KyivNotKiev

KyivNotKiev is an online campaign started by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) together with the Center for strategical communications "StratCom Ukraine" on October 2, 2018. Its goal is to persuade English language media and organizations to use Kyiv (derived from the Ukrainian language name) instead of Kiev (derived from the Russian language name) as the name of the Ukrainian capital.[1][2] It is a part of the wider campaign CorrectUA.

Campaign logo

The organization intends to assert Ukrainian identity and help shed linguistic relics of Soviet and imperial Russia in international perceptions by promoting the use of Ukrainian-language transliterations for Ukrainian place names.[3][4][5] The campaign is run by the Department of Public Diplomacy of the MFA.

The transliteration Kyiv was legally approved by the Ukrainian government in 1995,[6] and since then it has tried to make Kyiv more widely used abroad.[7] At the international level, this transliteration was approved by the Tenth United Nations Conference on Standardization of Geographical Names but did not end up making much of an impact.[8][9] Prior to 2019, there were few cases of organizations switching to Kyiv spelling, because many people outside Ukraine did not see the need or thought that the issue was "imposed by nationalists on purpose".[4][10][11]

The campaign is unique because the MFA has invited the public to join the movement. The MFA has asked Ukrainian citizens to create posts throughout various social networks with hashtags such as #KyivNotKiev and #CorrectUA, tagging foreign media or organizations with demands to switch to Kyiv.

CorrectUA campaign

The "KyivNotKiev" campaign is part of the broader "CorrectUA" campaign, which advocates a change of name in English not only for Kyiv but also for other Ukrainian cities whose English names are derived from Russian as well. Among those are Odessa instead of Odesa, Kharkov instead of Kharkiv, Lvov instead of Lviv, Nikolaev instead of Mykolaiv, and Rovno instead of Rivne.[12] In English, Kiev was used in print as early as in 1804 in John Cary's "New map of Europe, from the latest authorities" in Cary's New Universal Atlas published in London. Mary Holderness's travelogue New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea by way of Kiev was published in 1823.[13] The Oxford English Dictionary included Kiev in a quotation by 1883, and Kyiv in 2018.[14] Transliterations based on Russian names were sustained in common practice because of aggressive Russification policies from the Russian Imperial and later Soviet governments.[11]

The campaign also includes advice on the usage of the definite article (the) before the name of the country, i.e. "the Ukraine". The definite article is rarely used before the names of independent states but is often used before the names of regions of countries. This norm was established during the Soviet times, when Ukraine was not an independent state, and continuing to use a definite article before the country's name is seen by many Ukrainians as questioning Ukrainian sovereignty. This situation came to be particularly acute after the beginning of the Russian military intervention into Ukraine. On the other hand, there are opinions that this campaign is nothing more than populism and was started to make it look like something is being done to divert attention from more important problems.[15][4]

Beginning of the KyivNotKiev campaign

The "KyivNotKiev" campaign began with a two-week "marathon" where every one or two days the MFA published the title of foreign news outlets. Ukrainians would, en masse, request them on social networks to use Kyiv instead of Kiev, which was also followed by numerous Ukrainian social networks users putting "#KyivNotKiev" frames on their avatars. Ten of the most influential (in the opinion of the MFA) English language global news outlets were affected: Reuters, CNN, BBC News, Al Jazeera, Daily Mail, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Euronews. Some of the Ukrainian top officials participated in this act: Minister of Healthcare Ulana Suprun, Representative of Ukraine at the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba, and the Member of Parliament Yehor Soboliev. The campaign saw the support of several thousands of Ukrainians, and the hashtag "#KyivNotKiev" had been seen by some 10 million social network users.[16] During or shortly after this "marathon", the BBC and The Guardian started using Kyiv. Later, the campaign shifted its attention to foreign airports, which used Kiev almost exclusively.

Results of the KyivNotKiev campaign

After the campaign began, the name Kyiv instead of Kiev began to be used by the BBC,[17] The Guardian, Associated Press,[18] The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post,[19] Financial Times, The Economist,[20] The Daily Telegraph,[21] The New York Times[22] and other foreign media. The new name was also adopted by some international organizations.

In June 2019, at the request of the United States Department of State, the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States, and Ukrainian organizations in America, the name Kyiv was officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the only correct one, which resulted in the federal government of the United States using only the new name.[7][23] Before that, both names were used.

