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 Sponsor ship deal or publicity stunt
A change might see a completely different name being adopted or may simply be just a slightly different spelling.
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. Karunakarak.
- 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
- Gdańsk – changed to the Polish version of the name from the German Danzig after WWII.
- 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
- 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 {Link without Title}
- 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
- 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 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 ).
- 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, 2005 {Link without Title}
- 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 .
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