Published 22:54 IST, June 11th 2020
Tamil Nadu govt changes names of 1018 places; Coimbatore is now Koyampuththoor
The Tamil Nadu government has changed the spellings/names of 1,018 places in the state closer to their Tamil origin as their current names are anglicised.
The Tamil Nadu government has changed the spellings/names of 1,018 places in the state closer to their Tamil origin as their current names are anglicised. The initiative was taken by the Tamil Development Ministry in the year 2018 and many Tamil linguistic experts along with the district administration were part of this work to change the names of the districts/areas to have the exact Tamil sound while pronounced in English. Most of the names of the areas and districts are named in Tamil even before the British era and some names have been changed by the later governments.
Names changed to reflect Tamil sound
The names were kept based on geography, demography, and other local factors in the particular district or area. But most of the Tamil names sounded different when they were pronounced in English and hence the state government decided to change the names in a way that could give Tamil sound even while pronounced in English. Triplicane in Chennai is an English word coined by the colonial rulers and the actual name is Thiruvallikeni, which means a lotus pond of the famous temple at the locality.
The name Triplicane was changed to Thiruvallikeni long back and informed in the government gazette. Every area and district has such a factor behind it. The detailed government gazette which was dated April 1, 2020, and which was released on Wednesday mentions the existing name and the newly recommended names of the areas and districts, starting from many important areas within Chennai city to a small village in Madurai.
Some of these new names include-
Coimbatore - Koyampuththoor
Ambattur - Ampaththoor
Nagercoil - Nagerkovil
Vellore - Veeloor
Dindigul - Thindukkal
Tuticorin - Thoothukkudi
Karur - Karoor
Vepery - Vepperi
Saidapet - Saidapettai
Alandur - Aalandhoor
Mylapore - Mayilappoor
The government had also asked the district administration and the local bodies to start changing the names as they have got the instruction from the government. The gazette has also asked various departments to work together to accomplish this job on changing the newly recommended names by the high-level committee. However, the government is also facing heat on releasing such a GO during the time of the pandemic where all the departments are busy in combatting the coronavirus situation in the state. It is also a major trend among the netizens of Tamil Nadu and has given a topic of discourse, to share jokes and memes on the new recommended names which are complex to write, as they are used to the existing names.
(Image credits: PTI)
Updated 22:54 IST, June 11th 2020