1204) and later the Italian "Candia" during the Venetian period (1212-1669) when Candia eventually became the name of the whole island of Crete. In Turkish times (1669-1898) it was called "Kandiye" by the Ottomans but from the locals "Megalo Kastro" (Great Castle) or simply "Kastro". During the time of the autonomous Cretan State (1898-1913) scholars proposed to reuse the ancient name "Heraklion" which eventually was accepted by the locals.
- Ho Chi Minh City – formerly Saigon, changed in 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam
- Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa, changed in 1975 after the independence of Angola
- Istanbul since 28 March, 1930 – formerly Byzantium (under Greek rule) then Constantinople (under Roman and Ottoman rule); the latter name change inspired the popular song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
- Jakarta, – formerly Batavia and Sunda Kelapa, Jayakarta.
- Kaliningrad from Königsberg in 1945
- Kanpur, India – formerly known as Cawnpore
- Katowice in Silesia, Poland was Stalinogród between 1953 and 1956
- Khujand in Tajikistan from Leninabad between 1939 and 1992. Khodjend before 1939
- 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.
- Kinshasa – formerly Leopoldville, changed in 1966.
- Kitchener, Ontario was known as Berlin until 1916.
- Kochi, India – formerly Cochin.
- Kolkata – from Calcutta in January 2001 by the Left Front government in order to be phonetically closer to the Bengali version
- Kota Kinabalu from Jesselton in 1968
- Kollam, India – formerly Quilon.
- Lake Station, Indiana, from East Gary, to disassociate itself from the adjacent city of Gary.
- Lüshun – formerly Port Arthur in English, or Ryojun during the Japanese occupation in 1930s and 40s.
- Malabo – formerly Santa Isabel
- Maputo – formerly Lourenço Marques
- Mexico City – formerly the two altepetls (or polities) of Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlan
- Mumbai – from Bombay in December 1995
- New York – formerly New Amsterdam (see History of New York City)
- Nizhny Novgorod was Gorky during the Soviet Union.
- Oslo - known as Kristiania before 1925 (spelled Christiania before 1877)
- Ottawa, known as Bytown until 1855.
- Podgorica, known as Titograd 1945-1992
- Polokwane, changed from Pietersburg in 2003, along with some other towns
- Port Klang, changed from Port Swettenham, the port of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 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
- Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic was renamed to Ciudad Trujillo in a drive of personality cult around the president Rafael Leónidas Trujillo that also affected Pico Trujillo and other Dominican features.
- Seoul – formerly Hanyang (in 1392), then Hanseong (in 1395), Gyeongseong (in 1914) and renamed Seoul in 1946.
- Shenyang – formerly Mukden, Fengtian or Shengjing.
- St Petersburg – originally St Petersburg (in 1703), then Petrograd (in 1914), Leningrad (in 1924) and back to St Petersburg in 1991
- Tel Aviv-Yafo- Renamed Tel Aviv from Ahuzat Bayit. Renamed to Tel Aviv-Yafo in 1950 after the annex of Yafo.
- Thiruvananthapuram, India – formerly Trivandrum.
- Tokyo – formerly Edo, until it became the capital of Japan in 1868
- Toronto – known as York at the time of the War of 1812
- Tver – known as Kalinin from 1931 to 1990
- Ürümqi – formerly known as Dihua, which means "to enlighten" in Chinese. In 1954, renamed to Ürümqi, which means "beautiful pasture" in Dzungar Mongol
- Varanasi, India, known as Benares
- Veles, known as Titov Veles between 1945 and 1991.
- Volgograd – originally Tsaritsyn, Stalingrad between 1925 and 1961.
- Wroclaw– in German Breslau, when part of Germany, until 1945.
- Xi'an – formerly Chang'an, Sian, Chang'an was the ancient name for the city when it was the capital of China until the name was changed to Sian. In English-speaking countries, Xi'an was generally known as Sian before its name change, but following the introduction of the pinyin transcription scheme, Xi'an was adopted.
- Yangon– in 1988, back to this original name after a period 1852 - 1988, when known as Rangoon. Still known as 'Rangoon' in many English-speaking countries
- Yekaterinburg was known as Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union (the name of the city's railway station remains unchanged as Sverdlovsk)
- Zlín in the Czech Republic was called 'Gottwaldov' during the communist rule.
Changes resulting from splits and mergers
- Tajik SSR was fully-fledged Soviet Socialist Republic from Tajik ASSR autonomous republic within Uzbek SSR in 1929 by a legal act that partitioned the existing regional entities in Central Asia
- Czechoslovakia got its name from the agglomeration of the Czech and Slovak peoples in 1918. It peacefully dissolved into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993.
- Yugoslavia ("Land of the South Slavs"), originally Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was created by joining various regions (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo) got its name in 1929 and then split in the said several different states in the years 1992-2006.
- 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
- 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 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 "" 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.
- 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 high school is East Detroit High School.
- Sleepy Hollow, New York, renamed from North Tarrytown in 1997 in honor of the Washington Irving short story.
- On June 4-9 of each year, Dublin, Texas changes its name (and even its road signs) to Dr Pepper, Texas, to commemorate the 'birthday' of the first Dr Pepper Bottling Plant, which is located there.
- The Chilean Robinson Crusoe Island, renamed from "Más a Tierra" in 1966.
- The Spanish village Asquerosa (in Spanish, 'filthy') was renamed as Valderrubio (Pinos Puente municipality) in 1943.
See also
External links
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