Geographical renaming is the changing of the name of a geographical feature or area, which ranges from the change of a street name to a change to the name of a country. Places are also sometimes assigned dual names for various reasons.
A change might see a completely different name being adopted or may only be a slight change in spelling. Some names are changed locally but the new names 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. Many places have different names in different languages, and a change of language in official or general use has often resulted in what is arguably a change of name. There are many reasons to undertake renaming, with political motivation being the primary cause; for example many places in the former Soviet Union and its satellites were renamed to honour Stalin. Sometimes a place reverts to its former name (see, for example, de-Stalinization).[citation needed]
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, the names of the relevant areas can change. This, however, is more the creation of a different entity than an act of geographical renaming.[citation needed]
Place names may revert to an earlier name; for instance in Australia, pre-colonial names established thousands of years ago by Aboriginal peoples have been reclaimed as official names. Examples include K'gari (formerly Fraser Island and various other names since settlement), and Uluru / Ayers Rock, where a dual naming strategy was adopted but it is now commonly known as Uluru.[1]
Other more unusual reasons for renaming have included getting rid of an inappropriate or embarrassing name, or as part of a sponsorship deal or publicity stunt.[2]
Changes in romanisation systems can result in minor or major changes in spelling in the Roman alphabet for geographical entities, even without any change in name pronunciation or spelling in the local alphabet or other writing system. Names in non-Roman characters can also be spelled very differently when Romanised in different European languages.[citation needed]
China developed and adopted the Pinyin romanisation system in February 1958 in place of previous systems such as the postal romanization and Wade–Giles. Many Chinese geographical entities (and associated entities named after geographical names) thus had their English names changed. The changes sometimes appear drastic, since it is sometimes the case that the former romanisations were derived from Cantonese—the common language in British-held Hong Kong—while the newer romanisations are derived entirely from Mandarin. However, the pronunciation in Mandarin has mostly stayed the same both before and after the change. Pinyin was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization in 1982 and officially adopted in Singapore (resulting in several geographical name changes of its own). However it is usually not applied in the autonomous regions of the PRC (e.g. Lhasa, Ürümqi, Hohhot, Xigazê, Ili, Altay, Kaxgar, Hulunbuir, Erenhot, with a notable exception being place names in Ningxia, whose native Hui people speak Mandarin as their native language) and has not resulted in any geographical name change in the SARsofHong Kong and Macau, and is adopted only in parts of Taiwan, particularly within Taipei and other Kuomintang controlled cities and counties, in a recent push to adopt Pinyin by the Kuomintang government.[citation needed]
For geographical entities with multiple pre-existing names in one or more languages, an exonym or endonym may gradually be substituted and used in the English language.
Many countries have intentionally had their common English names officially changed to the local name, such as Côte d'Ivoire and Timor-Leste's translations to their local languages, or Persia requesting to be known by the endonym Iran, and Mesopotamia being changed to Iraq.[citation needed]
Transfer of a city between countries speaking different languages can result in seeming changes of name. Changes can be as slight as Straßburg (Germany) and Strasbourg (France). Some are less subtle: Thessaloniki, built in 4th century BC in ancient Macedonia became Selanik in the Ottoman Empire and sometimes being referred to as Salonica, now ThessalonikiinGreece; Pilsen in the Austro-Hungarian Empire became Plzeň in Czechoslovakia; Chișinău, now the capital of Moldova, was in Russian and Soviet times part of Romania and known as Kishinev (the latter name is used in English in certain historical contexts, e.g. Kishinev pogrom). Some are translations; Karlsbad become Karlovy Vary.
When the formerly-German city of Danzig came under Polish rule, it became known in English by its Polish name of Gdańsk. But when Winston Churchill gave his Iron Curtain speech he still spoke of a city in Poland by its German name (Stettin) instead of its contemporary Polish name Szczecin even though Churchill fully accepted the transfer of the formerly-German city to Poland, probably because it is German phonology, not Polish, that is closer to English. The pattern is far from uniform, and it takes time.
The Soviet Union replaced German city names in the former East Prussia that became the Kaliningrad Oblast and Japanese place names in southern Sakhalin Island with Russian names unrelated to the old German and Japanese place names after annexing them in the aftermath of World War II.
The military junta changed the official English name of BurmatoMyanmar in 1988, even though both were pre-existing names which originated from the Burmese language and used interchangeably depending on contexts (see Names of Myanmar).
The People's Republic of China, upon its founding and new nationalities policy, changed the names of cities in ethnic minority regions from sometimes patronising Chinese language names to those of the native language. For example, it changed Dihua to Ürümqi and Zhenxi to Barkol.[4]
After the occupation of the communist North Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War, the city of Saigon changed its name to Ho Chi Minh City (after the late leader of North Vietnam Ho Chi Minh) to symbolize the north's victory in the war. Despite the official name change, however, many older Americans (especially those who fought in the Vietnam War) still refer to the city as Saigon. Even many Vietnamese still refer to the city as Saigon.[5] The name of the river, however, remains unchanged, the Saigon River.
