{
  "place_id": "podilsk#7652_11640",
  "wikidata": "Q889588",
  "country": "UA",
  "local_name": "Подільськ",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Podilsk",
      "why": "Current Ukrainian name in the national romanization adopted in 2010 and recommended by the UN in 2012; also the BGN/PCGN system adopted in 2019.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Kotovsk",
          "why": "Former Soviet name, replaced by Podilsk in 2016 during decommunization."
        },
        {
          "name": "Birzula",
          "why": "Older name used before the Soviet renaming to Kotovsk in 1935."
        },
        {
          "name": "Birzoula",
          "why": "French-style form of the historical Birzula name; low confidence in use in English prose, retained for matching French quotations."
        },
        {
          "name": "Podil’s’k",
          "why": "BGN/PCGN 1965 geographical romanization of the Ukrainian spelling. Standard-derived form; medium confidence in actual use for this place, not claimed as an established English exonym."
        },
        {
          "name": "Podìlʹsʹk",
          "why": "ISO 9:1995 reversible transliteration of the Ukrainian spelling. Standard-derived form; medium confidence in actual use for this place, not claimed as an established English exonym."
        },
        {
          "name": "Podilʹsʹk",
          "why": "ALA-LC Ukrainian 2011 library romanization of the Ukrainian spelling. Standard-derived form; medium confidence in actual use for this place, not claimed as an established English exonym."
        },
        {
          "name": "Подільськ",
          "why": "Original Ukrainian Cyrillic spelling, useful for matching local documents and quotations; not a Latin-script English form."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Podilsk",
      "why": "Same current form as in English; older French histories use Kotovsk or Birzoula. Same current name as in English; French texts may also mark the final soft sign in scholarly transcription.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Kotovsk",
          "why": "Former name familiar in French Soviet-period references; replaced in 2016."
        },
        {
          "name": "Birzoula",
          "why": "Older name in French transcription, used for the city before it became Kotovsk in 1935."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Podilsk is a city in northern Odesa Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. It is a railway centre whose growth followed the development of lines across the Podolian borderlands.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "medium",
  "notes": "Birzula became Kotovsk in 1935; Kotovsk became Podilsk in 2016. Several unrelated places have used Kotovsk, so the Odesa location matters.",
  "rank": 258,
  "slug": "podilsk"
}