In short:
Nauru has officially changed its name to Naoero.
The country's parliament passed a constitutional amendment to change the name in May without first holding a referendum as expected.
The government said the name was changed to "more faithfully honour our nation's heritage, our language, and our identity".
Nauru officially changes name to Naoero
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-30/nauru-officially-changes-name-to-naoero/106978670
3 Comments
No1@aussie.zone · 5 pts · 29d
Does it change the pronunciation?
I always heard it as na-roo.
eureka@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 29d
I did too. I forget the other recent example I came across, but it always impresses me how incorrectly people just adopt a blatantly bastardised version of a name (people in general, not just Aussies, English-speakers, ... )
Wikipedia has not changed their article name (same with Türkiye) but it has pronunciation guides. I think it's like "Naw-eh-roo" with a rolled r, but that's just me trying to decode IPA.
Zagorath@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 25d
If you're being super strict, that's technically what /r/ means. But in practice, it tends to just get used to mean "your rhotic consonant". That's why you'll note the same symbol is used for that part of the word in both English pronunciations and the Nauruan* pronunciation.
* do we need to update the spelling of the demonym?