Yugoslavia ("Land of the South Slavs") was originally Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by joining Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro and parts of Austro-Hungarian Empire inhabited by South Slavs (today comprising Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Vojvodina (i.e. the Northern part of modern Serbia)). It became Yugoslavia in 1929. It subsequently split into the modern states of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro between 1991 and 2006. Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence in 2008.
Amadora, Portugal, was known as Porcalhota until 1907. The name change was due to the unflattering meaning of the original toponym (something like "Little dirty one").
Astana, Kazakhstan – renamed Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022. Kazakhstan's legislature passed a law on 20 March 2019 to rename the Central Asian nation's capital city from Astana to Nur-Sultan. The act came one day after Nursultan Nazarbayev's resignation as president of the country.
Bogotá – Changed to Santa Fé 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.
Bratislava, Slovakia, formerly Pozsony or Pressburg
Busan – spelt Pusan prior to the official adoption of the Revised Romanization by the South Korean Government in 2000. During the Korean War it was the temporary capital. Named Dongrae (동래/東萊) until 1910.[citation needed] In 1920, renamed Busan.[citation needed]
Ciudad Altamirano, Mexico. Formerly known as Pungarabato until 1936.
Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. Formerly Santo Tomás de la Nueva Guayana de la Angostura del Orinoco (briefed as just Angostura) until 1846.
Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Founded as Puerto Flor de Lis in 1957, later renamed as Puerto Presidente Stroessner. Received its current name after his fall in 1989.
Ciudad Guerrero, Mexico. Formerly known as Concepción de Papigochi until 1859.
Ciudad Guzmán, Mexico. Formerly Zapotlán el Grande until 1856.
Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico. Formerly known as Taximaroa until 1908, and Villa Hidalgo until 1922.
Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Formerly known as Paso del Norte until 1888.
Ciudad Lerdo, Mexico. Formerly known as San Fernando until 1864.
Ciudad Victoria, Mexico. Formerly known as Santa María de Aguayo until 1863.
Constância, Portugal was known as Punhete until 1833. The name change was justified by the resemblance of the old toponym with the word punheta (Portuguese for "hand job").
Daegu – spelt Taegu prior to the official adoption of the Revised Romanization by the South Korean Government in 2000. In ancient times, Dalgubeol (달구벌/達句伐)
Dnipro, Ukraine, was officially changed from Dnipropetrovsk in 2016, following Ukraine's decommunization laws (the former name is a contraction of the Ukrainian name of the river Dnieper and the surname of Soviet leader Hryhoriy Petrovsky). Previous names include Katerynoslav, Sicheslav, and Novorossiysk.
Dobrich – known as Bazargic between 1913 and 1940, Tolbuhin between 1945 and 1990. It was known Hacıoğlu Pazarcık during Ottoman rule
Donetsk – founded as Yuzovka (after John Hughes) in 1870, called Stalino 1924-–1961, renamed Donyetsk in Russian (Donetsk in Ukrainian) after the De-Stalinization period in the USSR
Dushanbe – known as Stalinabad between 1929–1961 and renamed Dushanbe after the De-Stalinization period in the Soviet Union.
Dún Laoghaire, Ireland – formerly known as Kingstown
Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany, was founded as Stalinstadt after World War II to settle displaced people from the former eastern German territories, and was renamed during the De-Stalinization period in the Soviet Union.
Faisalabad was known as Lyallpur (until the 1970s) in Pakistan.
Flores, Guatemala. Formerly known as Santa María de los Remedios until 1831.
Florianópolis was known as Desterro until 1893, when the president of recent-founded Brazilian republic, Marshal Floriano Peixoto, crushed the Naval Revolts, and the supporters of Peixoto, after the imprisonment of all his opponents, changed the name of the city to honor the Marshal.
Fugging – two places in Austria were called Fucking.
Gagarin, town in Russia; formerly Gzhatsk, took current name after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's death in 1968
Gdańsk – in German Danzig, when part of Kingdom of Prussia or Germany (1793–1920 and 1940–5) and as a Free City (1920–39).
HeraklioninCrete, Greece: Its ancient name was Heraklion. 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.
Hermosillo, Mexico. Known as Villa del Pitic until 1828.
Ivano-Frankivsk, founded as polish Stanisławów in 1662, changed to Stanislau in 1772, under Austria. After World War I it returned to its original name. Then it was known as Stalislav (1939–41), Stanislau (1941–45) and again Stanislav, until 1962, when it has been renamed to its current name, to honour Ivan Franko.
Khujand, Tajikistan from Leninabad between 1939 and 1992. Khodjend before 1939.
Kimchaek, 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.
Lüshun – formerly Port Arthur in English, or Ryojun during the Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 1940s.
