Change Kitchener's name back to Berlin?

[Acitta]

All we have to do is find someone with the surname Kitchener who has done something moderately good for society and officially declare that the city is named after him or her. According to 411.ca there are 38 people with the surname Kitchener within 300 miles of here. Maybe one of them or one of their ancestors is worthy of having something named after them. This would work for any cities or streets named after dodgy historical people.

[jwilliamson]

If Kitchener is going to be renamed, I don't think we should switch from honouring the instigator of the second-worst genocide in southern Africa from 1900-1910 to honouring the instigators of the worst genocide in that area.

[KevinL]

All we have to do is find someone with the surname Kitchener who has done something moderately good for society and officially declare that the city is named after him or her. According to 411.ca there are 38 people with the surname Kitchener within 300 miles of here. Maybe one of them or one of their ancestors is worthy of having something named after them. This would work for any cities or streets named after dodgy historical people.

This works for common names - a good example is King County, Washington (home to Seattle) which had been named for someone whose reputation did not hold up; they chose to honor Rev. Martin L. King Jr, in their place.

Kitchener is a rarer name, not sure we can pull that off as easily.

[jeffster]

All we have to do is find someone with the surname Kitchener who has done something moderately good for society and officially declare that the city is named after him or her. According to 411.ca there are 38 people with the surname Kitchener within 300 miles of here. Maybe one of them or one of their ancestors is worthy of having something named after them. This would work for any cities or streets named after dodgy historical people.

This works for common names - a good example is King County, Washington (home to Seattle) which had been named for someone whose reputation did not hold up; they chose to honor Rev. Martin L. King Jr, in their place.

Kitchener is a rarer name, not sure we can pull that off as easily.

Funny you mentioned King, because someone had mentioned that 'apparently' there is some nasty dirt on him as well. As I said, unavoidable. That said, King County isn't well known to too many people, as we refer to that area as Seattle. I think the closest it got was "Kingdome" where the Mariners used to play. You name it after any famous person, you run that risk.

I like the idea of perhaps, if a name change was to happen, to find a name of a well known city outside Canada, and take on that name. Glasgow? New York? Kansas? Sydney? Back to Berlin? I don't know. Find a name that isn't directly connected to a human. And something that might have historic ties to K-town. What major city, without a negative history, sounds good?

[jgsz]

Some people find Lord Kitchener distasteful even in England.  A nurse has started a petition to tear down a statue of Lord Kitchener on horseback in Chatham, Kent, England.  The statue was taken to Chatham, Kent form Khartoum, Sudan in 1960.  

Locally, after 100 years, the good burghers of Kitchener are starting to acknowledge that Lord Kitchener was a terrible name for their city.  However, rather than declaring the name change election of 1916 null and void, some folks seemingly want to add insult to injury by suggesting other names.  A great injustice was done to the citizens of Berlin in 1916.  Before we go any further, lets deal with that injustice first.  Other names or scenarios can happen later.

[panamaniac]

How about "Mountbatten", since "Windsor" is already taken? Is there anyplace that already carries the name?

Seriously, if K-W can't be amalgamated into a new City of Waterloo, then I wouldn't be bothered to change the name.

[Bytor]

If Kitchener is going to be renamed, I don't think we should switch from honouring the instigator of the second-worst genocide in southern Africa from 1900-1910 to honouring the instigators of the worst genocide in that area.

The Nazi Regime lasted all of 12 years. Returning Kitchener to being called "Berlin" is not honouring the Nazis.

As person of ethnic German (Amish Mennonite) background, I cannot adequately explain to you just how offensive it is that you would equate "German" with "Nazi".

[KevinL]

Not to mention that today's Berlin is one of the most cosmopolitan and progressive cities in Europe. I have zero issues with (re-)associating with it.

[ijmorlan]

Regardless of what is done with Kitchener’s name, the main transit terminal should be called Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

[jwilliamson]

If Kitchener is going to be renamed, I don't think we should switch from honouring the instigator of the second-worst genocide in southern Africa from 1900-1910 to honouring the instigators of the worst genocide in that area.

The Nazi Regime lasted all of 12 years. Returning Kitchener to being called "Berlin" is not honouring the Nazis.

As person of ethnic German (Amish Mennonite) background, I cannot adequately explain to you just how offensive it is that you would equate "German" with "Nazi".

I wasn't talking about the Nazis. I was referring to the German genocide of the Herero in southern Africa.

[tomh009]

Did not know about that at all ... I appear to have insufficient knowledge about pre-WW1 colonial history in Africa in general.

[westwardloo]

This whole issue becomes a moot point if we just amalgamate the two(possibly three) cities into one. I prefer Grand River City, but I would accept Waterloo being our name since so much money has been spent to market Waterloo domestically and internationally. I personally have never liked the name Kitchener. Not only because of the historical connection, mostly because I don't like the way it sounds. It sucks we lost Berlin, I think most people can agree on that.  But if amalgamation doesn't take place there is no reason to change the name.

[Rainrider22]

If we were to amalgamate, we should not use Waterloo because this is Waterloo Region. No other region I am aware of uses the name of the region in the name of a city within the region. York, Peel, Durham as examples.

[jwilliamson]

If we were to amalgamate, we should not use Waterloo because this is Waterloo Region.  No other region I am aware of uses the name of the region in the name of a city within the region. York, Peel, Durham as examples.

It's a county rather than a region, but the city of Peterborough is in Peterborough County.

[robdrimmie]

I mean, the city of Waterloo is in the Region of Waterloo? It already works like that.