Talk:Panaji

It has been proposed in this section that Panaji be renamed and moved to PanjimPanjim. A bot will list this discussion on the requested moves current discussions subpage within an hour of this tag being placed. The discussion may be closed 7 days after being opened, if consensus has been reached (see the closing instructions). Please base arguments on article title policy, and keep discussion succinct and civil. Please use {{subst:requested move}}. Do not use {{requested move/dated}} directly. Links: current log • target log • direct move

Panaji → PanjimPanjim – Per WP:COMMONNAME, see , , . Panaji is only used for official purposes. Rejoy²⁰⁰³(talk) 08:01, 27 May 2026 (UTC) This is a contested technical request (permalink). Rejoy²⁰⁰³(talk) 09:17, 28 May 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. ASUKITE 15:46, 4 June 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 03:57, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

Support — 'Panjim' is the most commonly used spelling of the place in English, used by most major papers and by most people in Goa (See usage in O Heraldo (Goa's largest paper), The Times of India, The Goan , The Hindu, Indian Express). The Goan and The Navhind Times show mixed usage of 'Panjim' and 'Panaji', and 'Panjim' prevails in Navhind's classifieds. (Edit: Times of India seems to use Panaji more often, as they are headquartered there). 'Panaji' sees limited usage outside official use, and is mostly restricted to official references and in a few other places that reflect this. This proposed name change reflects Wikipedia's convention of using the common name rather than the official name for articles. Aren Noronha (talk) 09:49, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose. According to ngram and Google Scholar, Panaji is clearly the more commonly used name. Panaji also prevails in The Times of India, The Hindu and Indian Express (compare with the links above that show usage of Panjim in the same source), and for example in BBC. Panaji is used by Google Maps and Bing Maps. And finally, as already mentioned, Panaji is the official name used by the Corporation of the City of Panaji. FromCzech (talk) 12:31, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

  Google Books Ngram Viewer and Google Scholar are bad sources for testing this; both books and research are limited fields in Goa, and do not represent popular use. As for your claim that Panaji prevails in The Times of India, this is slightly misleading and unverifiable, as 'Panaji' is used as the official location for all news coming from TOI's Panaji, Goa headquarters, not necessarily the way it refers to the place. Searching for Panjim also yields many results on TOI. Therefore TOI is a misleading example here, as of course all Goa-related news coming from TOI would have the word "Panaji" at the start of each article.

  You are correct that The Hindu uses Panaji more than Panjim, but The Hindu is not a popular paper in Goa, and doesn't even have a Goa office, reporting infrequently on the state. The same applies for Indian Express. Google Maps and Bing Maps spell many things incorrectly, as usage doesn't necessarily reflect English; often names are transliterations of Konkani or even Hindi names. For example, here's an incorrectly located place in Google Maps named 'Panjim', inside Panjim, that's an error.

  If you lived in Goa, you would know that EVERYONE in everyday speech calls it 'Panjim'. Never in my decades of living here have I heard anyone refer to it as Panaji in English. I understand you wish to inject objectivity into this discussion, but I really strongly feel that unless you understand the local usage, which are the major newspapers in Goa (O Heraldo, Navhind Times, Times of India, The Goan, in that order), you would not be able to effectively vote on this issue, and just end up reinforcing existing biases, and pressures that the centre puts on Goa. Aren Noronha (talk) 19:30, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

  As WP:CRITERIA says, article titles are based on how reliable English-language sources refer to the article's subject, so the alternative name used by locals is secondary unless it is prevalent in the media. For me as a Wikipedia user from Europe, the name Panaji is clearly more understandable because I encounter it in the media and on maps. When determining common names, we are not only interested in Indian sources, but a cross-section of the entire world. Ngram and Google Scholar analysis are among the basic procedures for determining common name and cannot be considered "bad sources" simply because they are not sources, but summaries of existing sources.

