Geographical renaming

Geographical renaming

Geographical renaming is the changing of 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 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). 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 names of the relevant 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 get rid of an inappropriate or embarrassing name
  • As part of a sponsorship deal or publicity stunt

A change might see a completely different name being adopted or may only be a slight change in 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; University of Madras, Madras Stock Exchange, the Madras High Court, and IIT Madras in Chennai, Republic of India; and the University of Malaya, Keretapi Tanah Melayu, in Federation of Malaysia.

The Republic Turkey in the 1920s renamed all cities, town and villages with Kurdish, Greek, Armenian or other non-Turkic names with new Turkish names.

Contents

Romanisation

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 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.

Chinese names

The People's Republic of China developed and adopted the Pinyin romanisation system in February 1958 in place of previous systems such as the Chinese Postal Map Romanisation 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. Pinyin was adopted by the International Organization for Standardisation 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, Kashgar, Hulunbuir, Erenhot), and has not resulted in any geographical name change in the SARs of Hong 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.

Examples of changes:

In the People's Republic of China

In the Republic of China (Taiwan)

In Singapore[1]

Korean names

The introduction of the Revised Romanization of Korean in place of the McCune–Reischauer system in July 2000 by the South Korean government has resulted in a string of changes to geographical names. The system is not adopted by North Korea. Examples of changes include:

Exonyms and endonyms

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.

  • Transfer of a city between countries with very different patterns of phonology can result in seeming changes of name. Changes can be so slight as Straßburg (Germany) and Strasbourg (France). Some are less subtle: Selanik in the Ottoman Empire became Salonica in Greece; "Pilsen" in the Austro-Hungarian Empire became Plzeň in Czechoslovakia; Kishinev in the Russian Empire became Chişinau, Romania after World War I, reverted to Kishinev in the Soviet Union after World War II, and again Chişinau when Moldova achieved independence from the Soviet Union. Some are translations; Karlsbad became Karlovy Vary.

When the formerly-German city of Danzig came under Polish rule, it became known in English by its Polish name of Gdansk. Note well, though, that when Sir Winston Churchill gave his Iron Curtain speech he still spoke of a city in Poland by its German name (Stettin) instead of its then-current Polish name Szczecin even though Churchill fully accepted the transfer of the formerly-German city to Poland—probably because German phonology is far closer than Polish phonology is to English phonology. 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 Burma to Myanmar in 1988, even though both were pre-existing names which originated from the Burmese language and used interchangeably depending on contexts (see Names of Burma).
  • Decolonisation in India saw a trend to adopt local names in place of Europe-centric ones since 1947. Since then, changes have included Chennai (from Madras in August 1996), Kolkata (from Calcutta in January 2001) and Mumbai (from Bombay in 1991), amongst many others.
  • The People's Republic of China, upon its founding and new nationalities policy, changed the names of cities in ethnic minority regions from sometimes patronizing Chinese language names to those of the native language. For example, it changed Dihua to Ürümqi and Zhenxi to Barkol.[2]

Changes resulting from splits and mergers

List of significant name changes

This is a list of internationally important or significant renamings.

