Astana, renamed five times in 60 years, in the Guinness Book of Records

According to the British edition of The Economist, the Kazakh capital Astana made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the city with the largest number of renames.

It notes: "Imagine which city holds the record for the most renames?" an article was published noting that the threshold had been renamed five times in 60 years.

The city is said to have already made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for renaming, and on 17 September it reclaimed its former name, which in turn broke the record.

The Guinness Book of World Records website itself states that Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, but was originally called Okmola.

Until 1961, it was called Akmolinsk. From 1961 to 1991, the city was known as Tselinograd. On the other hand, the name Okmola was adopted as the name of the city in 1991 when Kazakhstan gained its independence.

Later, in 1998, the city was renamed to Astana and in 2019 to Nur-Sultan. In September 2022, by Decree of President Kassym-Jomart Tukayev, the city was returned to its former name, Astana.