List of politically motivated renamings

This article lists times that items were renamed due to political motivations. Such renamings have generally occurred during conflicts: for example, World War I gave rise to anti-German sentiment among Allied nations, leading to disassociation with German names.

A political cartoon lampooning the name change of hamburger meat during World War I

Asia

• Israel: In response to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted in 1975, Israel renamed avenues called "UN Avenue" in Haifa, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv to "Zionism Avenue".^[1]
• Iran: During the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2006, several Iranian groups advocated changing the name of the Danish pastry to "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad".^[2][3]
• Philippines: On September 12, 2012, the Philippine President Benigno Aquino III signed Administrative Order No. 29 renaming parts of the South China Sea "West Philippine Sea". The renamed portions of the sea are within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and contain the islands of Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal, which are disputed among five other countries.^[4]

Indian subcontinent

Further information: List of renamed places in India

Oceania

• Australia: During World War I, jam-filled buns known as Berliners were renamed Kitchener buns, and a sausage product known as "Fritz" was renamed "Devon" (or "luncheon meat").^{[citation needed]}
• New Zealand: In 1998, while the French government was testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific, French loaves were renamed Kiwi loaves in a number of supermarkets and bakeries.

Europe

• Cyprus: Greek-Cypriots began to market Turkish delight as Cyprus delight after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.^[5]
• France:
  • French Revolution: The Committee of Public Safety went so far as to banish all words associated with royalty. A major example of their work was taking Kings and Queens out of playing cards and replacing them with Committee members. It lasted less than a year. It is commonly believed that this was also the time when Aces earned their status as being both the highest card and the lowest card.^[6] Furthermore, over a thousand towns and villages were renamed - an example is Lyon, which was renamed to Commune-Affranchie ("Free Commune" or "Emancipated Commune").^[7]
  • World War I: Coffee with whipped cream, previously known as Café Viennois (Vienna coffee), was renamed Café Liégeois (Coffee from Liège) due to the state of war with Austria-Hungary. This appellation is still in use today, mainly for ice creams (chocolat liégeois and café liegeois).^{[citation needed]}
• Germany: In 1915, after Italy entered World War I, restaurants in Berlin stopped serving Italian salad.^{[citation needed]}
• Greece: Ellinikos kafes 'Greek coffee' replaced Turkikos kafes 'Turkish coffee' on Greek menus in the 1960s^[8][9] and especially after the 1974 Cyprus crisis.^[10]
• Russia:
  • During World War I, Saint Petersburg was renamed 'Petrograd', amounting effectively to a translation of the name from German to Russian.
  • At a meeting on November 16, 2016, with the prime ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, Russia's prime minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested that Americano coffee should be renamed "Rusiano coffee". Also, in 2014, following Moscow's annexation of Crimea, several cafes on the peninsula changed their menus to read "Russiano" and "Crimean", in place of Americano coffee.^[11]
• Spain: After the triumph of Francisco Franco, filete imperial ("imperial beef") became a euphemism for filete ruso ("Russian beef"), "ensaladilla nacional" ("national salad") for "ensaladilla rusa" (Russian salad) and Caperucita Encarnada ("Little Red Riding Hood") for Caperucita Roja (which has the same meaning but loses its hypothetical connotations).^{[citation needed]}
• Ukraine: see Decommunization in Ukraine, Derussification in Ukraine, List of Ukrainian toponyms that were changed as part of decommunization in 2016 and List of streets renamed due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
• United Kingdom:
  • World War I:
    • The German Shepherd was renamed the "Alsatian", and German biscuits were renamed Empire biscuits due to strong anti-German sentiment.
    • The members of the British royal house, a branch of the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, severed ties with their German cousins following several bombing raids on England by the first long-range bomber, the Gotha G.IV starting in March 1917. On July 17, 1917, King George V changed the family's name to the House of Windsor.

North America

• Canada:
  • World War I: the Ontario city of Berlin was renamed Kitchener^[12] and the Saskatchewan town of Strassburg was renamed Strasbourg.^[13]
  • Cold War: the Ontario Stalin Township was renamed by Ontario legislature in 1986 to Hansen Township.^[13][14]
  • In 2025, due to the 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico, many cafes begun renaming the "americano" as "canadiano".^[15][16]
• United States:
  • World War I:
    • The German Spitz was renamed the American Eskimo Dog.
    • In 1918, the town of Germania, Iowa, was renamed Lakota, Iowa.
    • In 1918, the town of New Berlin, Ohio, was renamed North Canton, Ohio.^[17]
    • Sauerkraut was marketed in the US as "liberty cabbage."
    • Salisbury steak was used as an alternative name for hamburgers.
  • Great Depression: In 1928, during the last months of the Calvin Coolidge administration, Congress approved the construction of a dam on the Colorado River southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The press referred to it as "Boulder Dam" as a reference to the construction site, Boulder Canyon. While in Nevada in 1930, Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur referred to the project as "Hoover Dam", a reference to Republican President Herbert Hoover. Following Hoover's defeat by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wilbur's successor, Harold L. Ickes, declared in 1933 that the dam should be called "Boulder Dam". In 1947, the Republican-controlled Congress changed the name back to "Hoover Dam".
  • War on Terror: During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, freedom fries was a short-lived political euphemism for French fries, used by some to express their disapproval of the French opposition to the invasion.^[18] Republican Chairman on the Committee of House Administration Bob Ney renamed French fries "Freedom Fries" in three Congressional cafeterias and the change was originally supported and followed by some restaurants. Usage has since reverted to the original term.
  • List of name changes due to the George Floyd protests, mainly names considered to honor people with allegedly racist views, or which are racially offensive.
  • 2025 Presidential executive order Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness, changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and changing the name of Denali back to Mount McKinley.^[19]

See also

• Geographical renaming
• Inclusive language