Nauru, 3rd smallest country, changes name to Naoero, reflecting native pronunciation

Tiny pacific island, which will put its new name on soon-to-be-opened embassy in Jerusalem, says change looks to ‘faithfully honor our nation’s heritage, our language, our identity’

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said Monday, 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 would return the remote South Pacific island nation to its traditional name, a statement posted Thursday to 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 one of choice, according to an earlier government statement.

“This proposed change seeks to more faithfully honor our nation’s heritage, our language, and our identity,” President David Adeang 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 wasn’t immediately clear if the document had been formally amended.

With 12,000 residents, Nauru is the world’s third-smallest country by population size, after Tuvalu and Vatican City.

The tiny coral limestone atoll was colonized 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 Nauru to the brink of economic ruin in the 1990s.

Now, the country is one of the world’s most at risk from rising seas due to climate change, prompting the government to seek overseas investment through a paid citizenship program 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 wasn’t 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 United Nations in 2022 to begin calling the country Türkiye, which the nation had long gone by at home.

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

The new name will presumably be on a new embassy that will be opened in Jerusalem.

The tiny island nation was described last month by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s office as “a true friend of Israel,” as he announced that it will open an embassy in Jerusalem, in what would be its first embassy in Israel. The nation, which recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2019 and has been a firm supporter of the Jewish state in international forums, has yet to formally announce the move.

The website of the United Nations 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.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.