Towns changing names

[Octaviadriver]

Stalingrad is called Volgograd these days

IIRC it was called Tsaritsyn before it became Stalingrad.

Also in Russia, Gorkiy which was famous in Soviet times as being a 'closed' city is now Nizhny Novgorod.

The capital of the modern country of Kyrgyzstan is Bishkek. When it was part of the Soviet Union it was called Frunze, who apparently was a leading light in the Soviet government.

There are thousands of towns and cities across eastern Europe that have changed their names over the centuries, mainly as a result of border and government changes, especially following both world wars. Typical of the region are the former German cities of Königsberg, Memel and Posen that became Kaliningrad, Klaipėda and Poznań when they fell inside the borders of Russia, Lithuania and Poland respectively.

[FosseWay]

I'd assume there are plenty. Just off the top of my head there's Manc, Macc, Brum, Kidder, 'Castle and Skem - if I thought for a bit I could probably come up with more.

Assuming you're referring to Kidderminster there, the only contraction I'm familiar with is Kiddy.

Yes, I grew up five miles north of Kidderminster and the only abbreviation I'm aware of is Kiddy.

The Kolkata change is similar, whereas Mumbai and Chenai were more renamings.

Mumbai is in the same category as Kolkata, Yangon, Beijing etc. - it is a reworking of the earlier English name to make it closer to how the locals call it. M and B are phonetically very close to each other and in some languages are interchangeable. (Compare Italian "Giacomo" and English "James" with M, both of which ultimately stem from Latin "Jacobus" with B, and further back from Hebrew Yakov with V.) Many Indian languages also use forms of consonants that are unfamiliar to most Europeans (I can't remember the technical term - is it occlusive? Viator, you probably know) and which contribute to what sounds like an "Indian" accent to English ears, and it's entirely possible that the initial M of Mumbai was misheard by English colonists.

The irony in this particular case, of course, is that most Indians who speak Hindi or another Indian language as well as English will refer to all three of the above cities by their traditional English name when speaking English.

[exiled]

Mumbai is an interesting case as the state government says it is a respelling, the union government a renaming. Bombay comes from the Portuguese for 'good harbour', but there were settlements named for the goddess Mumbai is named for.

[A181]

S*itlington (near Batley in West Yorkshire) changed its name to Sitlington. Can't think why!

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14 ... rs=171&b=1

became

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14 ... ers=10&b=1

Edit. System won't let me put the full name!!

[Chris Bertram]

It's often said that Richmond-upon-Thames was once called Sheen - but was it? There are certainly settlements nearby called North Sheen and East Sheen, but it's not entirely clear what was present where Richmond now is, before Henry VII had Richmond palace built there - and that was named after his ducal title, derived from Richmond in the North Riding of Yorkshire. So Richmond is in effect a back-formation rather than an original name.

[Helvellyn]

There are thousands of towns and cities across eastern Europe that have changed their names over the centuries, mainly as a result of border and government changes, especially following both world wars. Typical of the region are the former German cities of Königsberg, Memel and Posen that became Kaliningrad, Klaipėda and Poznań when they fell inside the borders of Russia, Lithuania and Poland respectively.

I've no idea about the others but Konigsberg to Kaliningrad looks like a translation rather than a renaming.

[FosseWay]

There are thousands of towns and cities across eastern Europe that have changed their names over the centuries, mainly as a result of border and government changes, especially following both world wars. Typical of the region are the former German cities of Königsberg, Memel and Posen that became Kaliningrad, Klaipėda and Poznań when they fell inside the borders of Russia, Lithuania and Poland respectively.

I've no idea about the others but Konigsberg to Kaliningrad looks like a translation rather than a renaming.

Kaliningrad is named after a Soviet politician, Mikhail Kalinin. It has survived not only Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation of the USSR but also the collapse of the Soviet Union, perhaps because it doesn't have a former Russian name. A Russian translation of Königsberg would be something like "Korol'skaya gora" (king's mountain).

[Bryn666]

Over Darwen settled itself to just being Darwen. Its counterpart, Lower Darwen (where I am from), still remains today although some used to call it Little Darwen apparently.

[Chris Bertram]

Over Darwen settled itself to just being Darwen. Its counterpart, Lower Darwen (where I am from), still remains today although some used to call it Little Darwen apparently.

Well, how many people call Retford by its proper name, East Retford? West Retford over the river retains its identity, but is now effectively a suburb of the larger combined town.

[Chris Bertram]

Falmouth is an interesting case. It's not a Cornish name at all, and the Cornish name, Aberfal, is an after-the-fact contrivance. But it is sometimes stated that an original name for a village on the same site was Peny-cwm-cuic, "Head of the Creek". Pennycomequick in Plymouth is the same name with English spelling. Another story has it that Falmouth was once called Smithwick. Either way, it took its new name from its position on the estuary of the River Fal, the Carrick Roads, once it began to be developed into the port that it remains, with government money.

[Chris Bertram]

Mumbai is an interesting case as the state government says it is a respelling, the union government a renaming. Bombay comes from the Portuguese for 'good harbour', but there were settlements named for the goddess Mumbai is named for.

