Bangalore, Mysore, Other Karnataka Cities to be Renamed on 1 November

Bangalore is all set to become Bengaluru, Mangalore will be called Mangaluru, and Mysore will be renamed to Mysuru.

The central government has approved the renaming of 12 Karnataka cities, eight years after the first proposal by the state government was put forth. The Ministry of Home Affairs formally cleared the proposal on Friday.

The other name changes are as follows - Bellary will be called Ballari, Belgaum will be renamed Belagavi, while Hubli will become Hubballi. Tumkur will become Tumakuru (Tumkur), Bijapur to Vijapura, Chikmagalur to Chikkamagaluru, Gulbarga to Kalaburagi, Hospet to Hosapete and Shimoga will now be known as Shivamogga.

It was late Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy who first brought up the idea of renaming Bangalore during Karnataka's golden jubilee in December 2005, which he suggested to the then chief minister N Dharam Singh.

"I want Brand Bangalore to become Brand Bengaluru. I want the distinctive Kannada syllable 'u' to be on the lips of people all over the world. Let this bit of 'ourness' be part of our international presence," Ananthamurthy, who passed away in August, had said, as reported by Bangalore Mirror.

Bengaluru is said to be a derivation from the older name Benda-Kaal-Uru, which means 'the city of boiled beans'.

It is the Survey of India, which has given the English spellings of the names based on local phonetics.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah will officially announce the new names of the 12 cities on 1 November on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava (Karnataka Formation Day).

The name change issue was put on the back-burner for eight years by the Congress government, mainly because of the sensitive Belgaum issue, as both Maharashtrians and Kannadigas stake claim over it. The renaming of the city to Belgavi, a Kannada name, may once again spark anger in some parts.