Cities by Former Name - Beyond Thunderdome

Instead we should force native speakers to use and remember names, that are difficult and foreign to them. Because clearly, the view of western people is more important than local identity.

I get your point, but I think that giving the autonomy to the people of the place that live there in how they want to be known is more important than the inconvenience of someone who will likely never go there (especially when both of your examples were places with a history of colonization). In any case, there are tons of cities that have non-English names that English-speakers have nonetheless adapted (Reykjavik, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Guadalajara) that we have managed to (mostly correctly) learn and pronounce

I disagree, in my opinion cities with a name in an Inuit or Xhosa name have much more character than the same English names copy-pasted all over the world.

For example, Iqaluit is a much more interesting name than Frobisher Bay, and within a decade, a whole new generation of Canadians became familiar with the former.

Agreed. Having an official name in the local language, as well as acceptable foreign translations, is the ideal setup. I'd be totally fine if foreigners called New York Ngojrka or whatever

I'm not sure that they lose their identity - "Gqeberha" to me is really memorable, but I certainly wouldn't risk trying to pronounce it. I'd still say "Port Elizabeth", for fear of mangling someone else's language, which seems to defeat the point. "Polokwane" on the other hand - easy.

Giving cities new names in 'new' languages is fine, but I see little sense in the assumption that we have to abandon the English (or whatever) name. As if anyone minds French people talking about Londres, or that it's somehow disrespectful to say 'Germany' instead of 'Deutschland'.

Not sure how you reached this conclusion. Colonial names like "Port Elizabeth" and "Barrow" have no connection to place, whereas "Gqeberha" and "Utqiagvik" carry meaning and significance. If anything, re-establishing traditional place names can be an act of *reclaiming* identity. The "public" that should be considered here is the public of the places involved, not the public of English speakers who might be scared by consonant clusters.

Yeah, who remembers Paris, Rome, Oslo, or Jakarta?

You mean they lose all identity when they go by foreign names right? You have it mixed up

The one problem is that no one is going to remember the new name!

Not that the residents of Abest... Val-des-Sources probably mind :)

Knew it, but what is the point with Indiana Jones?

Ditto me with Bangalore. Some of these names are a spelling test in themselves.

Good one!

Second this recommendation! The bonus points were nice but it removed some of the fun challenge :)

I got Yerba Buena through the island.

These are names when Poland was occupied by Germans

I've been reliably informed by many ignoramuses further up in the comments that having a different name for a city in another language is a colonialist nightmare for the inhabitants of those cities

no