AP won't do the Mumbai for now

A couple of weeks ago, I noted that the Wall Street Journal had adopted the new names for cities in India, including Mumbai for Bombay and Kolkata for Calcutta.

The AP doesn't plan to follow suit, according to Norm Goldstein's note in the latest issue of Copy Editor newsletter (behind a subscription wall). "Wouldn't want to have to change all those 'Bollywood' headlines to 'Mollywood,' " he writes, tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

Goldstein says there's another one of these on the horizon; South Africa is moving to rename its capital Tshwane. But this will be more complicated because Pretoria would be kept for the city's administrative center. The change could be approved in October by the South African Geographic Names Council.

"If and when the name change is official, the AP probably will go with it," Goldstein writes. But, "Don't lose sleep over it yet. For now, it's Pretoria."