Nauru officially changes its name to Naoero

The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language.

The country’s international code will change from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero.

The move returns the remote South Pacific island nation to its traditional name, a statement posted on the government’s Facebook account said. The country became known internationally as Nauru only because its local name was difficult for foreigners to pronounce and was a matter of convenience rather than choice, according to an earlier government statement.

“This proposed change seeks to more faithfully honour our nation’s heritage, our language, and our identity,” President David Adeang had said when he proposed the move to parliament in January. The suggested constitutional amendment has been endorsed by lawmakers in the requisite two rounds of voting, though it was not immediately clear if the document had been formally amended.

With 12,000 residents, it is the world’s third-smallest country by population size, after Tuvalu and Vatican City. The tiny coral limestone atoll was colonised by Germany and later administered by Australia before becoming an independent republic in 1968.

It has faced tumultuous circumstances, with phosphate mining creating huge wealth on the island in the 1970s before the industry collapsed, bringing it to the brink of economic ruin in the 1990s.

Now, the atoll is one of the world’s most at risk from rising seas due to climate breakdown, prompting the government to seek overseas investment through a paid citizenship programme intended to fund the movement of people and infrastructure away from the encroaching ocean.

The name change indicated “the beginning of renewed national pride”, Adeang said in his latest announcement. When his government last voted for the move in May, the president announced a referendum to confirm it.

The government said in last week’s statement that after “extensive discussions”, lawmakers had decided a public vote was not needed.

“While a referendum is intended to determine the will of the people, the name Naoero has never been lost, but rather waiting to be fully embraced,” the statement said.

The designation “is already the identity of the people, is on the national coat of arms, and spoken in the community; and importantly is allowed by the constitution,” it added.

The move makes the country the latest to signal a shift away from a colonial past by changing its name. The tiny African kingdom of Eswatini reverted its name from Swaziland in 2018. Other countries have sought the switch as a sort of rebrand, as Turkey did when Ankara asked the UN in 2022 to begin calling it Türkiye, as it had long gone by at home.

Naoero’s decision will prompt the renaming of its national aircraft and ships. The government was already seeking to have other countries and international institutions recognise the shift, its statement said.

The website of the UN records the country by its new name, noting the government had requested it be changed in June. Australia and New Zealand’s foreign ministries as well as the US and Chinese embassies in the region also designate the country as Naoero on their websites.