The Office of the Royal Society (ORST) has announced the change of the official name of Thailand’s capital, from Bangkok to Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. However, the name Bangkok is still recognised.

The cabinet on Tuesday approved a Prime Minister's Office draft announcement on updated names of countries, territories, administrative zones and capitals, as proposed by the ORST.

The new official name, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, will not come into effect until it is vetted by a committee in charge of scrutinising all draft bills. The cabinet also asked the panel to take into consideration additional observations from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The announcement, approved by the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said that the ORST's committee on the dictionary of international geographic names, comprising experts from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, had updated the spelling of countries, territories, administrative zones and capitals to be in line with the current situation. The panel then submitted the list to the PM's Office to issue the announcement.

The draft announcement also revokes the Prime Minister’s announcement on names of countries, territories, administrative zones and capitals dated Nov 9, 2001, using the ORST's announcement on updated names of Sept 1, last year.

In the ORST's announcement, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon will become the official name of the Kingdom of Thailand's capital. However, the name Bangkok will be put in parentheses.

In the same announcement, the ORST also updated the official spelling for other countries, including Rome and Roma for Italy's capital, the change of Myanmar's capital from Yangon to Nay Pyi Taw and the change of the Kingdom of Nepal to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.

Government deputy spokeswoman Ratchda Dhanadirek on Wednesday said nothing had been changed in the naming of the capital.

The Thai name Krung Thep Maha Nakhon would be used only as its official name. The name Bangkok would still be recognised in parenthesis, she explained on her Facebook page.

On its Facebook page, the Office of the Royal Society also posted a message that both names could be used, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Bangkok, after its announcement on the name change drew public criticism.

Bangkok has been in use officially since November 2001 under an Office of the Royal Society announcement. It came from an old area of Bangkok, which is now a part of the greater metropolitan area of the capital, Bangkok Noi and Bangkok Yai districts. Historically, it has been in common use for a long time.