Place names matter. They not only help to locate particular locations but often invoke particular feelings and attachments. From Lake Disappointment in Australia to Victoria Falls in Zambia, place names can and do commemorate geographical conditions and/or former heads of states. Place names can also provide vivid insights into contemporary geopolitics.

Take the name ‘Macedonia’ as an example. A former socialist republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia gained independence in 1993. Unfortunately for the newly independent Macedonian government, neighbouring Greece objected to the name itself.