#KyivnotKiev. After 19 years, Wikipedia changes the Ukrainian capital spelling

Wikipedia has corrected the English version of the spelling of the Ukrainian capital from ‘Kiev’ to ‘Kyiv,’ the press service of the Ukrainian version of the encyclopedia said.

The article about Kyiv was published in the English version of Wikipedia in February 2002. The spelling of the name was based on the transliteration of the Russian-language name of ‘Киев,’ that is ‘Kiev.’

For a long time, Wikipedia refused to use the correct transliteration from the Ukrainian language, Kyiv, because the online encyclopedia uses the version that is more common in authoritative sources.

In 2018, the KyivNotKiev campaign was launched, promoting the correct spelling of the Ukrainian capital’s name. After that, many authoritative English-language media (BBC, The Guardian, etc.), the U.S. Federal Government, dozens of international airports, as well as other agencies switched to the correct spelling.

Thus, over the past few years, in the English-speaking world, the correct spelling of Kyiv has become more popular than the old, Kiev.

Finally, after “long discussion,” the English Wikipedia team decided to rename the article about Kyiv in the English-language edition.

“We still can’t believe this happened and are waiting that somebody will say that it’s a joke, but…in the nineteenth year of the article’s existence, after many blocked users, and fifteen archive pages discussing the name, the thirteenth attempt resulted in the article Kiev in the English version of Wikipedia was renamed into Kyiv,” a message by the press office of the encyclopedia’s Ukrainian version says.