Boris Gudenuf
Deity
"Istanbul" was throughout the Ottoman period only one of several names for the city. Since until 1918 it was the largest Greek-speaking city in the world, many of its own inhabitants called it Konstantiniye. The Turks called it varously Istanbul, Istambul, Islambul, or Dersaadet, the last a nickname meaning "Gate to Prosperity" in Turkish. The government of Turkiye didn't start insisting that it be called Istanbul officially until the 1930s!Also it’s in the exploration age, which is interesting for a number of reasons: it wasn’t named Istanbul then. Is there also going to be a Constantinople of the Byzantines? Will the Ottomans not be a full civ in the modern era? If so there’s going to be a really dearth of middle eastern options then.
And by the way, in modern Turkish the name is spelled istanbul, since they differfentiate between a dotted and dotless 'i'