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   OpenCage (opencage@en.osm.town)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 02:16:27 JST OpenCage

   Let's close out the week with a #geoweirdness thread about a topic that we endlessly battle with: places with multiple names.

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   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     OpenCage (opencage@en.osm.town)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 02:18:11 JST OpenCage

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     6/ Many, many naming disputes are political in nature.

     A famous example in the English speaking world: Depending on political persuasions the Northern Irish city is known as either “Londonderry” or “Derry”.

     It’s complex, and well worth a read up on:
     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry/Londonderry_name_dispute

     #geoweirdness

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     OpenCage (opencage@en.osm.town)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 02:18:12 JST OpenCage

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     5/ Sometimes language changes. A famous example is Beijing 🇨🇳, known in Chinese as 北京 (North, Capital).

     For much of recent history, dating back to early interactions with the West, it was known as Peking.

     In 1958, China moved away from its ties with the west and adopted the Pinyin writing system, replacing the Wade-Giles romanized transliteration. This marked the end of Peking and the beginning of Beijing!

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing

     https://ruqintravel.com/china-destination-guides/beijing-and-peking/

     #geoweirdness

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     OpenCage (opencage@en.osm.town)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 02:18:13 JST OpenCage

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     4/ Sometimes borders shift. Kaliningrad (Калинингра́д) is a Russian 🇷🇺 semi-exclave on the Baltic coast between Poland 🇵🇱 and Lithuania 🇱🇹.
     Originally an old Prussian settlement, in the 13th century it was invaded by the Teutonic Knights and renamed Königsberg after King Ottokar II.

     After WW2 it was transferred to Soviet control and renamed Kaliningrad, after Soviet leader, Mikhail Kalinin. Later it and became part of Russia.

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad
     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6nigsberg

     #geoweirdness

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     OpenCage (opencage@en.osm.town)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 02:18:15 JST OpenCage

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     3/ Let's dive into some examples

     Many parts of the world are multi-lingual.

     For example the mountainous South Tyrol region of Italy 🇮🇹, close to Austria 🇦🇹. Much of the population speaks German, and calls the area Südtirol. In Italian it is the Alto Adige. Pretty much every town, village, and even street in the region has both a German and Italian name.

     Similar situations exist in other multi-lingual regions

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Tyrol

     #geoweirdness

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     OpenCage (opencage@en.osm.town)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 02:18:16 JST OpenCage

     in reply to

     2/ There are several main reasons why places may have several names:

     a. different names in different languages (ex: Munich / München)

     b. Name changes due to changing borders (bye, bye Czechoslovakia)

     c. Name changes for political reasons ( Bombay / Mumbai)

     https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12099596

     #geoweirdness