The Pacific Island country of Nauru has officially changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, 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 the nation’s heritage, language, and identity, President David Adeang had said when he proposed the move to parliament in January.
With 12,000 residents, Naoero 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.
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.
Naoero’s decision will prompt the renaming of its national aircraft and ships. 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.