Lviv, Ukraine – originally called Lviv. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Ruthenia from 1272 until 1349, when it was conquered by Polish Kingdom and became Lwów. Then became Lemberg under Austro-Hungarian rule (1772–1918), reverted to Lviv for a short time of existence of West Ukrainian Republic (1918), reverted to Lwów (1918–1945), then Lvov under Soviet rule (1945–1991); restored current name on Ukrainian independence
Latina – (Italy, Latium), whose former original fascist name was Littoria.
Makassar, Indonesia – formerly known as Ujung Pandang.
Matamoros, Mexico. Founded as San Juan de los Esteros in 1774, renamed Nuestra Señora del Refugio de los Esteros (shortened to Villa del Refugio) in 1793. Received its current name in 1826.
Seoul – formerly Hanyang (from 1392), then Hanseong (from 1395), Keijō or Gyeongseong (from 1914) and renamed Seoul in 1946. (See also Names of Seoul)
Sasmuan – formerly Sexmoán, renamed in 1991 after a referendum due to perceived sexual connotations of its former name.[15][16]
Shenyang – formerly Mukden, Fengtian (奉天) or Shengjing (盛京).
Staines-upon-Thames formerly Staines, renamed in 2012 with the aim of promoting its riverside location, boosting the local economy and to disassociate itself from the character Ali G.
Sucre formerly known as La Plata (1539-mid 17th century), Charcas (mid 17th century to early 18th century) and Chuquisaca (until 1831), current name in honour of Antonio José de Sucre.
Szczecin – in German Stettin, when part of Germany, until 1945.
Ürümqi – formerly known as Tihwa (迪化; Dǐhuà in pinyin), which means "to enlighten" in Chinese. In 1954, renamed Ürümqi, which means "beautiful pasture" in DzungarMongolian.
Varanasi, India – formerly known as Benares (or Banaras) and Kashi.
Veles, known as Titov Veles between 1945 and 1991.
Vyborg – in Finnish Viipuri, when part of Finland, until 1944.
Wanganui, New Zealand. Originally called Petre, now known dually as Wanganui and Whanganui.
Wrocław – in German Breslau, when part of Germany, until 1945.
Xi'an – Usually spelt Sian until the 1980s. Formerly Chang'an (長安), the ancient name for the city when it was the capital of China until the name was changed to Xi'an in the Ming dynasty.
Yangon – renamed Yangon after being known as Rangoon (1852–1988). Still known as Rangoon in many English-speaking countries.
Yekaterinburg – known as Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union.
Yonashiro – changed from Okinawan "Yonagusuku" to a Japanese name and elevated to town status in 1994.
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – named Toyohara under Japanese rule between 1905 and 1946, but before that was Vladimirovka, a Russian settlement before the Russo-Japanese War (1882–1905).
Zhob, Pakistan – renamed from Fort Sandeman in 1976.[17]
Zlín, Czech Republic – renamed Gottwaldov between 1949 and 1989 after Klement Gottwald, a Czechoslovak communist politician, before reverting to Zlín.
Zmiiv, Ukraine – renamed Gotwald between 1976 and 1990 after Klement Gottwald, a Czechoslovak communist politician, before reverting to Zmiiv.
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
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 (160 km) southeast of Dallas; in all three instances the supportive name change proved successful for the Dallas-area team)
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. However, the school district that serves most of the city was unaffected by the municipal name change for many years afterwards, and consequently still used the name East Detroit Public Schools up until 2017, before changing to Eastpointe Community Schools.
On June 4–9 of each year, Dublin, Texas changes its name (and even its road signs) to Dr Pepper, Texas, to commemorate the anniversary of the first Dr Pepper Bottling Plant, which is located there.
The Spanish village Asquerosa (in Spanish, 'filthy') was renamed as Valderrubio in 1943.
Richland, New Jersey briefly renamed itself "Mohito" in 2004 at the behest of the Bacardi company in honor of the mint grown at Delponte Farms, an essential ingredient in the drink.[citation needed]
The New Zealand town of Ōtorohanga briefly changed its name to "Harrodsville" in 1986, in support of local restaurateur Henry Harrod, who was being threatened with lawsuits over the name of his business by Harrod's of London.[21]
Two neighbors of Paterson, New Jersey were renamed to reduce its association with the adjacent city. In 1973, the Borough of East Paterson was renamed Elmwood Park, New Jersey, and in 2009, the Borough of West Paterson was renamed Woodland Park, New Jersey. Both boroughs elected to retain its original initials.
^renaming of LondonderrytoDerry remains highly controversial. According to the city's royal charter of 10 April 1662 the official name is Londonderry. This was reaffirmed in a High Court decision in January 2007 when Derry City Council sought guidance on the procedure for effecting a name change. The name Derry is preferred by nationalists and it is broadly used throughout Northern Ireland's Catholic community, as well as that of the Republic of Ireland, whereas many unionists prefer Londonderry; however in everyday conversation Derry is used by most Protestant residents of the city. Apart from this local government decision, the city is usually known as Londonderry in official use within the United Kingdom. In the Republic of Ireland, the city and county are almost always referred to as Derry, on maps, in the media and in conversation.[citation needed]
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