Bangalore is supposedly now called Bengaluru, but this renaming seems to be failing on all scores. My company, with many thousands of workers in India, and which has deferentially adopted all the other Indian renamings/respellings quite promptly, has stuck with Bangalore here, and the locals all agree.

[wrinkly]

I'm glad somebody has mentioned Königsberg because it means we now have two threads in which the pioneering topological and graph-theoretic discoveries of Leonhard Euler have come up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Bri ... B6nigsberg

viewtopic.php?p=941101#p941101

[RichardA626]

I'm glad somebody has mentioned Königsberg because it means we now have two threads in which the pioneering topological and graph-theoretic discoveries of Leonhard Euler have come up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Bri ... B6nigsberg

viewtopic.php?p=941101#p941101

Though with the current 5 bridges it's possible to cross all 5 without going back on yourself.

[Lockwood]

I wonder how many other towns have diminutives like that.

I've heard people referring to Littlehampton as "L A" (For Li'l 'Ampton)

Staines to Staines Upon Thames was something that kept coming up when I worked up that way. It did become a running joke of how pretentious it sounded.

[Enceladus]

Isn’t Edinburgh also known as Dunedin?

[exiled]

Isn’t Edinburgh also known as Dunedin?

Dùn Èideann is the Gaelic name for the city, following the same pattern as 'Edwin's fort'. Dunedin in New Zealand takes it name from this form of the name.

[owen b]

Staines to Staines Upon Thames was something that kept coming up when I worked up that way. It did become a running joke of how pretentious it sounded.

If I was embarrassed about the name Staines the last thing I'd do is draw even more attention and comedy potential to it by making it sound like there's something wrong with the River Thames.

Someone has been busy updating the Wikipedia entry for Luton since I last read it. It turns out there's been many variations on its name since it was founded in the 6th century : Leatun, Loitone, Lintone, Leueton before settling on Luton.

[WHBM]

Kaliningrad is named after a Soviet politician, Mikhail Kalinin. It has survived not only Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation of the USSR but also the collapse of the Soviet Union, perhaps because it doesn't have a former Russian name.

During the USSR era it was common for many places to be named or renamed after socialist idols of the era, or concepts. As these rose and fell from grace, so they would be renamed.

It was also common for names to be reused across the country. It's particularly noticeable in Metro stations where the same names come up in different cities. Each major city had a Chkalovskaya (a 1930s pioneer aviator, just before the Metros started to be built), and several others.

Tsaritsyn, the major city on the southern Volga, was unacceptable after the Tsars were replaced, so became Stalingrad. After he fell from favour it became Volgagrad. St Petersburg was too western, so became Petrograd (same thing) for a short while, but then Leningrad until the end of socialism, when it was back to the beginning again. Incidentally, the previous names survive; the north side of the city is still "The Petrograd side", and the area province is still Leningrad Oblast. Contrary to much belief, some of the older era characters, in particular Peter The Great, remained in the good books right through the USSR era, the enormous statue of him in the city was never touched, and was zealously safeguarded during the WW2 siege.

[RJDG14]

Mumbai is an interesting case as the state government says it is a respelling, the union government a renaming. Bombay comes from the Portuguese for 'good harbour', but there were settlements named for the goddess Mumbai is named for.

Burma became Myanmar (same letter change), although it's a country instead of a town/city.

I believe Swindon was originally called Swine Town centuries ago, which became Swinton, and subsequently Swindon. The Edwardian settlements of Old Swindon and New Swindon now fall into the umbrella Swindon, although locals still refer to the suburbs as Old Town and New Town, the latter less so now.

[FosseWay]

Kaliningrad is named after a Soviet politician, Mikhail Kalinin. It has survived not only Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation of the USSR but also the collapse of the Soviet Union, perhaps because it doesn't have a former Russian name.

During the USSR era it was common for many places to be named or renamed after socialist idols of the era, or concepts. As these rose and fell from grace, so they would be renamed.

It was also common for names to be reused across the country. It's particularly noticeable in Metro stations where the same names come up in different cities. Each major city had a Chkalovskaya (a 1930s pioneer aviator, just before the Metros started to be built), and several others.

Tsaritsyn, the major city on the southern Volga, was unacceptable after the Tsars were replaced, so became Stalingrad. After he fell from favour it became Volgagrad. St Petersburg was too western, so became Petrograd (same thing) for a short while, but then Leningrad until the end of socialism, when it was back to the beginning again. Incidentally, the previous names survive; the north side of the city is still "The Petrograd side", and the area province is still Leningrad Oblast. Contrary to much belief, some of the older era characters, in particular Peter The Great, remained in the good books right through the USSR era, the enormous statue of him in the city was never touched, and was zealously safeguarded during the WW2 siege.

This was what I meant when I said I was surprised Kaliningrad had retained its name throughout. He was associated with Stalin's regime and therefore the town would have been a candidate for renaming after 1953, and again after the fall of Communism since he appears (from his WP entry) to simply have been a Soviet functionary/leader, and not a national hero like Zhukov.

On St Petersburg/Petrograd I had understood the change as a desire to commemorate more explicitly Peter the Great. St Petersburg, at least on paper, refers to the Apostle - Peter the Great no doubt thought it was appropriate both to give the greatest glory to the saint but at the same time associate his own name with both the city and the saint.