The latest place to change its name in India is West Bengal, which will soon be called Bangla in Bengali and Bengal in English. One of the more recent city name changes in India was Gurugram (Gurgaon). Chennai, Mumbai, Odisha and Puducherry are other examples from India, while abroad, there are countries such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar, to name just two. The changes came about for various reasons – to shed colonial influences, to reflect what is seen as a place’s ‘original’ heritage. In the case of Istanbul, it was the Turkish Postal Service Law that decided matters. After the Republic of Turkey was created in 1923, and this law was passed in 1930, the Postal Service requested other foreign countries to stop referring to the city by other traditional non-Turkish names such as Constantinople and to adopt Istanbul as the official name of the city. Letters or packages sent to “Constantinople” would not be delivered, it warned.

That being the case, do you know that several cities, mostly in the US, have changed their names for marketing and promotion? A town called Hot Springs in the state of New Mexico changed its name to Truth or Consequences after the host of a radio show by that name promised to broadcast an episode from the first town to rename itself after the show. There was a vote and the name of the town was changed in 1950. It continues to be called so.

In 2010, Topeka, Kansas changed its name to Google for a month when the Internet company was scouting for cities to test its fibre-optic technology. According to CNN, the then mayor of the city believed that younger residents of Kansas’ capital city would benefit from faster Internet connections, and that they would stay in the city and contribute to its economic growth.

Clark, Texas went ahead to rename itself Dish as part of a deal with Dish Network, a satellite TV company, in 2005. The company promised free basic services and installation and equipment. Clark was itself a rather new town, incorporated in the year 2000 by Landis Clark, who served as its first mayor.

In 2000, the year of the dotcom bubble, Halfway, a town in Oregon, agreed to change the town’s name to half.com, after an Internet startup of the same name, for one year in exchange for 20 computers and other monetary benefits. Soon after the town publicised the name change, eBay purchased half.com for $300 million.

The tiny town of Speed in Victoria, Australia, changed its name to Speedkills for a month to promote the cause of road safety. Victoria’s Transport Accidents Commission said that if 10,000 Facebook users supported the change of name, it would go through, and that it would donate $10,000 to the local Lions Club. Residents agreed as they were tired of people speeding through their small town as if no one lived there.

Compiled by Sravanthi Challapalli

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW