The Tamil Nadu state government has decided to change the English names of 1018 places in the state, so as to make them sound more like they do in Tamil.

It is to be noted that the announcement regarding this was made back in 2018 by minister for Tamil culture and Tamil development, Mafoi K Pandiyarajan.

The Economic Times

The district collectors across the state will now be tasked with proper implementation of plans. 

The GO has published all the 1018 names in a list, where it has stated how they are pronounced in Tamil, spelled in English currently and the suggested change.

You can read the same, here.

SA Post

Some examples of the changes are:

Tondiyarpet – Thandaiyaarpettai
Purasawalkam – Purasaivaakkam
Vepery – Vepperi
Perambur – Peramboor
VOC Nagar – Va.OO.Si. Nagar
Kodungaiyur – Kodungaiyoor
Peravallur – Peravalloor

Now, while some people on Twitter decided to take the decision in their stride, others were not very happy with the timing of it.

The new names were suggested by a group of language experts, people from Tamil organisations, professors and government administrators.