Google searches for how to pronounce Gqeberha surge as Port Elizabeth gets new name

As South Africans saw the news that Port Elizabeth has a new name, local Google searches for how to pronounce Gqeberha surged.

Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa published a list of new name changes for places in the Eastern Cape this week.

Among these were:

• Port Elizabeth’s new official name is Gqeberha.
• The Port Elizabeth International Airport will become the Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.
• East London Airport becomes the King Phalo Airport.
• Uitenhage becomes Kariega.
• King William’s Town has been renamed to Qonce.
• Maclear is now Nqanqa Rhu.

However, due to the presence of clicks in some of the names, some South Africans were not sure how to pronounce the new official names.

Google searches for how to pronounce new Port Elizabeth name

The curiosity over how to pronounce Gqeberha showed in Google Trends data for 23 February.

“Port Elizabeth new name” was the second most searched phrase on Google, only outranked by the budget speech taking place the same day.

The most search interest came from the Eastern Cape, followed by the neighbouring Western Cape.

Related breakout queries, which are search queries that show a sudden rise in interest, included “Gqeberha” and “Port Elizabeth new name pronunciation”. Another breakout query was “pronounce Gqberha”.

Meanwhile, the top topic related to searches for Port Elizabeth’s new name was its pronunciation.

So how do you pronounce Gqeberha?

Luckily, multiple resources and websites have answered the question for those who are unsure about how to pronounce Gqeberha.

YouTube channel Pronunciationza has uploaded a straightforward video that repeats the new name.

You can see the video below:

Feature image: Mitchell Luo/Unsplash 

Read more: What did South Africans search for in 2020? Google reveals top searches…