Tuesday, July 27, 2010

5 Big Cities That Changed Their Names

The Four Lads sang a song in 1953 about a city that changed its name.
Take me back to Constantinople
No, you can’t go back to Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’

Constantinople isn’t the only city to change its name. I grew up learning about Bombay, Canton, Leningrad, and Saigon (especially Saigon), but those names aren’t used much anymore. Here are the stories of a few city names, new and old, in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

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