The GVRD is about to get a more metropolitan flavour.

After 40 years of being known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District, board members voted unanimously Friday to change the name of the region, and its government body, to Metro Vancouver.

The move still requires approval from the province, and won't be officially unveiled until September, but municipal politicians are already heralding the change as long overdue.

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"I think it's a great idea," said GVRD vice-chair and Vancouver city Coun. Peter Ladner. "I think that the name Metro Vancouver is a better way to describe who we are and what we do."

Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini said the name GVRD was too confusing because the term "regional district" is often used to describe non-urban areas.

He said he's attended national and international conferences on the GVRD's behalf and had people assume he represents a rural area, not an urban metropolis of two million people.

"If you're representing Metro Vancouver, then you have a much easier task in being recognized and it carries a certain clout," said Trasolini.

The cost of the name change hasn't been worked out, said Ladner, but he expects it will be relatively modest.

"There will be a bit of stationery and signage expenses, but I'm sure we can do it gradually," he said.

Toronto had a regional government, known as Metro Toronto, for 40 years before it became a single megacity in 1997. And while Metro Vancouver is nothing more than a new name, Ladner said it's possible it could make people more receptive to the megacity idea here.

"It may cause people to start thinking about that," he said. "And there's no harm in that."

However, Trasolini disagreed - saying the name change will do little to shake people's attachment to their own municipality.

Tim Silk, an expert in branding at the Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C., said he thinks the name change is a good idea. And he should know. When he moved to Vancouver from New York a year ago and began reading the newspaper, he couldn't figure out what the GVRD was.

"I would never have guessed that the GVRD was a political entity," he said. "Certainly anyone outside of Vancouver doesn't know what the acronym means."

In contrast, said Silk, "metro" is a fairly universal term to describe a large urban area around a central city. The only real drawback, said Silk, is the possibility for brand confusion -- since Metro Vancouver is also the name of one of the region's free commuter newspapers.

"There is a possibility for confusion if people say `Why did they pick the name of a newspaper?'" he said. "There is [also] a potential there for the newspaper to gain exposure because people make the link."

Indeed, the region's first marketing challenge may be trying to knock the paper from its top spot on Google's search results. While the GVRD's website is the top link on a Google search for "Greater Vancouver," the paper, for now at least, comes out on top in a search for "Metro Vancouver."

No one from the Metro Vancouver paper was available for comment today.

cskelton@png.canwest.com

© Vancouver Sun 2007