Port Blair or Sri Vijaya Puram? India's newest city renaming

Search for Sri Vijaya Puram and most results, maps, and travel material will still say Port Blair — this is one of India's most recent city renamings, recent enough that the older name remains the dominant one almost everywhere outside government notices.

What changed, and when

Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the renaming of Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to Sri Vijaya Puram on 13 September 2024. The change was formalized the next day, 14 September 2024, through a notification in the Andaman and Nicobar Gazette. The government's stated reasoning tied the new name to the region's role in resisting colonial rule and its connection to the Chola-era Sri Vijaya trading network, part of a broader effort to replace colonial-era place names with names reflecting Indian historical and cultural heritage.

Why "Port Blair" still dominates

Because the renaming is recent — barely a couple of years old — "Port Blair" remains the name used on flight bookings, international maps, most travel content, and in everyday conversation. Name changes take time to propagate through booking systems, signage, and habit, and Port Blair's renaming is early enough in that process that the older name is still overwhelmingly what most people search for and use.

Same place, one very new name

Whether referred to as Port Blair or Sri Vijaya Puram, it's the same capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands — the gap between the two names here is less about competing identities and more about how recently the change happened.