List of national flag proposals

Compilation of all the well documented national flag proposals of several countries, dependent territories, autonomies, and states with limited recognition.

An asterisk in headings denotes an incomplete list, which has more proposals not in Wikimedia Commons yet.

Angola
In 1967, F. P. Alex Fleury the novel prize winner designed designs for Portuguese colonies including Angola, with a Flag of Portugal with a shield of the colony's lesser arms.

In 1996, a tricolor red-green-black flag design was proposed, based on the Pan-African flag, and the flags of the MPLA and UNITA.

In 2003, another flag was proposed, with 2 blue stripes at the top and bottom, 1 large red central stripe, and 2 small white stripes to separate them. There was also a sun symbol in the center, meant to be from Chitundu-Hulu cave rock paintings.

Armenia
In 1885, Ghevont Alishan, an Armenian Catholic priest and historian proposed 2 Armenian flags. One of which is a horizontal tricolor flag of red-green-white, with red and green coming from the Armenian Catholic calendar, with the first Sunday of Easter being called "Red Sunday", and the second Sunday being "Green Sunday", with white being added for design reasons. He then made another flag proposal, a vertical tricolor of red-green-blue, taken from the rainbow.

In 1918, Martiros Saryan, an Armenian painter designed a rainbow flag proposal as "color is a genuine miracle".

Australia
The first flag that was considered as a proposal to represent the Australian people is the Eureka flag. Several demonstrators swore allegiance to the flag and flew it as a symbol of defiance during the Battle of the Eureka Stockade in 1854.

In 1900, seeing how Federation approached and so would the need for a flag, the Melbourne Evening Herald initiated a contest promising a prize of 25 australian pounds to the winner. Entries were mandated to contain the Union Jack and the southern cross in their designs. The designs by Mr. F. Thompson was chosen as the winner.

This contest then prompted the Review of Reviews, also a Melbourne journal, to come up with a new competition in October 1900. They neglected the decision of obliging participants to include certain elements on the design of the flag.

Later, in 1901, the newly-formed Commonwealth Government held an official competition, which also included the proposals made to the Review of Reviews competitions in 1900. Five winners were chosen, with their designs only differing in small details. The first Australian flag was tuned using elements from this five winners.

However, the Australian flag debate has been a topic of discussion for years, dating back to the early 1990s after the adoption of the official flag after Federation. The main points of the debate on whether Australia should adopt a new flag discuss the elimination of the Union Jack, and the representation of Australia's complex and multicultural history. This prompted several unofficial redesign contests, such as the ones by The Daily Telegraph in 1982, Adelaide Advertiser in 1992, and A Current Affair in 1993, among many others.

Bahamas
In 1973, when the flag design for the Bahamas was submitted for approval to the Garter King of Arms, the head of the College of Arms, Sir Anthony Wagner, proposed that the gold and aquamarine stripes swapped colours. Nevertheless, this change never took place, and the current Bahamian flag was adopted.

Belarus
In 1990, the authorities of Minsk allowed the use of the white-red-white national flag along with the state flag of the SSR. This led to many opposition supporters to create more proposals bearing this design, including flags with the Pahonia contained in the red stripe, and some even resembling a Nordic cross due to the addition of a red bar towards the hoist.

Right after declaring independence from the USSR in 1991, the special sixth session of the XII Council of the Belarusian SSR commenced with the objective to address several topics, including the republic's name, state flag, and coat of arms. Flag designs were submitted by the public, many involving the colours red, green, and blue.

In 1993, due to unrest regarding the adopted white-red-white flag, the future president A. Lukashenko proposed a referendum to change the flag, but was rejected. Once he became president, in 1995, President A. Lukashenko proposed a version that consisted on two thin green stripes top and bottom, and a central red field. This flag, alongside a version similar to the one used by the SSR without the hammer and sickle were put forward for a referendum, including their respective coat of arms designs. The latter won the referendum and was adopted as the current flag of Belarus.

Belgium
In 2008, Belgian artist Luc Swinnen made a proposal to the Belgian flag, adding pixels blurring the lines between the stripes to symbolize Belgium's interwoven cultures and languages.

In 2010, Dutch designer Theun Okkerse proposed a new Belgian flag, with a yellow-black-yellow background representing the Flemish people combined with a yellow-red-yellow design representing the Walloons, and their intersection creating four "arrows" pointing to the center of the flag.

