Tamil Nadu govt renames over 1,000 places in state to bring anglicised names closer to Tamil pronunciations

Tamil Nadu is set to rename over a thousand places in the state to ensure that the English names can accommodate the chaste Tamil pronunciation of these areas.

For example, ‘Thiruvallikeni’, an old settlement of Chennai, can no longer be written as ‘Triplicane’ in the official spelling; Coimbatore will now be spelled as Koyampuththoor; and Mylapore will now be ‘Mayilaappoor’.

Ambattur, known for housing a large industrial estate in the State, has been rechristened as “Ambaththoor.” A major tier-II city in the northern belt of the State — Vellore — is to be known as “Veeloor”,  The Hindu  reported

The Tamil Nadu government issued a 37-page notification and appended the entire list of 1,018 names of the places, as they are pronounced in Tamil, the present English name corresponding to it, and the change suggested.

The order follows an announcement in the Assembly two years ago that anglicised names of the areas be changed closer to their original names in Tamil, The Hindu report added.

The Times of India  quoted officials in the department of Development of Tamil Language as saying that the changes will be made with immediate effect, however, older official documents will be left as it is.

State Tamil Development director G Vijayaraghavan told the newspaper that the committee that proposed the changes comprised revenue officials, local administration officials, highway officials, and Tamil scholars.

“The idea was to match the spelling of a place’s name with what a common man pronounces,” he said.