The CDC in Atlanta also added words to its name but kept its initials. It's now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We had been preventing diseases for a long time, but to better reflect the expanding scope of our mission, we added the 'and Prevention' to our name in the early '90s," said the CDC's Tom Skinner.
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Finding Meaning in the Rinse Cycle (The Washington Post, Mar 10, 2005)
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A Long Ride for a Good Time (The Washington Post, Mar 9, 2005)
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Giving Us the Old Song and Dance (The Washington Post, Mar 8, 2005)
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NIH has a nice, complicated past. Its ancestor was the Laboratory of Hygiene, established in 1887 at Marine Hospital in Staten Island, N.Y., to study cholera and other infectious diseases. In 1891, the Laboratory of Hygiene became the Hygienic Laboratory, a shade of a difference that would require a Talmudic scholar to explain. It also moved to Washington that year.
In 1930, the Hygienic Laboratory was renamed the National Institute of Health. It earned its S -- Institutes -- in 1948.
Then there's the VA: In 1988, it went from the Veterans Administration to the Department of Veterans Affairs. But, said Paul Light, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and professor of public affairs at New York University, the Senate inserted a provision forbidding the agency from spending money on new signs and stationery. It could switch to the new logo only when the old stuff ran out.
"It would be politically controversial to spend a nickel on changing signs when you're cutting veterans' benefits," he said.
"In most cases, these name changes are utterly trivial in actually changing an agency's performance," Paul said. "The artist formerly known as Prince has not changed by changing his name. It's cosmetic. At the end of the day, it's their performance, whatever the name is."
Cab Call-Away
More on Answer Man's Feb. 28 discussion of the "Call 911" lights atop District cabs: Yellow Cab driver Divine Apreku says another drawback of the lights, which are meant to summon help in an emergency, is that some tourists think that's the number they're supposed to call if they want a taxi.
Julia Feldmeier researched this column. Have a question about the Washington area? Send it to answerman@washpost.com, or write John Kelly, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.