  Google Maps and Bing Maps may spell some things incorrectly, but this is a choice between two correct options and proof that the name Panaji is consistently used on maps (I might add World Atlas). I also forgot to add an analysis of encyclopedias, here again Panaji dominates (Britannica, Merriam & Webster, Encyclopedia.com). FromCzech (talk) 18:46, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

  What about Goan sources; do you consider reliable and authoritative sources from Goa? There is a clear contradiction between authoritative Goan sources, and national/international sources in the name usage of Panjim. And international sources likely unquestioningly follow the norms set by official sources and the national papers (who know little of what actually goes on in Goa, except for its officially listed place names and official news).

  O Heraldo is, according to the newspaper itself, the largest selling English daily and most widely read in Goa, and clearly uses 'Panjim' over Panaji. While I get that local usage is not decisive under WP:CRITERIA, it is definitely relevant when evaluating how English-language sources refer to a place. The question here is whether Panaji is demonstrably more common than Panjim across a representative body of reliable English-language sources.

  I don't believe that Ngram, Google Scholar, maps, or encyclopaedias alone establish this. Google Scholar primarily reflects academic usage, which usually follows official nomenclature. Maps and encyclopaedias are too narrow here to be sources. International sources like Britannica and others you've stated are significantly less authoritative on smaller topics like Goa, for reasons stated above (as if to prove my point, Britannica spells Mandovi incorrectly as "Mandavi").

  Major Goan and Indian English-language publications continue to show substantial usage of “Panjim”, and local English-language media often use both names. And also, as I said before, I know its not an official source but you can look at social media usage to see that 'Panjim' really is more prevalent in English here in Goa, in common usage. It's just that there's a real mismatch between the newspapers following official conventions (that mainly just the government uses) rather than more-prevalent usage by the people here. 'Panaji' is also a bad transliteration from devanagari, and it's a name the government has been trying HARD to push into common usage mainly since the 1980s, hence why many national papers reflect this push. This is the bias you're reinforcing; a 'common name' whose usage has been artificially inflated in newspapers and other written matter. Aren Noronha (talk) 22:09, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

  You should stick to arguments that support the move proposal according to wiki policies, which questioning maps, encyclopedias and other clearly reliable sources is not. This is not a Wikipedia serving only the state of Goa, but the whole world, and therefore it is important how the name is known in the world. For the page title according to WP it also does not matter whether the name was created artificially or incorrect transcription. FromCzech (talk) 04:03, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

  Sure, I have made arguments that support the move proposal per Wikipedia policies. To summarise, Herald, Goa's biggest paper, turns up 62,418 results for "Panjim" and 3477 for "Panaji". The Navhind Times has a clear preference for Panaji. Times of India shows for 94,715 results for "Panaji" and 1077 for "Panjim", due to reasons stated above (all official reporting on Goa starts with "PANAJI:" as they're headquartered there and use the official name). At the end of the day it depends what you give weightage to and how, including the one-off international encyclopaedias pages you linked that have factual and spelling errors (re: see Merriam Webster misguidingly refer to Panjim as a port, Britannica incorrectly call it a town and misspell Mandovi and Ella, and the "Panaji harbour" image is actually Malim Fishing Jetty in Penha de França, not Panjim, and many other errors). Sources with so many holes and errors in them should not be considered reliable.

  Wikipedia itself also shows Panjim being heavily used in articles by Wikipedia editors themselves, and you may compare search results for "Panaji" on English Wikipedia and search results for "Panjim" on English Wikipedia. One can note that there is not a clear domination of "Panaji" being used more often than "Panjim" in written English media, and it's instead rather quite mixed, even among authoritative reliable sources. Thank you. Aren Noronha (talk) 12:26, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

  The inaccuracies in the encyclopedias you mention have no influence on preferences when choosing a place name and therefore an encyclopedia entry title. Although they may not be infallible, they are generally accepted as reliable sources. If you want to question them as a source for Wikipedia, you must do so elsewhere. FromCzech (talk) 09:36, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

