Introduction, done and dusted. Now to my article. I recently read Nekessa Opoti's article here about changing names at marriage. I am one for the good old double barrel, not the Brangelina kind, but rather in the fashion of Ogutu-Mwendwa. All the same, that is not what my article is about. This is about changing place names, and while the double barrel may not be possible here, it is just as controversial a subject.

All but the dullest among us (no offence intended) will no doubt have heard that Bombay has vanished off the face of the earth. Not in the fashion of Atlantis of course, but more in the sense that its name has now been changed to Mumbai. There isn't any longer a Calcutta or a Madras, but a Kolkata and Chennai. Also when you fly into South Africa, you no longer have Johannesburg International as your entry point but rather OR Tambo International. Closer home, the spirit of name changes has inspired the graduation of Dr. Congo, although most Swahili speakers stubbornly insist on to Wazaire rather than Wakongo.

That is the difference about place names. Colonialism bequeathed the world a whole array of names that came into force simply because the colonialists found they were easier on the tongue, or the mind. Thus Kolkata became Calcutta, and our country got its name. This spirit of imposition of names informed a complaint I recently heard on a BBC show. The caller accused the corporation of pandering to the vicissitudes of political correctness. Bombay he insisted was the English name of the city of Mumbai, just as Paris is the English rendition of the French capital, and Londres the French name for the British capital. I do know a number of people who will insist on saying Paree but they are in a distinct minority.

This explanation however is simplistic. Most name changes are based on decisions, often controversial ones that are the product of protracted negotiations. Moreover, although they are often matters of political campaigns, they are in the end about identity. It is understandable therefore why a majority rule South Africa would want, in throwing off the chains of its history, to relieve itself of the names of men who subjugated their ancestors and were heroes particularly for their acts against the black population. Further, it seems especially following the death of such important figures as Oliver Tambo, imperative that they be immortalised in an object of national prominence. In many former colonies, these renaming ceremonies were matters of immediacy on independence. The progression from German East Africa to Tanganyika to Tanzania seems fairly obvious and uncontroversial, merely a manifestation of facts on the ground. Similarly in Zimbabwe, none but the most truculent settlers (there are many still) would imagine that Cecil Rhodes should continue to lend his infamous name to that country.

These though are the minority cases. Most of the time, there's a tug of war with large groups representing both opinions, a retention of the present names, and a departure. In South Africa, the city of Pretoria has as a compromise decided to keep the CBD as Pretoria while changing the name of the city to Tshwane. Such decisions are based on the fact that just as with people, name changes for cities and other such places are expensive affairs. From new phonebooks and business cards, to new signs for every school, business and road; it is an expensive undertaking. Still, it is one that many think is necessary and one whose proponents argue pays back in a renewed sense of pride and espirit de corps.

This is especially true of countries that are hungering after a cathartic break with the past. Tones of the Germanic in St Petersburg, made Leningrad so much easier on the Russian tongue. This desire for a break may be residual like in the Indian cases occurring many years after the fetters of colonialism were thrown off, but it often presages a country's presence at the threshold of a new epoch. Is that where we Kenyans are?

My city was once called Port Florence, it has long been redeemed from that shame but it still suffers location on a lake named after the empress Victoria. Lakes Rudolf and Hannington are now historical relics, and I am hoping that Lakes Victoria, Albert and Edward can soon enjoy new leases of life. While we are at it, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport could do with a name change, as could Moi International Airport in Eldoret. I am still counting, two large hospitals, three universities and two main arteries of Nairobi call out for redemption.