Should we say “kyiv” or “Kyiv”? A crucial spelling conflict

What is the capital of Ukraine? Since the Russian invasion, it's hard to ignore that it's Kiev, which appears on the front page of Le Monde almost daily. Is the answer obvious? Not for the government of Volodymyr Zelensky, who would like foreign diplomats and the press to adopt "Kyiv," the official Ukrainian name since 1995—"Kiev" being the Russian version, which was in use when Ukraine was one of the republics of the Soviet Union.

Attentive readers will have noticed that, in recent years, Le Monde has changed the way it spells the names of Ukrainian cities, abandoning the Russian version for the cities of Kharkiv, Lviv and Luhansk, for example, which were Kharkov, Lvov and Luhansk in its columns until the mid-2010s and the annexation of Crimea.

But then, why keep the old name for the Ukrainian capital? Let us first note that there are many foreign metropolises that French does not designate in its "original version." Our language speaks of London and not of London, of Moscow and not of Moskva, of Aix-la-Chapelle and not of Aachen, of Copenhagen and not of København... and no one is upset by it. Should we write "London" if London asked for it? Naturally, the issue is different for Ukraine, according to which the non-use of the new name could be interpreted as a form of legitimization of the Russian invasion.

Yet, after debate and reflection between the editorial staff, the Proofreading department and the management of the newspaper, this is the choice made by Le Monde . It should be noted that this is also the choice made by the Quai d'Orsay, dictionaries and the French press – with the exception of Libération , which opted for Kyiv. A "double standard" between the capital and the other cities of the country which can nevertheless be explained. Like London or Aix-la-Chapelle, Kyiv is an exonym, a word that belonged to everyday French well before the creation of the Soviet Union and that of Le Monde , a name that appears in thousands of French articles and literary works.

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