Talk:Gomel

It was requested that this article be renamed but there was no consensus for it be moved.

City Name
Why don't you use the actual Belarusian name of the city for the name of this article: Homyel? This name is used in all actual atlases and even on maps of the National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C. "Gomel" ist the Russian name of the city used during the Soviet era. Best wishes, Hanno Meissner, Wolfsburg, Germany
 * Well, the "actual Belarusian name" is Гомель, which is Homel (or Homel') according to most systems of Belarusian to English transcription systems, not "Homyel". -- Picapica 16:41, 9 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Well, you're right that Homyel is totally wrong - but according to most systems of Belarusian to Latin script transcription systems, it is Homiel, not Homel (which corresponds to Гомэль, not Гомель). --Monkbel 18:08, 9 November 2005 (UTC)


 * However, most Belarusian sources give Гомель, not Гомэль. Some examples of Belarusian-language texts including place names:


 * Ужо да пачатку сакавіка фронт знаходзіўся на лініі Орша - Магілёў - Гомель. []


 * Прадстаўлены наступныя гарады: Бабруйск, Баранавічы, Барысаў, Брэст, Віцебск, Глуск, Гомель, Гродна, Кобрын, Крычаў, Ліда, Лунінец, Магілёў, Маладзечна, Мінск, Навагрудак, Нясвіж, Орша, Пінск, Полацк, Рагачоў, Рэчыца, Свянцяны, Слонім, Слуцк. []


 * Але, напрыклад, Устава на валокі 1557 г. непасрэдна называе іх «валасцямі Рускімі» і дае пералік: Рэчыца, Мазыр, Бабруйск, Чачэрск, Прапойск, Мсціслаў, Орша, Любеч (зараз на Украіне), Гомель, Глуск, Магілёў, Свіслач, Барысаў, Любашаны, а таксама Полацк. []


 * Note, too, "Орша", not "Ворша". I realize that orthographies and practices differ even within Belarus, but it is the Wikipedia convention to start from the most commonly used forms. This applies to the English-language forms of foreign names too: thus, moving Maladzechna (Google 13,900) to Maładečna (54) was very wrong in my view, and what is more your editing out of the fact that Maladzechna is the commonest spelling is counter-encyclopaedic. Wikipedia is not about what any of us would like to be the truth, and should not be made a platform for a wished-for revival of Łacinka. -- Picapica 13:27, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

What if we just take latin spelling: Homel, which was used in medieval maps? Unomano 14:10, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Proposed name change: Gomel
Much more common word, and has much more hits in all searches, moreover the city server uses it, as do most of the English language press. eg. BBC. WP:Naming conventions says clearely on which version to use the version most common in English eg. Kyiv vs Kiev. --Kuban Cossack 12:53, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Britannica uses "Homyel", thus it would be correct to say that both spellings "Homyel" and "Gomel" are commonly used in English.
 * Kuban Kazak, if you consider such controversial moves (such as switching from Belarussian-based spelling to Russian-based spelling), then please discuss the issue first. KPbIC 01:24, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
 * These are not controversial, but common sense, if you look at wiki right now there seems to be no correct standard on what is a Belarusian translit. There is Homiel, Homyel, Homel... and on the other side there is plain Gomel. Presentely the Belarusian translit on wiki is a mess. Some want to use one system others that archaic Lacinka. At least we have the security that the Russian names (and Russian like it or not is the officialy preffered language of Belarus) are not only more common and widespread, but our translit system is well established and in mass use. --Kuban Cossack [[Image:Flag of the Russian Empire (black-yellow-white).svg|25px|]] 23:46, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Homyel vs Homel vs Gomel
Simple googling gives 50K hits for Homyel, 505K hits for Homel (with many being last names, not the city) and 1750K hots for Gomel.

Columbia uses Gomel, Brittanica uses Homel , Brittanica Concise uses Homyel.

It looks like claims that Homyel is the most common English spelling are dubious. I would prefer either Homel or Gomel, with Gomel seems to be at least twice as common in English as Homel. Lets see the other arguments for a name.

The good thing about been an admin is that I could move an article wherever the community wants it to be moved without going into the formal discussion but lets see what the community thinks abakharev 23:41, 14 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I decided to restore the Status Quo for the time of the naming discussion, so I have returned the name back to Homyel abakharev 00:28, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Based on the provided search results I would rather conclude that the city has no established English name, and for this reason we should probably transliterate it from the national language of the territory, which I would say is Belarussian. (But I know that two languages are official in Belarus... So, probably, it would be valuable to hear the opinions of Belarussians). KPbIC 01:20, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Official transliteration in Belarus will be Homiel. Homyel is simply unacceptable since it is wrong (deprecated) transliteration; and Gomel is transliteration from Russian. --Monk 05:15, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


