Change Kitchener's name back to Berlin?

[jeffster]

I dislike the way the word "Kitchener" sounds and looks and not thrilled with the association with Lord Kitchener and his dubious past.  However I wouldn't rush to change the name because I believe that it is inevitable that KW will amalgamate at some point, either by choice or force.  I also believe that the amalgamated name would have to be "Waterloo" in order to secure a "by choice" amalgamation, and because we wouldn't want to lose both the "Kitchener" and "Waterloo" brands at the same time, with the latter obviously being much more valuable.

While I'm no war monger, I would disagree with any proposal to change Waterloo's name because of its association with a battle.  Some may call it glorification and some commemoration.  The reality, however, is that if you ask the average Canadian what "Waterloo" means to them I'd be willing to bet that most would respond that it was the prosperous home of UW or Blackberry.  Same goes for "Kitchener". Few will know who Lord Kitchener was or what he did.  To them it is (or was) simply an industrious working class town that is in the process of transitioning  to something different.  At some point the decades of accumulated history for a city or town has to count more than the tenuous ties to the foundation of it's name?

Saying that, I'm all for using the controversy over Kitchener's name to help spur the amalgamation of KW.  Amalgamation may or may not include Cambridge but I just don't see any practical reason for it not to happen with KW.  I've lived a substantial part of my life in both cities and really only ever considered it to be different halves of the same whole.

I think at this stage of the game: 1) I don't think amalgamation is going to happen. If it does, it will include Cambridge and the 4 townships. 2) It will come with a different name entirely if the remote chance it happens.

Kitchener can't be used because of it's history (despite the belief that erasing history isn't always a great idea). Waterloo won't be used because of its naming background. All this because of the social movement that is hypersensitive to names.

The last few weeks we're getting a crash course in names and their backgrounds. Be it Kitchener, Aunt Jemima or Uncle Bens, people are taking note and want nothing to do with these. Any sort of name changes, some people are going to want a clean slate.

I'm just trying to envision if the name selected for Berlin had been Corona. That would have hurt.