In 2011, Belgian cartoonist Pierre Kroll designed a new flag for Belgium, divided into four squares, colored yellow, red, blue, and white. Yellow representing the Flemish people, red representing the Walloons, blue representing Brussels, and white representing the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

Bolivia
After winning Bolivia's presidency and in the wake of Bolivia's constitutional reforms, discussions of changing the flag were engaged. Evo Morales appeared at a football match with the following flag on his jersey in October 2006, made of the Bolivian colors crossed by the wiphala. In the end, no change was made.

Bosnia and Herzegovina*
In 1992 and 1997, several flag proposals were given for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 1992, one of the proposals was a horizontal tricolor of green-red-blue tricolor with green representing Muslims, red representing Croats, and blue representing Serbs.

Another flag from that time was proposed, it being the accepted flag but with blue bands at the left and right sides.

Another one, proposed by defenders of Sarajevo, consisted of a blue triangle in the bottom-right taking up half of the flag with 3 fleur-de-lis, and the other half of the flag consisting of 6 red and white stripes, making the Pan-Slavic colors.

In 1997, a flag change was again happening as Bosnian Serbs considered the accepted flag of representing only Bosniaks. There was a "Czech"-style proposal, with a blue triangle for Serbs, green bar for Muslims, and red bar for Croats. There were also 2 proposals of a light blue background, one with an olive branch and the other with a map of Bosnia and Herzegovina on it, likely meant to be uncontroversial designs.

There were four other similar proposals, all containing a map of Bosnia, either blue or yellow, within a red-white-blue tricolor, either diagonal or horizontal, within either 10 stars in a circle, or 2 olive branches taken from the Flag of the United Nations.

Three proposals were made by High Representative Carlos Westendorp, one being the adopted flag but with a shade of blue similar to the UN flag, another containing 5 stripes coming from each side of the flag without reaching the other side in yellow and white on a UN-like blue background, and the final being the same as the previous but with 12 stripes and them forming a triangle in the flag's center.

Brazil
In 1888, Júlio Ribeiro designed a flag for a Brazilian republic, it had fifteen alternating black and white stripes, a red rectangle in the canton, containing a blue map of Brazil inside a white circle with 4 yellow stars on each corner of the canton, it eventually became the flag of the state of São Paulo.

In 1890, Antônio da Silva Jardim also a designed a Brazilian republican flag, a black-red-white tricolor with a coat of arms centered on it.

Also in 1890, José Paranhos, Baron of Rio Branco proposed a similar design, a black-white-red diagonal tricolor with a coat of arms, similar to the imperial arms centered on it.

In 1892, Oliveira Valadão proposed changing the accepted Flag of Brazil by removing the blue circle, the stars, and the motto and instead adding the coat of arms.

In 1908, Wenceslau Escobar proposed removing the motto "ORDEM E PROGRESSO" because according to him, the flag cannot have a "motto of a sect (Positivism)".

In 1908, Eurico de Góes proposed going back to the imperial flag, but without a shield or crown, and instead a white star. He later in 1922, proposed a similar flag but without the white star, or the globe, and the red cross and light blue circle being expanded and centered on the yellow rhombus.

Bulgaria
Around 1915, King Ferdinand proposed a new flag for Bulgaria, a black-white-blue horizontal tricolor, black representing the Black Sea, white representing the Aegean Sea, and blue representing the Adriatic Sea.

Cameroon
There were several proposals for German colonies to get their own flags and heraldry. In 1914, Wilhelm Solf proposed a flag for Cameroon, the Flag of the German Empire with the proposed shield on it or the shield's symbol within a circle.

Canada
In 1902, the Daily Express reported that a series of flags were being proposed to replace the Union Jack everywhere in the British Empire aside from the United Kingdom itself. The goal was to provide a flags more representative of the people of each area they would be used in. As described, the flags would have featured the Cross of Saint George and an imperial crown in the canton to represent the English. In the top right would be the emblem of the territory flying the flag, and in the case of Canada, its coat of arms. A large sun in the centre symbolized "the empire on which the sun never sets."

In 1930, the newspaper La Presse proposed a new Canadian flag, it being the one that had one a contest they had a few years earlier. It had been a white flag, a Union Jack canton, 7 five-point blue stars making up the Big Dipper, and a larger 8-pointed North Star in the top-right quarter of the flag.

