Google changes name to Topeka, embraces the Great Plains

Google has changed its name to Topeka. From the Google Topeka Blog this morning:

Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.



We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name. But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains.

Google has realized that flyover country isn’t just a vast expanse of flat, boring farmland. This is great news for my proposed artist retreat here in in the Midwest. An important part of that idea has been validated by the owner of the world one of the most important companies in the country.