Kerala To 'Keralam': List of states, UTs whose names have changed since independence

The Kerala Assembly on June 24, 2024, had unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to officially change the State’s name to Keralam.

• Union Cabinet approves Kerala's proposal to change its name
• West Bengal's request to be renamed 'Bangla' not accepted
• Renaming follows India's trend of decolonising state names

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The Union cabinet on Tuesday officially approved a proposal from the Kerala government to rename the state as ‘Keralam’.

The decision, which comes months ahead of the Assembly election, was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the first at the new Prime Minister's Office ‘Seva Teerth’.

While Kerala's proposal has been accepted, West Bengal's demand for changing the State's name to ‘Bangla’ in Bengali, ‘Bengal’ in English and ‘Bangali’ in Hindi, which was raised in 2018, has not been accepted by the Union government as it was opposed to having three names in different languages.

Soon after a meeting of the union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the proposal of Kerala Assembly, she "congratulated the brothers and sisters" in the south Indian state even as she accused the BJP government of not approving West Bengal's proposal because of it being "anti-Bengali".

Mamata’s quick response is seen as Trinamool’s attempt to raise the decibel levels against the BJP in poll-bound West Bengal where her party has been accusing the saffron camp of insulting Bengal icons. She has also used it to target CPI(M) by alleging a relationship between the Left party and the BJP.

The renaming of Kerala marks the latest entry in a long-standing tradition of decolonising and indigenising the names of India’s administrative regions.

Here are the states renamed since Independence:

Uttar Pradesh in 1950: Formerly known as the United Provinces, it was changed to a traditional Indian name shortly after independence.

Tamil Nadu in 1969:Previously Madras State, the name was changed to reflect the specific linguistic identity of Tamil speakers.

Karnataka in 1973:Originally Mysore State, it was renamed to encompass all Kannada-speaking regions within its borders.

Uttarakhand in 2007:Formerly Uttaranchal, the state was renamed based on the long-standing preference of its residents.

Odisha in 2011: Changed from Orissa to match the correct phonetic spelling used in the Odia language.

A list of the renamed UTs:

Lakshadweep in 1973: Formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands

Puducherry in 2006:Renamed from the colonial-era name Pondicherry

National Capital Territory of Delhi in 1992: The Union Territory of Delhi was officially redefined as the NCT of Delhi through the 69th Amendment Act.

Are there any pending name change proposals?

The West Bengal state assembly has repeatedly passed resolutions to change its name to “Bangla". However, the Union government has historically raised concerns regarding its phonetic similarity to Bangladesh in international forums, and the proposal remains a subject of discussion.