In 1939, Ephrem Cote proposed a flag with 3 sections. It had a blue triangle in the top-left, containing the Union Jack for English Canadians, a red triangle in the bottom-right, containing a fleur-de-lis for French Canadians, and a thick white line from the bottom-left to the top-right between the two containing a green maple leaf.

In 1946, it was proposed that the current Red Ensign flag of Canada should have the shield replaced with a golden maple leaf.

In 1947, Adélard Godbout proposed a flag, diagonally divided with one white triangle in the bottom-left and one red triangle in the top-right, and a green maple leaf in the center.

In 1956, Jean-François Pouliot proposed that the Canadian flag be a red background with a green maple leaf centered on it.

In 1962, John-Guy Labarre proposed a green polar star symbol on a white background as the flag.

In 1964 during Great Canadian flag debate, several flags were proposed. The flag initially preferred by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was a flag designed by Alan Beddoe, with 2 blue bars at each end and a red set of 3 maple leaves connected by one stem in the center, and it became known as the "Pearson Pennant". Another proposed flag made by Beddoe was the accepted Flag of Canada, but with the British flag in the top-left, and the Royal Banner of France in the top-right.

There was also a proposal from 1964, seemingly taking elements from the Flag of the United Kingdom, and the Flag of the United States, with a blue background, a red cross with a white border, a green maple leaf in the center, and 10 white stars within the cross.

There was also a proposal with the left-half of the flag red, and the right-half white, and 10 maple leaves across the whole flag.

There was also a proposal in 1965 by the Native Sons of Canada, with a red triangle in the top-right taking half of the flag, and a darker red maple leaf in the center.

After the flag debate and the current Flag of Canada got accepted, another proposal came to represent French ties in Canada, that being the Canadian Unity Flag, which adds 2 small blue bars to the edges of the white center bar to represent French Canadians.

Cape Verde
In 1967, F. P. de Almeida Langhans designed designs for Portuguese colonies including Cape Verde, with a Flag of Portugal with a shield of the colony's lesser arms.

Central African Republic
In the summer of 1976, after a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Central African leader Jean-Bédel Bokassa converted to Islam, likely to get Libyan aid, and a project was undertaken to adopt a new national flag with Islamic symbolism. A proposal came of the top-right quarter being split halfway horizontally between yellow and white, and the rest of the flag being green with a yellow star and crescent. This proposal was short-lived though as Bokassa quickly converted back to Roman Catholicism.

People's Republic of China
See: List of Chinese Flags/Flag proposals

Several flags were proposed in 1949 for the People's Republic of China, most of which contain red and yellow colors as well as stars due to communist symbolism.

Mao Zedong's proposal containing a yellow star and a yellow stripe on a white background was initially favored, but there was criticism of it being interpreted as "the fruits of the revolution being cut off".

Costa Rica
In 1845, liberals proposed a new color to be added to the Costa Rican flag, red, as the French flag, associated with liberty had red, white, and blue. It may also take inspiration from the Flag of the United States.

Åland
In 1952, Åland was given right to a flag by the Finnish government, and several proposals from the past and that time were considered.

Many of them were inspired off of the Flag of Sweden due to the region's Swedish culture and language, including a "Swedish" flag proposal, a Swedish flag with a blue cross on it. It was denied by the President of Finland for being too similar to the flag of Sweden.

There was also the "Plague Flag" or "Pestflaggen", which was nicknamed that for being considered too unattractive a design.

Aruba
Aruba is one of the islands that formed the former territory of the Netherlands Antilles. In 1976, the decision to obtain a distinctive flag was made, so a committee was formed in order to decide in what the design of such as flag would be. From the 693 proposals that were made to the committee, a preliminary selection of 157 was carried out. Some of these designs are depicted below. Some other proposals were made by vexillologists such as Whitney Smith, who proposed two designs.

Eventually, the committee worked on W.J. Fransen's design, and after a few iterations, the current flag of Aruba was born.

New Zealand
See "2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums" and "New Zealand flag debate"

Norway
References:

South Africa
See: List of South African flags/Proposed flags

Bermuda
In 2002, James B. Minahan proposed a design in his "Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations" that he called "the Bermudian National Flag." He states that this proposal aims to provide Bermuda with a national symbol once it attains independence from the United Kingdom.

Cayman Islands
James Minahan in his Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations presents this proposed Cayman Islander independence flag, although it does not seem like any Cayman Islands independence groups use this flag.