# District of Columbia becomes a state--- what should it be called? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553 "2021-04-22T17:27:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/101 "2021-04-25T01:12:14Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I see that as being substantially less fair. There’s no ideal solution. Sure, but I’m not sure why. What is more fair about making DC become a part of Maryland, having it be absorbed into a state it was never a part of? Why shouldn’t isn’t the fair thing to do to treat it like any other unincorporated territory of the United States, making it into a territory? We even already have precedent that it should be treated like a state. For the purposes of the Electoral College, it acts like it has two senators and one representative, just like a small state. Plus, there’s the fact that the current system was designed in such a way to favor more rural states, so allowing a small urban state adds more balance–making it more fair. Then there’s how the current system requires Democrats to outperform the Republicans by 2% or so to win the presidency–which is unfair. Then you talk about how you think it would be more fair to combine some states, which is you admitting the current system is unfairly biased. So why not fix that by biasing it the other way a bit? To me, it definitely seems like there are much better arguments that making DC a state actually makes things more fair, not less. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/102 "2021-04-25T02:03:45Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So why not fix that by biasing it the other way a bit? How is it biasing it “the other way” to replicate more of an existing problem? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/103 "2021-04-25T02:13:23Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > What is more fair about making DC become a part of Maryland, having it be absorbed into a state it was never a part of? That is [incorrect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.#Foundation). As puzzlegal noted that is exactly where the land D.C. now occupies came from. That may or may not be relevant to the situation now, but it did in fact start as a chunk of Maryland. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/104 "2021-04-25T02:18:43Z")
DC is neatly almost exactly the size of one congressional district. They should certainly get that. And, as others have suggested, it’s larger than a bunch of the empty western states. (All sizes based on population, which really ought to matter more than land in these matters.) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/105 "2021-04-25T02:24:58Z")
Anacostia sounds nice. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/106 "2021-04-25T02:47:46Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And, as others have suggested, it’s larger than a bunch of the empty western states. Well, by population, it’s only larger than one of them, Wyoming. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/107 "2021-04-25T03:27:20Z")
I was thinking about that. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/108 "2021-04-25T03:41:47Z")
“Taxation without representation” is on the license plates. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/109 "2021-04-25T03:58:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > And, as others have suggested, it’s larger than a bunch of the empty western states. > > Well, by population, it’s only larger than one of them, Wyoming. Sorry, my bad. But DC, Montana, the Dakotas, and Alaska are all approximately the same size. VT and Wyoming are the only states actually smaller than DC. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/110 "2021-04-25T12:03:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Well, by population, it’s only larger than one of them, Wyoming. If a territory or district has more population than an existing state, that’s a compelling argument that it should qualify for statehood. What’s good enough for Wyoming ought to be good enough for DC or Puerto Rico. Government should represent people, not some arbitrarily drawn map abstraction. I’d also support collapsing all of those tiny sparse Western states into one state with a population more comparable to “real” states, but that’s not happening, so statehood for DC and PR it must be. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/111 "2021-04-26T12:28:45Z")
Split this topic on April 26, 2021, 12:28pm UTC 16 posts were merged into an existing topic: [Statehood for D.C.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/291) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/116 "2021-04-25T14:02:23Z")
Call it “Area 51.” It would explain so much. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/120 "2021-04-25T17:21:30Z")
Other than really not wanting a second Washington State I don’t have strong feelings about what the proposed state should be _called_, but I do feel strongly that the common name\* for it should be a maximum of two words, (or three **only** if they decide on District of Columbia). “State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” is much too long. - it could include a seldom used, official “Common wealth of” appellation if necessary. Though these days “and Providence Plantations” is right out. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/122 "2021-04-25T17:34:31Z")
> [@Statehood for D.C.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/299): > > OTOH they could do what IBM and ATT did, and just declare that the letters no longer stand for anything but are a trademark in and of themselves? Or KFC. But that’s exactly what I proposed way upthread, that it officially doesn’t have to stand for anything, or we just call it “DC” in most printed references to the state, even though it technically is “Douglass Commonwealth,” much like we used “Rhode Island” for “Rhode Island and Providence Planations.” I don’t see any issue with this, and I think a form that preserves the “DC” postal abbreviation is the most elegant solution. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/126 "2021-04-25T18:26:38Z")
I also vote for the KFC route, just call it DC. It’s what the people here call it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/127 "2021-04-25T18:35:04Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > They do not represent me. I did not vote for them. They routinely act against the wishes and interests of DC residents. This post is not just wrong, it’s offensive. > [@Statehood for D.C.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/296): > > > [@Statehood for D.C.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/296): > > > > If there’s any issue that’s important to residents of DC, then it’ll also be important to all 535 members of Congress, because all of them are residents of DC (yes, yes, they’re officially residents of their individual states, but how much time do they spend there vs. in Washington?). They’re not elected by the residents of DC, but they do represent them. > > But they don’t, that’s just untrue. The represent their home states. If they represented DC, then why do no Republicans support DC statehood? Logically, that is the biggest win DC could have. Any equivalent win is one any state representative would desperately fight for. But Republicans in Congress don’t, because they don’t give a shit about DC, because they don’t represent it. And let’s be honest, the Democrats aren’t angling for DC statehood because they care about it, either. > [@Ludovic](#): > > > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > > > If a territory or district has more population than an existing state, that’s a compelling argument that it should qualify for statehood. What’s good enough for Wyoming ought to be good enough for DC or Puerto Rico. Government should represent people, not some arbitrarily drawn map abstraction. > > > > I’d also support collapsing all of those tiny sparse Western states into one state with a population more comparable to “real” states, but that’s not happening, so statehood for DC and PR it must be. > > I agree with your whole statement except that I think major constitutional changes, in this case to a region, should have a supermajority consensus for it. So I wholeheartedly support statehood for DC for that reason. And I neither support nor oppose statehood for PR because there isn’t that consensus: instead it seems more like Brexit where there is only a slim majority either way. May i suggest that all of these posts would be better suited for the thread that’s actually about DC statehood, and not about the name > [@Statehood for D.C.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/287): > > BTW being discussed in the name-of-the-new-state thread: This was never the reason that DC wasn’t made a state, and there’s no way you can demonstrate that DC residents’ votes count for more than anyone else’s. This opinion is so prima facie wrong that I don’t understand how it could be held in sincerity. OK, now, as for this… The membership of Congress is uniquely NONrepresentative of the interests of the people of the District, and that’s by design. The whole point is that the Federal … ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/128 "2021-04-25T18:36:01Z")
Will do. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/129 "2021-04-25T18:36:39Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I also vote for the KFC route, just call it DC. It’s what the people here call it anyway. If it happens, in all likelihood it WILL be called “DC”. That’s why i like the “Douglas Commonwealth” name. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/130 "2021-04-25T18:43:48Z")
Area 52. ---
**Author:** ![Mirtha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@Mirtha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirtha)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553/131 "2021-04-25T18:57:15Z")
Douglass then rename all the states that have “new” in their names. New Mexico really shoulda been Montezuma as originally proposed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/district-of-columbia-becomes-a-state-what-should-it-be-called/940553.md?page=7)