The inhabitants of Calcutta called it "Calcutta" prior to the Indian government renaming it. Now they call it Kolkata. The people of Madras called it Madras bef

The inhabitants of Calcutta called it "Calcutta" prior to the Indian government renaming it. Now they call it Kolkata. The people of Madras called it Madras before the government renamed it to Chennai. Now they call it Chennai. I think it's incorrect to pretend that there's some kind of "objective" scientific reality at play here. Naming geographic locations is an inherently political act, and choosing which of several names to call a place inherently means favoring some interpretations over others.