  The inaccuracies in encyclopedia articles definitely have a strong influence on their trustworthiness and reliability on preferences when choosing a place name and Wikipedia entry title. I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept as reliable an entry that makes so many factual errors about the topic it covers, regardless of which highfalutin Western information authority it comes from. Aren Noronha (talk) 14:17, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: I concur with Aren here. As someone from Goa, I can very much agree that most Goans use "Panjim" on a daily basis. No one here uses Panaji, as told above it is strictly for official purposes which was obviously changed after the Annexation of Goa without taking the interest of locals thanks to the pro-Marathi outfit. Ngram or Google Scholar or any other sources listed above will obviously have Panaji hits more. I mean it's the official name after all, I would be surprised if it didn't. Also Google Maps or Bing Maps are among the worst sources for an argument here. Times of India is itself not considered a fully reliable source per WP:RSP. What we should see are the local newspapers which Aren has already shed light on.Rejoy²⁰⁰³(talk) 14:19, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Portugal, WikiProject Goa, and Noticeboard for India-related topics have been notified of this discussion. ASUKITE 15:44, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

Relisting comment: The discussion narrowly favors Panjim currently, hoping that notifications bring a little more participation. The consistency argument above (based on Wikipedia search hits) might also help us decide. ASUKITE 15:46, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support: The arguments by Aren and Asukite are convincing, and I think that judgement should be made taking into account the politics of the area and language politics, not just what is "official". Just because it's the government-preferred term does not mean it is "correct", and I'm sympathetic to what Aren mentioned about the government trying to push a term into common usage despite the objections of the local population. Also see Aren's points about Britannica mispellings and inaccuracy. I also think Geographical bias on Wikipedia is relevant reading. Felinaex ^{(purr / pawprints)} 21:59, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose. The following two google scholar links shows that Panaji has 551 hits vs 201 hits for Panjim. I would, however, support changing the lede to say "locally known as Panjim" if there are any sources that support this.

Grilledcheeseisgreat ^✉ 22:52, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

Note the google scholar links only include results since 2025. Grilledcheeseisgreat ^✉ 22:53, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

I mean this in the best way, but would you mind not replying to my comment when replying to the Move Request? I keep getting notifications from you but you aren't actually replying to my comment. Felinaex ^{(purr / pawprints)} 22:58, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

• Comment only: I talked to a friend from the region and paraphrased their comments here: Panjim was the name of the city under Portuguese colonialism, is generally how it is colloquially referred to, and is the preferred name of the Catholic community in Goa. Panaji is the name the city acquired after independence, harking back to its pre-colonial name, and probably part of the effort to "indianise" names that were very colonial. In practice, this "decolonisation" of names was a hinduising of names and often linked to hindu nationalist/ethnonationalist movements (e.g. Bombay → Mumbai under Shiv Sena). Goa was one of the last states to become part of India, and its merging with India was faced with a lot of reluctance/resistance by the Portuguese and Goan Catholic community. However, a lot of the community who benefited the most from being under Portuguese rule were wealthy and owned a lot of property, and Hindu populations in the state were relatively marginalised. So in conclusion, both names have pretty loaded histories and contexts to them. Felinaex ^{(purr / pawprints)} 09:52, 8 June 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment only: In light of the history above, I've struck my original !vote. No opinion. Felinaex ^{(purr / pawprints)} 09:55, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

  Thank you for this genuinely helpful comment, although there are a few corrections here. Language matters: Pangim is the Portuguese-language name of the place, and this was colloquially adapted by everyone here as Panjim, in English. It wasn't a particularly colonial name afaik, rather a transliteration of the indigenous name, so there's no real issue here against the name specifically.

  As for religion, I wouldn't say Panjim is "the preferred name of the Catholic community in Goa". From what I know, everyone here, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc. refers to it as Panjim in English, as we tend to stick to the common consensus here, and there's no real disagreement on this afaik. Similarly, Ponnjem is used when speaking Konkani, by all. Usually, these names aren't confused between languages. Panjim for English, is used by everyone; and Ponnjem (पणजी) for Konkani (with slight pronounciation variation) is used by everyone. What you say about Panaji being part of an effort to Indianise names is somewhat right (although different from the Mumbai case in many ways; here, Panaji is a transliteration from Devanagari of पणजी), it is, from what I know, although this is a primarily official push, that sees very limited use among people for all purposes.

  I appreciate this discussion here, it does help for this issue to be better understood. Thanks. Aren Noronha (talk) 14:36, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Cities and WikiProject Geography have been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 03:58, 12 June 2026 (UTC)