--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 17:28:14 +0100
From: Francis Herbert <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: RE: Calcutta Changes Name to Kolkata <fwd>
Sender: Francis Herbert <[log in to unmask]>



Paul Stout brings to our attention a recent Indian *state*-promulgated
intended name-form change.  This is is not yet, however, a *federal* Indian
agreed change.  As such the [British] 'Permanent Committee on Geographical
Names for British official use' cannot yet recommend or promulgate
"Kolkata".  What is the position of your US Board on Geographic Names?  I
ask this before map-makers leap in with an unofficial name change.

Sincerely
Francis Herbert (Curator of Maps [and quite a lot of gazetteers], RGS-IBG,
London)
[log in to unmask]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Johnnie Sutherland [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 06 August 1999 20:43
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Calcutta Changes Name to Kolkata <fwd>
>
> --- Begin Forwarded Message ---
> Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:45:45 -0500
> From: Paul Stout <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Calcutta Changes Name to Kolkata
> Sender: Paul Stout <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> In case you missed it, you might be interested in the following article
> from Associated Press, July 21, 1999.
>
> "Calcutta will soon join a rising number of Indian cities trying to
> shrug off their colonial legacy by reverting to its indigenous name.
> The capital of India's West Bengal state will be known by the Bengali
> version of its name, Kolkata, as of next month when it celebrates its
> 309th birthday, the state legislature decided Tuesday.
>
> "The house also motioned to change the state's name from West Bengal to
> Bangla, but the motion requires approval from both the parliament and
> the president.  All government departments and agencies will change
> their names to comply with the directive, made after more than 50 years
> of independence from Great Britain.  "It's a red letter day because we
> have not only freed ourselves from the colonial hangover, but also
> rendered justice to history," Beddhadev Bhattttacharjee, West Bengal's
> information minister said.
>
> "Bombay, India's financial capital, was renamed Mumbai three years ago
> by the Hindi nationalist Shiv Sena government.  Most Indians, though,
> still call it Bombay.  Many other cities followed its example.  Madras
> in southern India was renamed Chennai, and Trivandrum was changed to
> Thiruvananthapuram.  For Calcutta, the change may not be so big.
> Bengali speakers have always called it Kolkata, preferring the local
> pronunciation."
>
> Columbia Gazetteer of the World, 1998, has entries for Mumbai (1995) and
> Chennai (1996) and several other renamed Indian cities.  However there
> is no entry for Kolkata.  Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd
> ed., 1997, has an entry for Mumbai, but not for Chennai.
>
> Also proposed is a name change for Delhi (an anglicism) to Dilli (the
> Hindi form).  If that happens, India's four largest cities will be
> renamed.
>
> Paul Stout
> Map Librarian
> Ball State University
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