Otterblog

Amid all the horror of the terrorist attacks in India was a question that is both important and picayune: What do we call the city where the attacks took place: The city is Mumbai. It used to be called Bombay. Some people still call it that. The Associated Press, for example, whose style book we typically defer to on questions of international style, uses Bombay. The New York Times, the BBC, the Washington Post, by contrast, use Mumbai, although frequently their stories contain a line that says the city used to be called Bombay. The city officially changed its name in the late 1990s.

We had a discussion about this, and decided to go with Mumbai. There’s an argument to be made that worrying about what to call a city that has just endured a massive terrorist attack is silly and trivial in times of crisis. But it isn’t. Names matter. And what we call things matter. And there’s often a story behind naming and name changes that speaks to power and control. Those with longer memories may remember the battle over the name of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. (We refer to it as Joel Coliseum in the Journal.)

From a newspaper style standpoint, there’s a balance between convention, clarity and convenience. The convention is that generally speaking, we err on the side of people or institutions being able to determine what they’ll be called. Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, Integon became GMAC, Forsyth Memorial Hospital became Forsyth Medical Center, etc. Where we might adjust is if we think a new name is confusing or inconsistent. Some public schools are still called schools. Others are called academies. We try to call them all schools. Same with the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center. We call it the Forsyth County Jail.