I personally like to minimize name changes as much as possible because usually, the current name Just Works and I don’t really think it’s worth it to break muscle memory or replace signage and stuff.
Marginally related; what is it with American stadiums being named after big companies? And when the naming rights expire, people just have to get used to the new name??
edit: I’m primarily focusing on organizations and places and anything that isn’t a single individual person changing names, to be clear
Come to think of it, I don’t hear about it as often as I probably should.
Government officials, the news and people in other professional contexts call it Gqeberha, frequently struggling with the click sound, even when a “k” sound will suffice.
Otherwise, I still hear people call it “P.E.”
“Port Elizabeth” was still kind of a mouthful
People I meet from the Eastern Cape just say they’re from “the Eastern Cape”, because unfortunately most people don’t know where Nxuba or Makhanda is.
Hell, a lot of people think Gqeberha/P.E. is the capital city of the Eastern Cape. (Bhisho is the capital)
I can definitely see a Derry/Londonderry situation forming regarding the city’s name. I prefer the name Port Elizabeth though, I have a thing for feminine given names and linguistics. Oh, and that linguistics obsession of mine has granted me the ability to do the Gq-click. And I’m not even South African!
And my brain is still obsessed with trying to ask as many South Africans as possible about the city’s name so… thank you for the answer, haha