Nauru plans referendum on renaming itself Naoero

Nauru, the world’s smallest republic, may soon change its official name to Naoero.

President David Adeang told parliament in January that the switch would more faithfully honour the nation’s heritage, language and identity. Parliament passed the proposal without opposition, and the island’s roughly 13,000 residents will now vote in a referendum on whether to make the change official.

Naoero, pronounced Now-ero, is the name Nauruans use in their own language. Nauru, commonly pronounced Now-roo, became the official name because the Indigenous term could not be properly pronounced by foreign tongues, the government said. It added that the name was changed not by choice but for convenience.

The remote island, about 3,000 km north-east of Australia and covering 21 square km, has a history of name changes. In 1798 a British seafarer named it Pleasant Island. After Germany annexed it in 1888, the name Nauru entered official records, though variants such as Nawodo and Navoda Onawero were also used. Australia took over administration in 1919 and kept the Nauru spelling, which remained after independence in 1968.

Scholars of Indigenous placenames say such changes are never only about spelling. Zoltán Grossman, a professor of geography and Native American studies at Evergreen State College, said changing names has long been part of exercising colonial power. Changing placenames has been an integral part of colonialism to erase the presence of the original peoples, he said. It is not just about the names themselves, but about who has the power to change them.

The Nauruan government has pointed to other countries that have changed their official names to better reflect local language, including Türkiye, formerly Turkey, and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland. It also cited the Micronesian state Chuuk, which until 1990 was widely known as Truk.

Jordan Engel, founder of the Decolonial Atlas, said there is growing momentum to use Indigenous names for landmarks and places. At its core, decolonisation is about self-determination, and one of the most basic expressions of self-determination is being able to speak your language and use your ancestral placenames, he said.

Nauruan wrestler Arcmen Willis, who has represented the country internationally, supports the change. He hopes non-Nauruans will make the effort to pronounce the new name correctly. It is good to keep our identity, he said, because once it is gone, there will be no more Nauru or Naoero.

Unesco classifies the Nauruan language, or dorerin Naoero, as severely endangered. While Nauruans speak it among friends and family, it is not taught in schools. Engel said a name change to Naoero can help protect the language for future generations. Changes like this can play an important role in language revitalisation and cultural continuity, he said.

The name Naoero has already been adopted by the postal service, national health service and utility provider. The Australian high commission uses both names in its public communications. Willis said the change matters most in how the country is recognised from afar. At home, he said, it carries less weight. I feel the same, because it is only the name change, he said. It does not change me.