Please Select New City Name: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* The main setting of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' was renamed from Onigafuchi to Hinamizawa, removing the "oni" (demon) part of the name—a reference to the villagers' beliefs that they were part demon—in the process.

 

* ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to the Future]]'' likes to do this with street names and points of interest. An "it's on John F. Kennedy Boulevard" in 1958-era Hill Valley just gets blank looks, [[Sarcasm Mode|no idea why]], as the street does already exist – just under another name.

 

* In the backstory of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the city of Minas Ithil ("Tower of the Moon") was renamed Minas Morgul ("Tower of Black Sorcery") when it was overrun by the forces of [[Big Bad|Sauron]]. In response, its sister city, Minas Anor ("Tower of the Sun") was renamed Minas Tirith ("Tower of Guard").

** Similarly, the original Minas Tirith from the Silmarillion was on Tol Sirion (The Island of the Sirion, i.e. the Sirion river). After being taken over by Morgoth, and used by Sauron to breed werewolves, was renamed Tol-in-Gaurhoth or Isle of Werewolves.

* In ''[[Tigana]]'' by [[Guy Gavriel Kay]], the titular city-state is much damaged and renamed Lower Corte years before the opening of the book. Even the memory of that name is magically expunged from virtually everyone who didn't live there. The main plot of the book is about a quest to restore the city and its name.

 

* In ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'', through a variety of clues as to location plus [[Word of God]], fans have deduced that at some point between now and [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], Boston changes its name to Corinth.

 

* ''[[Traveller]]: The New Era'' gives us an example involving ''planets'' - the Reformation Coalition gave several of its planets new names relating to its philosophy of hope and rebirth, to make the point that the Imperium (the source of the former names) was gone and not coming back.

* The capital of Karameikos, a nation from the [[Mystara]] D&D setting, was changed from Specularum to Mirros by royal decree. In-character, this was done because "Specularum" was a name imposed by the Thyatians and raised bad feelings among the Traladaran populace, whom King Stephan wanted to appease; out-of-character, it's because one of TSR's female employees pointed out that "Specularum" sounds unpleasantly like a [[Women's Mysteries|gynecological implement]].

 

* The [[Trope Namer]] is a standard fixture of [[4X]] games like ''Civilization''. When founding any new city, or in some games when conquering an enemy one, the player is asked to issue a new name.

** ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'' has a few times in the campaign where this is done automatically. For instance if a certain offscreen NPC is killed in combat, then the next enemy city you take will be renamed in her honor.

* ''[[Half-Life]]'': When the Combine took over Earth they renamed cities to things like City 17.

 

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'': Strong Bad says that one of the requirements for becoming an officially licensed unlicensed seller of cheap Strong Bad and The Cheat knock-off merchandise is that it has to be made in a country that's changed its name at least five times since Strong Bad was in seventh grade. This is spoken over a visual of a country getting its name crossed off and replaced five times (Gunkistan → East Paunch → Republic of Wad → Double G → West Paunch → Guttenberg).

 

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'':

** After almost a year of occupying Azure City, Redcloak renamed it "Gobbotopia" as part of a plan to create a stable monster state.

** The Western Continent's nation-states and cities are constantly changing names around once a year, as that's how long it takes the average tyrant to be overthrown and [[Meet the New Boss|replaced by another tyrant]].

 

* Used in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. The city of Omashu was originally named after its founders; the secret lovers Oma and Shu, who united their warring villages to create the city. However, when it gets taken over by the [[The Empire|Fire Nation]] it is renamed as "The City of New Ozai".

 

** Bechuanaland became Botswana. In ''The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' TV adaptation {{spoiler|Grace references this when complaining the office does not have a computer}}.

* Likewise:

* Colonies tend to get rid of their master's name on independence, although frankly that's about as much because the old names have become inaccurate as that the locals don't like them.

*** It's not always so cut-and-dry, though. British East Africa was renamed Kenya in 1920, decades before independence, and Equatorial Guinea bore its current name during the last few years of Spanish rule in the 1960s.

 

=== Australia / Oceania ===

* Bendigo in Victoria, Australia was officially named Sandhurst in the 19th century. However, all attempts to use "Sandhurst" failed; the government eventually gave up and let it be known as Bendigo.

* Not a city, but the island/state Tasmania in Australia, was named after the first European to see it, Dutchman Abel Tasman. However, Tasman originally named it Anthony van Diemen's Land after his patron and when it was controlled by the British it was shortened to Van Diemen's Land. 200 years after Tasman named it, it was renamed Tasmania after him.

* German-named places in Australia had their names changed during the war (in 1917) as well. Some changed back (like Hahndorf, SA, which temporarily became Ambleside), others didn't (Blumburg became Birdwood, SA)

{{quote|''To hell with Hitler, we came up with our name first''|town sign during [[WWII]]}}

** Parodied with a [[CBC]] [[Sitcom]] titled ''[[The Good Germany]]'', about the town council of the fictional town of Germany, ON. The [[Title Drop|title is referenced]] in a [[World War II]]-era banner in the council's meeting room.

