I’ve seen a lot of article on the Internet of what name the region of “South Sudan” should be named should it vote to be independent, which is almost certain to happen.
I’ve seen a list so far
[ul]
[li]The Nile Republic[/li][li]Cush (Kush)[/li][li]South Sudan[/li][li]Southern Sudan[/li][li]Equatoria[/li][li]New Sudan[/li][li]Juba[/li][/ul]
There are a lot of others I’ve seen.
So what in your opinion should the new nation be called?
I don’t like the Nile Republic as it’s too long. Why not call it just “Nile.” I mean we have Niger which is also the name of the river Niger.
Cush (Kush) people weren’t really affiliated with that area, but other African nations take names from peoples not close to their present areas.
Equatoria was the name of a province in Sudan when Egypt/UK ruled it so that has colonial overtones to it.
New Sudan? Well Old Sudan may not like it
Juba, I hate when a nation just takes the name of the capital city for the name of the country. Are you listening Djibouti?
East Central African Republic? No, too derivative.
There are many different languages and ethnic groups there, so you can’t pick one of those for the name.
I would go for something with panache. How about
The Great People’s Republic of the Territories of Bahr el Gazal, Equatoria, and the Upper Nile.
Or if you like something short:
Sosu (Southern Sudan)
Uni (Upper Nile, also sounds like the beginning of the word “United”)
UYAB (Up Yours, Al-Bashir!)
how about what I see at the Wikipedia page?
Janūb as-Sūdān which means, I presume, Southern Sudan
Upper Sudan–just to mess with people who struggle with the whole “the Nile flows from South to North” thing. (“But how can it be upper if it’s below the other Sudan on the map?!?”)
Given the massive poverty I think we can all agree that they’re best option is to auction off naming rights to a large multinational corporation or billionaire.
