The Name of the Capital City of Thailand has Changed

Thailand is changing the name of the capital Bangkok to its local name, according to the Office of the Royal Society (ORST).

The official name change means that Bangkok will now be known as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, but Bangkok will still be recognised.

The new name will not come into effect until it is vetted by a committee in charge of scrutinising all draft bills, the Bangkok Post has reported.

Thailand’s Royal Society - which is responsible for academic and linguistic standards - cleared up any confusion after a seemingly innocuous change in punctuation in official guidance sparked a flurry of speculation that the city’s name was being changed.

The Cabinet approved a Royal Society proposal changing the way the capital is referred to internationally from 'Krung Thep Maha Nakhon; Bangkok' to 'Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok)'.

As people sought to divine the meaning behind changing the semicolon to parentheses, many attached great weight on the accompanying explanation that it would 'revise' the name of the capital city and keep the 'former' name in brackets.

The capital is already officially known in the Thai language as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, which literally means 'great city of angels', and most Thais shorten it to just Krung Thep in conversation.