AHC: Have a US State change its name

samcster94

Banned
Come to think of it, there is a way to do this, and its now pretty time honored.

Have the USA get taken over by a totalitarian dictatorship that promotes a cult of personality for its leaders. The leadership of the ruling party starts renaming states after the leaders and favored historical figures.
Possibly, but if a new democracy forms later on, then the names are likely to be changed back.
Under a democratic system, it would likely be like removing the word "Commonwealth" or changing technicalities not real changes.
 

Archibald

Banned
Reminds me of France "Loire inférieure" which originally meant "lower Loire" but the inhabitants felt insulted as "inferior Loire". So they changed the department name to "Loire Atlantique".
 
Actually, it's not clear to me that they could do this without the consent of Congress. If Congress specifically admitted the state as "state X" arguably congressional consent is required to change it to "state y."

I can't really see anyone caring enough to vote no if a state election gets a winning majority in that case.
 
Why is it cultural appropriation (and why is this appropriation bad) to name a region after its original population?
For starters, not all of those states are named for the dominant native group, or for any of the groups native to that space in some cases. Furthermore, of them, only Hawaii is a self-designation for the land by the group native to the space so named.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Theoretically, all US states can just change their names to whatever they want, by any mechanism that its electorate finds suitable. In most cases, it would require an amendment to the state's constitution, since the constitution usually sets forth the name of the state, but ultimately this is entirely a question of the law of that state.

Upon a state deciding to change its name, it merely has to notify the Archivist of the US of the change of its name, and the federal government would thereby adjust its records to reflect the state's new name. The USA can't order a state to change its name, not to change its name, or refuse to accept a change of name from a state, even if it's the same name as another state- there's no provision currently that requires that each state have a name unique from that of all others.

As such, this is your AHC: with a POD after 1900, have at least one US State change its name. Which State do you think would be the most feasible candidate, when do you think would be the best time (after 1900) to do this, and what might it change its name to?
Somehow have a surge of anti-British sentiment in the U.S. after 1900 and then have Virginia rename itself to either Jefferson or Madison while North and South Carolina become North and South Calhoun and Georgia renames itself after one of the U.S. Founding Fathers who were from there.
 
For starters, not all of those states are named for the dominant native group, or for any of the groups native to that space in some cases. Furthermore, of them, only Hawaii is a self-designation for the land by the group native to the space so named.

And most of those people don't even call themselves the same names as the states named for them. Most of those states aren't named for the American Indian group in question anyway, but instead named for rivers or other geographical features which in turn are named for the group in question.
 
There have been gripes about "Wyoming" since the name was first chosen, naming the then-territory after a valley in Pennsylvania, a move which was made without consulting the locals and basically passed because no one really cared.

There were a number of attempts to change the name, but they fizzles out in the 30s or so because no one could agree on anything, and people increasingly didn't care - they didn't know that the name came from Pennsylvania, and just figured it was a local Indian name.

I don't know what alternatives were suggested, but some good ideas would have included Arapahoe, Wind River, or Laramie (despite the city)
 
There have been gripes about "Wyoming" since the name was first chosen, naming the then-territory after a valley in Pennsylvania, a move which was made without consulting the locals and basically passed because no one really cared.

There were a number of attempts to change the name, but they fizzles out in the 30s or so because no one could agree on anything, and people increasingly didn't care - they didn't know that the name came from Pennsylvania, and just figured it was a local Indian name.

I don't know what alternatives were suggested, but some good ideas would have included Arapahoe, Wind River, or Laramie (despite the city)
Or, "Big Empty Cold Place"
 
And most of those people don't even call themselves the same names as the states named for them. Most of those states aren't named for the American Indian group in question anyway, but instead named for rivers or other geographical features which in turn are named for the group in question.
Most of these groups have multiple names now. That does not mean that their names have not been appropriated.
 
With all.the hype and kickbacks being discussed for Amazon looking for a city for HQ2...how about a corporation offering a few billion to change a state name?
Pick a small state..you could promise a ton of high paying jobs if they changed names or even "pay" 1 million people 10k each to vote for it which would cost 10 billion and now you have the state of Wal-Mart or Amazon or even Gatesland
 

kernals12

Banned
Washington DC has said it would name itself New Columbia should it become a state. The reason is constitutional, the plan is to have congress cede the land outside the Capitol Building, the White House, the National Mall, and several government office buildings and that land would become a new state.
 
With all.the hype and kickbacks being discussed for Amazon looking for a city for HQ2...how about a corporation offering a few billion to change a state name?
Pick a small state..you could promise a ton of high paying jobs if they changed names or even "pay" 1 million people 10k each to vote for it which would cost 10 billion and now you have the state of Wal-Mart or Amazon or even Gatesland

Topeka used to be called Topikachu before it changed its name to Google. Perhaps they could lead the state of Kansas to change their name to something appropriate like Bezosia (why not?), Kindleland, or perhaps Amazonsas?

But we're getting into corporate dystopia territory. I'm sure after they've done that, the Kansas City Chiefs will change their name to the Bezosia City Chief Executive Officers with a guy dressed as Bezos as their mascot (good for getting around the Native American team naming controversy!). And then Amazon will pay all the players to legally change their names, which will start a wave of corporate name changes in the NFL, so you'll have players like "Johnny Viagra" and "Demetrius Coors-Lite".

Washington DC has said it would name itself New Columbia should it become a state. The reason is constitutional, the plan is to have congress cede the land outside the Capitol Building, the White House, the National Mall, and several government office buildings and that land would become a new state.

I wonder how that would work for taxation and census purposes? Is the First Family the only legal residents? Is the tax rate low or non-existant? What about the tax rates for the President and First Lady?
 
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kernals12

Banned
I wonder how that would work for taxation and census purposes? Is the First Family the only legal residents? Is the tax rate low or non-existant? What about the tax rates for the President and First Lady?
Congress would govern over this area so it would decide.
 
With all.the hype and kickbacks being discussed for Amazon looking for a city for HQ2...how about a corporation offering a few billion to change a state name?
Pick a small state..you could promise a ton of high paying jobs if they changed names or even "pay" 1 million people 10k each to vote for it which would cost 10 billion and now you have the state of Wal-Mart or Amazon or even Gatesland
Wouldn't work...too many people like me that would take the money, but vote how we thought fit. And, they would know this was a possibility...
 
I could easily see someone deciding to rename a state "The Confederate State of XXXXX" in the fight for civil rights, perhaps even changing the state flag to be the rebel battle flag. Arkansas might be the one to do that. Then, to make things even worse, elements of the Arkansas National Guard defy Federal mobilization, and stand, flag of treason flying, defying the 101st airborne as they escort the Little Rock Nine to school.
 
I could easily see someone deciding to rename a state "The Confederate State of XXXXX" in the fight for civil rights, perhaps even changing the state flag to be the rebel battle flag. Arkansas might be the one to do that. Then, to make things even worse, elements of the Arkansas National Guard defy Federal mobilization, and stand, flag of treason flying, defying the 101st airborne as they escort the Little Rock Nine to school.

I don't think they'd change the state flag to any flag associated with the CSA. Certainly they might put the battle flag on their state flag (see Georgia), but they'd probably want some level of state distinction and symbolism (plus it would make other Southern states not happy that Arkansas was stealing the flag like that).

It does seem like changing the full name of the state to something like that would be something a Civil Rights era segregationist politician would come up with.
 
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