** More of the same when the city of Galt merged with Preston and Hespeler - resulting in the city of Cambridge, Ontario.

** Toronto Township (and the towns of Port Credit, Malton and Streetsville) [https://web.archive.org/web/20200810194042/https://www.insauga.com/when-mississauga-was-toronto are now Mississauga] – named for a native first nation which sold muddy York town officials the land for £1000 (at prices so low, [[Insane Proprietor|we're crazy]]!) back in 1805. They couldn't change status from "township" to "city" without changing the name, as a City of Toronto already existed one county away.

** And Ville-Marie is now [[Montreal]], and Fort Garry is now Winnipeg (although in both cases there are districts of the city in question with those names).

* In some places, French or native names have been replaced with English names due to colonisation: Cataraqui (as a French outpost in 1673) is now Kingston, Ontario.

* Street names often change when a once-independent suburb is annexed to the larger city, as every takeover or merger leaves duplicated name between the former municipalities. Ottawa annexed everything within the Ottawa-Carleton regional county line, leaving streets with names like "Manotick Main" or "Osgoode Main", but sometimes a road is simply renamed outright.

 

====Further south====

* Colonies tend to get rid of their master's name on independence (for reasons that have about as much to do with accuracy as with pride).

** Averted by French Guiana - the official name is "Guyane" but the territory remains part of France.

 

 

====Vietnam====

 

==== Elsewhere in Asia====

** Burma/Myanmar is a bit of a confusing case, since both names are effectively the same word in Burmese. Myanmar (pronounced Myama) is simply a more formal version of Burma (pronounced Bama).

* Likewise:

*** Persia is a Greek exonym, the Persians/Iranians have been calling themselves some version of 'Irani' as long as they've been a distinct group.

* Colonies tend to get rid of their master's name on independence (for reasons that have as much to do with accuracy as with pride).

* The city of [[wikipedia:Bangkok#Full name|Bangkok]] had its name changed back in the late 1700s. Nobody outside of Thailand uses the new name, which happens to be [[Overly Long Name|"Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit"]], which translates to [[Overly Long Name|"The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam"]]. No wonder most people stick to "Bangkok" (if they're foreigners) or abbreviate it to its first two or three words (if they're Thai).

* Singapore—formerly Temasek.

** An interesting example in that it was permanently changed by a colonist, Sang Nila Utama, who named the place after [[Misplaced Wildlife|an animal he reckoned had to be a lion]]—hence ''Singa''(lion)-''pura''(city).

* An ongoing example is what to call the land that was (indisputably) called Palestine up until 1948. Most Palestinians (and indeed most Arabs and even most Muslims, if they're politically inclined) will refer to the whole thing (including what's now Israel) as Palestine; certain Israelis (including the areas under dispute—and sometimes even ''Jordan'') will refer to the whole thing as "the Land of Israel" (''Eretz Yisrael'' in Hebrew), and no matter what you call it, it has political overtones. The region currently governed by Israel<ref>Although the international community universally regards the area as occupied, the situation is more complicated in Israel; many ultranationalist and religious groups regard it as an integral part of Israel, and prefer the term "disputed territories" when they are forced to recognize that there are a few million Arabs living there who would rather not be ruled by Israel. As a result, even what to call the ''status'' of this area--uncontroversial everywhere else--is a politically sensitive topic in Israel. Of course as they say, of course, "[[Jews Love to Argue|two Israelis, three opinions]]."</ref> which borders the Dead Sea is known as the "West Bank"<ref>It's the western side of the River Jordan, for the confused; the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is the "East Bank", as it were.</ref> by the Palestinian authorities and the international press, while in Israel it is known as "Judea and Samaria"—unless you want to strike a moderate, conciliatory tone towards the Palestinians, in which case it's "the Territories" or the "West Bank" again.

** Another example of the international spelling changing to reflect the actual name of the place instead of what Europeans heard.

* Taiwan is referred in all official documents of the political body ruling it as "The Republic of China", but there have been pushes of varying seriousness to remove all references to that term. It's referred to variously as "Chinese Taipei" or "China Taipei" in international sporting events.

** The lack of a name change is justified by [[Chinese With Chopper Support]]: if Taiwan asserts its independence, [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]].

* The capital city of South Korea was originally ''Hanseong'' (City [by] the Han [River]). When Korea was annexed by the Japanese in 1910, it was renamed ''Keijou'' or "Castle of the Capital" in Japanese. Korean independence caused it to be renamed Seoul, meaning simply "capital city".

** However, in [[Mandarin]] the name was still a cognate of ''Hanseong'' (''Hànchéng'') up to mid-2000s, when Seoul requested the city should be called ''Shǒu'ěr'', a closely phoneticized form, in Chinese. The shock waves at the time caused ''several local songs to be written'' to [[Ripped from the Headlines|incorporate]] this event.