Cities That Have Changed Their Names

Many cities around the world have changed their names over time due to political, historical, or cultural reasons. Below are 25 examples of such name changes, sorted alphabetically by their current name.

• Almaty (formerly Alma-Ata) – Kazakhstan. Name changed in 1993 to reflect local Kazakh roots.
• Beijing (formerly Peking) – China. A change in romanization; the pronunciation in Mandarin remained the same.
• Bratislava (formerly Pressburg, Prešporok) – Slovakia. Renamed in 1919 after Czechoslovak independence.
• Chennai (formerly Madras) – India. Renamed in 1996 to reflect local Tamil heritage.
• Dhaka (formerly Dacca) – Bangladesh. Spelling changed to reflect correct Bengali pronunciation.
• Gdańsk (formerly Danzig) – Poland. Changed after WWII when the city became part of Poland.
• Gaza City (formerly Gaza) – Palestine. Modern name distinguishes the city from the Gaza Strip.
• Harare (formerly Salisbury) – Zimbabwe. Renamed in 1982, two years after independence.
• Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) – Vietnam. Renamed in 1976 after the Vietnam War.
• Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) – Turkey. Changed in 1930 after the founding of the Republic of Turkey.
• Jakarta (formerly Batavia) – Indonesia. Renamed in 1942 during Japanese occupation, kept after independence.
• Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) – Democratic Republic of the Congo. Changed in 1966 after independence.
• Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) – India. Renamed in 2001 to better reflect the Bengali pronunciation.
• Luhansk (formerly Voroshilovgrad) – Ukraine. Original name restored in 1990.
• Lviv (formerly Lwów, Lemberg) – Ukraine. Name has changed depending on ruling nation; current name reflects Ukrainian identity.
• Maputo (formerly Lourenço Marques) – Mozambique. Renamed in 1976 after independence from Portugal.
• Mumbai (formerly Bombay) – India. Official change in 1995 to reflect Marathi language and identity.
• Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana, originally Akmola) – Kazakhstan. Renamed in 2019 to honor former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Reverted to Astana in 2022.
• Oslo (formerly Christiania / Kristiania) – Norway. Name restored in 1925.
• Phnom Penh (formerly Krung Chaktomuk) – Cambodia. Various historical names simplified to modern form.
• Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) – Russia. Returned to its original name in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
• Skopje (formerly Üsküb) – North Macedonia. Modern name reflects Slavic pronunciation.
• Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) – Russia. Changed in 1961 during de-Stalinization.
• Wrocław (formerly Breslau) – Poland. Renamed after WWII when the city became part of Poland.
• Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk) – Russia. Original name restored in 1991.

Name changes often reflect independence, decolonization, political shifts, or a reclaiming of local identity. Some names change back and forth, while others mark a permanent break with the past.