The IBGE publishes today the update of the list with changes to the Legal Toponyms of Brazilian Municipalities. They are the proper nouns of the municipalities, updated in the Institute's database of territorial structures. The new list also brings the series of changes that occurred in the previous versions.

The current version includes the name of the municipality of “Grão Pará”, in Santa Catarina, which changed to “Grão-Pará” in 2021. The list is updated every year, in case of changes in toponyms.

The list is available as a spreadsheet and presents the 130 changes that have taken place since 1938, bringing the previous name of the municipality, the current name, the reason for the change and the date on which the name was changed in the IBGE list.

The first record on the list is the change happened in the state of Pernambuco, in the municipality of São Vicente, whose name changed to Macapá on March 31, 1938 due to a legal act. Later, on December 31, 1943, the municipality was renamed as Macaparana, also due to a legal act.

Toponyms reflect and perpetuate a bit of the history and culture of the municipalities, by referring to relevant facts or persons during the occupation process, or by evoking a sense of belonging or identification with the territory.

The new names now integrate all geographic and statistical documents prepared by the IBGE, such as Municipal Maps of Population Estimates, Continuous Cartographic Base of Federation Units, Continuous Cartographic Base of Brazil to the Millionth - BCIM, National Spatial Data Infrastructure (INDE) , IBGE Cities, in addition to SIDRA.