 * 12.5K google references, the worse so far abakharev 05:32, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Russian and not Belarussian is the prevalent language in the city (I was born there). For this reason I think it makes more sense to transliterate from Russian. 212.179.127.22 (talk) 19:59, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the . Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

not moved. There has been no discussion after ten days, hence no consensus to move. ●DanMS • Talk 20:42, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

The opinion of Belarusians is that correct transliteration of this city name is Homiel. I am requesting that article name was changed to Homiel; and Homel, Homyel, Gomel articles become redirects. Being a Belarusian-, Russian- and English-speaking person, I find it quite annoying that articles related to Belarus and anything Belarusian receive translit titles based on any language you can imagine... except Belarusian. Oh well, those who show an "extensive" transliteration experience, are forgetting, however, that article itself is in a pitiful state. maksdo 17:04, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the . Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

This city should be using the Belarusian name not Russian —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.103.182.21 (talk) 17:12, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Belarusian cities naming conventions
Please let us discuss this in one place, Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (city names) and put final decisions into Naming conventions (city names) `'mikka (t) 03:24, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Anyone know what this is?
How far is Gomel from Chernobyl - worth mentioning due it being affected.

Anyone know what this is?
Go to Google Maps and paste this into the search box: 52.416667,30.983333

Anyone have any idea what this is? It's about 40 km SW of Gomel, so I figured this would be a good place to ask.

Maury 20:04, 15 June 2007 (UTC)


 * 40 km SW of Gomel? Those co-ordinates relate to a position within the city of Gomel itself (they are the "decimal" version of the 52°25' N 30°59' E co-ordinates of Gomel given in the article). -- Picapica 00:18, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Actual location of these radars
The Russian Woodpecker article has several coordinates at the bottom that seem to suggest they should point to the location of the antennas these radars used. However, none of the coordinates are correct, pointing either to buildings in downtown Gomel, fields south of it, an airbase/airport north of it, or in one case the middle of nowhere near Vilnius!

These antennas should be easy to spot for anyone that lives in the area. Can someone pinpoint them for me?

20:17, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
 * The current location for the Gomel site looks correct: http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Russian_Woodpecker&params=51_18_19.06_N_30_03_57.35_E_ Secretlondon (talk) 20:36, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Gomiel or Homiel?
An article about Gomiel includes many instances of Homiel. Xx236 (talk) 15:33, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Because of edit-warring nuttiness. Either the title chhanges or the content changes. Paul B (talk) 13:03, 15 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Both Gomel and Homiel names can be used interchangeably, as both are allowed. Gomel - based on Russian (ignoring palatalisation) and Homiel - based on Belarusian (including palatalisation - "mie" as in Łacinka, standard Belarusian romanisation). "Gomiel" is a hybrid, don't think we need this one. --Anatoli (talk) 00:19, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

I just want to point out how ridiculous it is that this article remains Gomel while Homiel Voblast is the correct translit. Both should match up, not one of each. --Lvivske (talk) 05:41, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Gomel history since the late 1700s?
The "history" section seems to stop abruptly in the 1700s. I'm seeking to find out what government Gomel belonged to - specifically in the latter part of the 19th century and beginning of 20th. This looks like a serious gap to me - can anyone address it? Thanks -Martha (talk) 22:21, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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Addition to Sports Section
I plan to add a two paragraph description of sports in Gomel that includes the names of a few sports facilities and the city's Olympic and Deaflympic presence, with some statistics. All of this information has been gathered from these two sources: and. This is my first time contributing to Wikipedia, so there a bound to be errors. Nevertheless, below will be similar to what I will add:

Athletics is of incredible importance to the city of Gomel. The city is home to several sports facilities, which are continuously being developed and further improved. The sports facilities in Gomel represent several sports, such as hockey and football (American soccer). Gomel has eight stadiums as well as the Ice Palace, which has two ice arenas. The Central Stadium is the home of Gomel’s local football club, FC Gomel. The city hosts multiple international competitions in these facilities, the annual “Bells of Chernobyl” competition being one of the many. In addition to sports facilities, Gomel has a multitude of Olympic Reserve Schools, which is more commonly referred to as sports schools.

A majority of Gomel’s sports schools prepare exceptional athletes starting from a young age. Many champions have been trained by schools such as these. For example, one school, Gomel’s Olympic Reserve Number 4, has trained 97 World and European champions as well as two Olympic athletes. Gomel State College of Olympic Reserve, however, trains coaches. From this school, 44 graduates have participated in the Olympics, European championships, and World championships. Gomel also participates in the Deaflympics and, between the years 2007-2009, has been awarded: two gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals.

AwesomeSparky21 (talk) 02:47, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Name of the article
This article should be called Homiel for the reasons listed above. I honestly do not understand why it is still not renamed. PStupnikov (talk) 20:41, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Occupied by
Belarusian Puppet State ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:8070:D189:17E0:C8A0:EC52:8D52:ACA5 (talk) 18:43, 11 August 2022 (UTC)