Nauru, the third-least populated sovereign nation on the planet with just 12,000, is shaking things up with a rebrand to a more locally-appropriate Naoero, and its demonym from Nauruan to dei-Naoero, President David Adeang announced on the government’s Facebook page last week, the AP reports.
Adeang had considered putting the name change to a referendum but figured the people would be fine with it since Parliament had voted in favor of the change. Naoero is now among several nations to have undergone name changes in the 21st century, most recently the Republic of North Macedonia – who caved and added the “North” after decades of disputes with neighboring Greece alleging misappropriation of its ancient region of the same name. That same year Eswatini ditched “Swaziland” for a more authentically African-sounding name for its absolute monarchy.
Hopefully certain other leaders don’t get the idea that countries can be rebranded fairly easily.