Countries

Subnational entities

Cities and towns

  • Attock, Pakistan was known as Campbellpur.
  • Bin Qasimformerly known as Pipri in Pakistan.
  • Beijing – named Peiping from 1927 to 1949, during which time Nanking was the national capital.
  • Bangalore, India – set to be changed to Bengaluru with state government approval in 2006 but yet to be ratified by the central government
  • Bishkek, Kyrgystan, between 1926 and 1991 called Frunze
  • 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 – named Dongrae until 1910, during the Korean War it was the temporary capital. 1920 renamed to Busan.
  • Châlons-en-Champagne, formerly Châlons-sur-Marne until 1998.
  • Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany, was Karl-Marx-Stadt between 1953 and 1990.
  • Cóbh, Ireland – formerly known as Queenstown
  • Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh) – previously Dacca
  • Daegu – formerly Dalgubeol
  • Dobrich - known as Bagarzic between 1913–1940, Tolbuhin between 1945-1990. It was known Hacıoğlu Pazarcık during Ottoman rule
  • Dushanbe- known as Stalinabad between 1929-1961 and renamed Dushanbe after the Destalinization period in the Soviet Union.
  • Dún Laoghaire, Ireland – formerly known as Kingstown
  • Faisalabad was known as Lyallpur (until 1970s) in Pakistan
  • 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
  • İstanbul 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 1946 (along with other cities in East Prussia)
  • Kanpur, India – formerly known as Cawnpore
  • Katowice in Silesia, Poland was Stalinogród between 1953 and 1956
  • Kenora, Ontario, Canada from Rat Portage in 1905.
  • 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.
  • Kirov, Russia – formerly Vyatka
  • Kitchener, Ontario was known as Berlin until 1916; it was changed due to hostility toward Germany in World War I. See Berlin to Kitchener name change
  • Klaipėda from Memel in 1945
  • Kochi, India – formerly Cochin.
  • Kota Kinabalu from Jesselton in 1968
  • Kollam, India – formerly Quilon.
  • Krasnodar – formerly Ekaterinodar
  • Kuressaare, Estonia – was named Kingissepa after an Estonian communist Viktor Kingissepp during the Soviet occupation, but was renamed Kuressaare again in 1988.
  • Lake Station, Indiana, from East Gary, to disassociate itself from the adjacent city of Gary.
  • Lubumbashi, formerly Élisabethville
  • 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
  • Montana, Bulgaria - known as Kutlovitsa until 1890, Ferdinand between 1890–1945, Mihaylovgrad between 1945–1993
  • Mumbai, India – formerly known as Bombay
  • Nawabshah formerly known as Benazirabad in Pakistan.
  • New York – formerly New Amsterdam (see History of New York City)
  • Nizhny Novgorod was Gorky during the Soviet Union.
  • Orenburg was renamed Chakalov from 1938-1957, after Valery Chkalov and renamed to Orenburg in 1957.
  • Oslo, Norway renamed Christiania when rebuilt after fire in 1624. Spelled Kristiania between 1877-1925 when the name returned to Oslo.
  • 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
  • Portlaoise, Ireland – formerly Maryborough.
  • Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada from Pile O' Bones or Pile-of-bones in 1882 in what was then the North-West Territory.
  • Rijeka from Fiume in 1945
  • Saltcoats, Saskatchewan, Canada from Stirling in what was then the North-West Territories.
  • Samara, Russia, renamed to Kuibyshev from 1935-1991, after Valerian Kuibyshev and renamed Samara in 1991.
  • Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic was renamed to Ciudad Trujillo between 1936 and 1961 in a drive of personality cult around the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo that also affected Pico Duarte (renamed Pico Trujillo), several provinces, and other Dominican features.
  • Seoul – formerly "Hanyang" (in 1392), then Hanseong (in 1395), Gyeongseong (in 1914) and renamed Seoul in 1946.
  • Sahiwal formerly known as Montgomery in Pakistan.
  • Shenyang – formerly Mukden, Fengtian (奉天) or Shengjing (盛京).
  • 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.
  • Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in 1970 from the merger of twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur.
  • Tokyo – formerly Edo, until it became the capital of Japan in 1868
  • Tolyatti $ndash; formerly known as Stavropol on the Volga In 1964, it was renamed to Tolyatti after Palmiro Togliatti
  • 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.
  • Ventura, California, originally San Buenaventura, New Spain and Mexico
  • Virden, Manitoba, Canada from Manchester
  • Vladivostok – formerly 海參崴 (pinyin: Hǎishēnwǎi) when it was under Qing Dynasty China sovereignty, until it was ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Beijing.
  • Volgograd – originally Tsaritsyn, Stalingrad between 1925 and 1961.
  • Wrocław– in German Breslau, when part of Germany, until 1945.
  • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from Fort Garry in 1873.
  • Xi'an – formerly Chang'an (长安), "Sian", Chang'an was the ancient name for the city when it was the capital of China until the name was changed to Sian.
  • 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)
  • Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk was named Toyohara under Japanese rule between 1905 and 1945, but before that was Vladimirovka, a Russian settlement before the Russo-Japanese war.
  • Zhob, Pakistan was renamed from Fort Sandeman in 1976.[3]
  • Zlín in the Czech Republic was called 'Gottwaldov' during the communist rule.

Unusual name changes

Naming disputes

Sea of Japan naming dispute

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2005/yax-491.htm
  2. ^ "Full text of white paper on history, development of Xinjiang". Xinhua. Chinese Embassy, Ottawa. 2003-10-24. http://www.chinaembassycanada.org/eng/zt/zfbps/t37787.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-23. 
  3. ^ http://www.balochistanpolice.gov.pk/zhob.php

External links


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