A Look At Major Cities That Got New Names After India's Independence

While the wave of name change trend has once again gained prominence in India under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule, the tradition is not a new one. Since its Independence in 1947, India has witnessed several cities being renamed owing to reasons attached to religion and ethnicity. 

Besides, political, historical, and social issues have often played a key role in naming regions in India. For every name change, there is a good number of reasons associated with them. 

While there are over 100 cities and towns which have been renamed or respelled after Indian Independence in 1947, we look at a few of the famous ones:

United Provinces to Uttar Pradesh 

The United Provinces was the first state to have a new name. It was renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950, becoming a constituent state of the Republic of India. 

Soon after the formation of Uttar Pradesh, unrest developed in the Himalayan regions of the state and people in the state felt that the administration sitting in Lucknow would not be able to govern the state’s enormous population. After a series of riots broke out, the new state of Uttaranchal was carved out of the northwestern part of UP.

Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand 

On January 1, 2007, Uttaranchal was renamed as Uttarakhand. Uttaranchal was carved out of UP on November 9, 2000, becoming the 27th state of India. It is said that the name change was a way of paying tribute to those who fought in this state in the name of Uttarakhand Andolan. 

Bombay to Mumbai 

The name of the financial capital of India, Bombay, was changed to Mumbai in 1996. It was the British who gave this city an English name, Bombay, in the 17th century. In 1996, the government decided to change its name to Mumbai as “Mumba” means Maha Amba and Aayi means mother in Marathi. This move of the government maybe just got away with the impact of the British on the Indian states after so many years of Independence.

Calcutta to Kolkata 

In 2001, the anglicised name of the once-British India capital Calcutta was changed to Kolkata. Among other reasons, Bengalese, the larger populace in the state would pronounce the name of the city Kolkata. Further, it also has a resemblance to Kôlikata, the name of one of the three villages that originally existed on the site of the current city. The name of that village and present-day Kolkata are derived from the Bengali word kilkila, which means flat area. 

Madras to Chennai 

Madras was renamed as Chennai in 1996. The name ‘Madras’, derived from the term Madraspattinam, was given to this city by the colonisers. It is believed that both Madras and Chennai have been derived from the towns of Madrasapattinam and Chennapatnam together encompassing the city as we know it today.

There are various theories about the dual etymology of the city, ranging from government reports to local tales carried forward by the older generations residing in the city.

Pondicheery to Pudducherry 

In 2006, the picturesque small French city of Pondicherry got its new name. The literal meaning of Puducherry is ‘new town’. The original name of the territory, Putucceri, is derived from the Tamil words putu (“new”) and ceri (“village”). The French corrupted this to Pondichéry (English: Pondicherry), by which it was called until its name was officially changed to Puducherry in 2006. 

Poona to Pune 

The oldest reference of the city can be found inscribed on a copper plate dating back to 937 BC belonging to Rashtrakuta dynasty that refers to the town as ‘Punya Vishaya’. The British named the city Poona, but it was replaced with a more traditional ‘Pune‘ in 1978.

Benaras to Varanasi

The new name, Varanasi, was given to the old, holy city of Benaras in 1956. Varanasi has been derived from the name of the two rivers: Varuna and Assi. The old speculation about its origin is that the river Varuna itself was known as Varanasi.