One of the objectives of the campaign was to convince international airports around the world to switch from Kiev to Kyiv. Previously, most airports refused to do so, saying that in lists of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) the name Kiev was specified. However, in October 2019 the IATA, following the decision of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, switched to Kyiv. Since the campaign's launch, 63 airports and 3 airlines worldwide (as of January 2020) have begun using the name Kyiv, even before this new name was adopted by the IATA. Among them are Toronto Pearson, Luton, Manchester, Frankfurt, and Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat.[15]

In September 2020, the English Wikipedia switched from using Kiev to Kyiv.[24]

See also

References
  1. "МЗС України звертається до світу – вживай #KyivNotKiev" [MFA addresses the World – use #KyivNotKiev] (in Ukrainian). MFA of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 2019-10-02.
  2. "#KyivNotKiev: МЗС закликає світ коректно писати Київ" [#KyivNotKiev: MFA asks the World to correctly spell Kyiv] (in Ukrainian). BBC News Ukrainian. 3 October 2018. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  3. "Писати Kyiv, а не Kiev. Чому це важливо?" [Writing Kyiv, but not Kiev. Why this is important?] (in Ukrainian). Korrespondent. 15 February 2019. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  4. Dickinson, Peter (21 October 2019). "Kyiv not Kiev: Why spelling matters in Ukraine's quest for an independent identity". Atlantic Council. Archived from the original on 19 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  5. Bloedner, Dominik (30 July 2019). "Kiew oder Kyjiw? Die Ukraine kämpft für die Rückkehr des Ukrainischen" [Kiew or Kyjiw? Ukraine fights for return of the Ukrainian] (in German). Badische Zeitung. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  6. Khalimova, Elzara; Yakutenko, Anna; Sedlerova, Alina (29 February 2020). "Kyiv, Not Kiev. Why Ukrainians care so much about their capital's spelling". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  7. "У США пояснили, що означає зміна написання Kiev на Kyiv" [USA explained what the change of spelling from Kiev to Kyiv means] (in Ukrainian). BBC News Ukrainian. 15 June 2019. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  8. "Tenth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names" (PDF). United Nations. 9 August 2012.
  9. Bozhko, Yurii (22 August 2012). "В ООН схвалили українську систему латинізації географічних назв" [UN adopted Ukrainian system of latinization of geographical names] (in Ukrainian). UNN. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  10. Zraick, Karen (13 November 2019). "Wait, How Do You Pronounce Kiev?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  11. ""Kyiv not Kiev" – довідка для вболівальника" ["Kyiv not Kiev" – a guide for a fan] (in Ukrainian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  12. "Official guidance on the correct spelling and usage of Ukrainian place names". MFA of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 2019-11-25.
  13. Holderness, Mary (1823). Journey from Riga to the Crimea, with some account of the manners and customs of the colonists of new Russia. London: Sherwood, Jones and co. p. 316. LCCN 04024846. OCLC 5073195.
  14. "I, n.1". OED Online. Oxford University Press. September 2019. Archived from the original on 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2019-11-22. 2017 Thai News Service (Nexis) 21 Apr. Kyiv filed a lawsuit against Russia at the ICJ for intervening militarily.
  15. Zhuhan, Viktoriia (28 August 2019). "Як Kiev перетворюється на Kyiv" [How Kiev transforms into Kyiv] (in Ukrainian). BBC News Ukrainian. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  16. Dovbenko, Mariia (22 October 2018). "Чи змінився Kiev на Kyiv? Результати кампанії, спрямованої на міжнародні медіа" [Did it change from Kiev to Kyiv? Results of the campaign, aimed at international media] (in Ukrainian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  17. "Kyiv not Kiev: ВВС змінює написання столиці України" [Kyiv not Kiev: ВВС changes spelling for Ukrainian capital] (in Ukrainian). BBC News Ukrainian. 14 October 2019. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  18. "Kyiv замість Kiev: агентство Associated Press змінило написання назви української столиці" [Kyiv instead of Kiev: Associated Press agency changed spelling of the name of Ukrainian capital] (in Ukrainian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 14 August 2019. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  19. Voitovych, Ilona (16 October 2019). "Kyiv not Kiev: The Washington Post змінив написання столиці України" [Kyiv not Kiev: The Washington Post changed spelling of Ukrainian capital] (in Ukrainian). Voice of America. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  20. "The Economist starts using 'Kyiv' instead of 'Kiev'". Ukrinform. 30 October 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  21. "Британська газета The Telegraph писатиме Kyiv замість Kiev" [British newspaper The Telegraph will write Kyiv instead of Kiev] (in Ukrainian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 22 October 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  22. "The New York Times starts using 'Kyiv' instead of 'Kiev'". Ukrinform. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  23. "Kyiv Not Kiev: США виправили написання назви столиці України у міжнародній базі" [Kyiv Not Kiev: USA corrected spelling of the capital of Ukraine in the international database] (in Ukrainian). Yevropeiska Pravda. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  24. Kyiv, а не Kiev: у Вікіпедії змінено написання столиці України, Вікімедіа Україна, September 18, 2020
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