Nauru has formally changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, a move that also replaces its international code NRU with NRO and changes what its people will be called. The country said its residents will now be known as dei-Naoero, a shift that reaches beyond wording and into how the state presents itself abroad.
President David Adeang pushed the change through parliament after proposing it in January, saying it sought to honour the nation’s heritage, language and identity. The new name is spoken as Now-ero, matches the country’s national language, and returns the remote South Pacific nation to the traditional name already used by its people.
The timing matters because the government had once said a referendum would settle the issue in May, before later deciding no public vote was needed after extensive discussions. Lawmakers endorsed the constitutional amendment in two rounds of voting, and the government then asked the UN in June to update its records, leaving the name change as a completed political decision rather than a question for voters.
The switch also reflects a broader effort to align the country’s official labels with names already in use. The designation Naoero appears on the national coat of arms, the UN website records the country under its new name, and Australia and New Zealand as well as the US and Chinese embassies in the region already use Naoero on their websites.
For the country’s 12,000 residents, the change is partly symbolic and partly practical. Nauru is the world’s third-smallest country by population size, after Tuvalu and Vatican City, and its leaders have long framed the republic’s identity around survival, language and history rather than a colonial-era English name.
That history runs from colonisation by Germany and later administration by Australia to independence in 1968, then to phosphate wealth in the 1970s and collapse in the 1990s. The island is now one of the world’s most at risk from rising seas, and the government is seeking overseas investment through a paid citizenship programme intended to help fund the movement of people and infrastructure away from the encroaching ocean.
The remaining question is not whether Nauru has changed its name, but when the constitutional amendment is fully reflected in every official document. Until that is done, the republic has a new name in law and in practice, and a new identity to carry with it.
