It's a subject that crops up periodically, dependent on whether the left or right are in power at the town hall. Should the city's name be Palma or Palma de Mallorca? The left prefer Palma, the right Palma de Mallorca.
At the next council meeting, Vox, upon whom the Partido Popular rely for support, will be proposing a renaming - Palma de Mallorca. Since 2017, and when the left coalition of PSOE, Més and Podemos were in power, it has been Palma, having previously been Palma de Mallorca.
Historian Gaspar Valero says: "They politicise everything in order to eliminate the Mallorcan personality." He is referring to Vox. Adding 'de Mallorca' would be contrary to this personality. The name, he points out, dates back to Roman times. "Palma the Victorious and Pollentia the Powerful on the island of Maiorica."
City chronicler, Tomeu Bestard, feels it has worked both ways. "But it is true that Palma is a Roman toponym and that Palma de Mallorca has been in operation since the 18th century. It's a political decision, not a technical one. Palma is the genuine name of a city with 2,000 years of history." In the Middle Ages, after the 1229 conquest, the city was referred to as Ciutat de Mallorca.
Historian Gabriel Ensenyat, a professor at the University of the Balearic Islands, which produces the standard list of toponyms (place names), says: "I like Palma on its own. Palma de Mallorca came about with the Nueva Planta Decree (1715) when Mallorca became a Spanish colony."
For him, Palma de Mallorca is "an invented and unnecessary name". 'Palma', he explains, is one of the oldest of the ancient place names. It is Roman. "They conquered Mallorca in 123 BC, and Palma was founded around 80 BC." Palma's first settlement was actually in Son Espases, "which was known as Palma Alta during the Middle Ages". The Romans later founded the city "next to La Almudaina".
Of the Dark Ages, marked by the Vandals' invasion in the fifth century and the Byzantine Empire era from the sixth century, Ensenyat explains that there are no documents about the city. The only information has come from excavations. The city was left half-abandoned until the Muslims arrived and renamed the city Madina Mayurqa. After the conquest, Jaume I called it Ciutat.
Linguist Gabriel Bibiloni, a retired university professor, is in favour of 'Palma'. "The name is very clear; there's no need to add anything. If there are other Palmas, that's irrelevant. There are other places called Barcelona, and no one would think of saying Barcelona of Catalonia."
He accepts that the city came to be called Palma de Mallorca, "a name supported by the most pro-Spanish political forces". "But Palma has no political connotation, and besides, it was the Romans who gave the city the name." He regrets that the airports authority AENA "ignores the official name" and uses 'Palma de Mallorca'.
This said, the airport's name, strictly speaking, is Palma Son Sant Joan, taken from an old estate where it is located. There have been various proposals for a change, e.g. to Palma Ramon Llull or Palma Rafael Nadal. Or would that be Palma Rafel Nadal?