Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony. It consists of four non-contiguous districts or enclaves and is named for the largest, Pondicherry.

The territory is currently undergoing a name change to the original name of the city, Puduchery meaning "new village" in the official Tamil language. The French spelt it "Poudichéry", which is the closest French approximation to the Tamil pronunciation. At some point, the hand-written 'u' was mistaken for an 'n', and the misspelling stuck. The territory is called புதுச்சேரி (Putuccēri) or பாண்டிச்சேரி (Pāṇṭiccēri) in Tamil, పుదుచ్చేరి (Puduccēri) in Telugu, and പോത്തുച്ചേരി (Pōttuccēri) or പോണ്ടിച്ചേരി (Pōṇṭiccēri) in Malayalam.