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Bombay to Mumbai

Marathi speakers had always called the city Mumbai. In 1995 Maharashtra’s new Shiv Sena–BJP government made that the official name in English too, over the objections of those who saw “Bombay” as the name of a cosmopolitan city.

Written from cited sourcesLast checked 25 September 2026Suggest a correction

  1. Bombayuntil 1995
  2. Mumbai1995–

Two names for one city

Marathi and Gujarati speakers had long called the city Mumbai; “Bombay” was the English name.[2] It is an anglicisation of the Portuguese Bombaim, which is believed to come from Bom Bahia, “good bay”.[2] Mumbai comes from Mumbadevi, a goddess of the Koli fishing people who lived on the islands and marshes that became the city.[1]

The name Mumbai had turned up in state and municipal documents for decades. Socialists campaigned for the change in the 1960s, and a Congress chief minister made the first moves towards it in 1992.[1]

The 1995 decision

The Shiv Sena had demanded the change for nearly thirty years and promised it before the state elections of March 1995, which brought its coalition with the BJP to power in Maharashtra.[3] The new government, led by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, decided in May to rename the city without waiting for the federal government’s agreement.[3] One account dates that decision to 4 May 1995;[4] a Maharashtra housing agency dates a state resolution to 17 July 1995.[5]

In November the Government of India gave in to the state’s request, and the new name went onto official letterheads, stamps and signs across the city.[1] Joshi announced it at his weekly press briefing and had sweets handed out to the reporters; residents’ mixed reactions were reported on Tuesday 21 November.[3]

What the name meant

Supporters said nothing had really been renamed: the city’s name in Marathi was simply now spelled properly in English, undoing Portuguese and British distortions of it.[1] Parts of the English-language press, some in the Congress party, and spokespeople for minorities such as the city’s Urdu-speaking Muslims argued that Bombay’s cosmopolitan character should be kept in its name.[1]

The historian Mariam Dossal said the change was fine unless “this arm flexing carries a hidden threat to other communities”, given the Shiv Sena’s history of campaigning against outsiders.[3] The debate came less than three years after the riots of December 1992 and January 1993, the worst urban violence in India since independence.[1]

Timeline

  1. 19954 May 1995

    Maharashtra decides on Mumbai

    Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s new government decides to rename the city without federal agreement. The day is the Free Press Journal’s; a report from that November says only “in May”.[4][3]

  2. 199521 November 1995

    Delhi agrees

    Reports carry Joshi’s announcement that the federal government has agreed to the change.[3][1]

Sources

  1. [1]
  2. [2]
    How Bombay became Mumbai · Slate · 12 July 2006
  3. [3]
    Bombay to become Mumbai: a switch to ancient name · Sikh Heritage Education (reprint of a 1995 news report) · 1 December 1995

    An unattributed wire report datelined Bombay. It is reposted under 1 December 1995, but refers to reactions on Tuesday 21 November.

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Bombay formally renamed Mumbai (1995) · Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority

    Dates a state resolution to 17 July 1995. Sources disagree on the exact day of each step.

Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.