One of the world's tiniest countries just made a big change to its name. The Pacific island nation long known internationally as Nauru will now be called the Republic of Naoero, restoring its Indigenous name in a bid to reinforce national identity and culture, reports Reuters. President David Adeang said a planned referendum on the name change had been scrapped after lawmakers concluded that Naoero "is not a new name seeking acceptance," noting it already appears on the country's coat of arms, is widely used in the community, and is permitted under the constitution.
The change reverses a colonial-era adjustment: European visitors had altered the pronunciation and spelling to "Nauru." Citizens will now be known as "dei-Naoero," and the nation's international code will shift from NRU to NRO, per People. The AP notes that "commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of 'Now-roo,' the new name is spoken as 'Now-ero.'" With a population of about 12,000, the microstate is the world's third-smallest country, after Vatican City and Monaco, per Reuters. Adeang framed the move as rooted in heritage rather than politics, saying it's about honoring ancestors and shaping the future for younger generations.
Both the AP and the New York Times note that other nations have backed away from their colonized names or done similar rebrands, including Swaziland's switch to Eswatini in 2018, and Turkey's more recent move to Turkiye. "While countries may now be independent economically and politically, they are often still living with the legacy of the cultural and linguistic impositions of their colonizers," University of Tennessee geography professor Derek Alderman tells the Times. "Name changes, in this respect, are part of the process of repairing some of that cultural and linguistic damage and asserting a return to a precolonial identity." Naoero leadership has begun notifying foreign governments and international organizations as the transition to the new name proceeds, per Reuters.
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