{
  "place_id": "khyncheshty#7601_11588",
  "wikidata": "Q1141853",
  "country": "MD",
  "local_name": "Hîncești",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Hîncești",
      "why": "Current official Romanian Latin-script name, retained in English with its local spelling; no Cyrillic romanization is needed.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Hâncești",
          "why": "Romanian spelling with â rather than the î retained in Moldova’s official place-name spelling."
        },
        {
          "name": "Hînceşti",
          "why": "Legacy Romanian typography with cedilla ş."
        },
        {
          "name": "Kotovsk",
          "why": "Soviet name, replaced by Hîncești in 1990."
        },
        {
          "name": "Kotovschi",
          "why": "Romanian rendering of the Soviet name, historical."
        },
        {
          "name": "Hincesti",
          "why": "Diacritic-free form of Hîncești."
        },
        {
          "name": "Gancheshty",
          "why": "Russian-based historical form from Ганчешты."
        },
        {
          "name": "Hancesti",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing or indexing variant of Hâncești for English retrieval; not a distinct official name. Textual frequency is unverified."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Hîncești",
      "why": "Same form as in English; retained in the French reference entry, without a separate French exonym.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Hâncești",
          "why": "Romanian â spelling also encountered in French texts; the Moldovan official place name retains î."
        },
        {
          "name": "Hînceşti",
          "why": "Legacy-cedilla typography in French references."
        },
        {
          "name": "Kotovsk",
          "why": "Soviet-era name for French historical retrieval, replaced in 1990."
        },
        {
          "name": "Kotovschi",
          "why": "Romanian version of the former name, found in French historical reference material."
        },
        {
          "name": "Hincesti",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing or indexing variant of Hîncești for French retrieval; not a distinct official name. Textual frequency is unverified."
        },
        {
          "name": "Hancesti",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing or indexing variant of Hâncești for French retrieval; not a distinct official name. Textual frequency is unverified."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Hîncești is a town southwest of Chișinău in central Moldova. The Manuc Bey estate is a major local landmark and a reminder of the area's nineteenth-century history.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "medium",
  "notes": "Moldovan official spelling retains î in Hîncești; Hâncești is an orthographic variant, not a civic renaming. Kotovsk was replaced in 1990.",
  "rank": 860,
  "slug": "hincesti"
}