Tysons Corner Metro station by GKJ.

Metro is considering formal requests to change two station names submitted by Fairfax and Prince George’s counties.

In Virginia, the “Corner” in “Tysons Corner Station” is on the chopping block. Fairfax County wants to drop “Corner” to match a rebranding effort for what is now known as Tysons that dates back to 2012. Like the place itself, the new station name would simply be “Tysons” — short, sweet, to the point.

Meanwhile, Prince George’s County and the City of Hyattsville have been embarking on their own rebranding effort to change the name of Prince George’s Plaza, both the place and the Metro station, to “Hyattsville Crossing.”

WMATA is running a survey on the proposed name changes until Monday, Nov. 2. After that, the decision goes to its Board of Directors. If the changes are approved, the requesting counties will pay for costs like changing signs and reprinting maps.

According to WMATA, new names should identify locations by geographic features; be “distinctive and evoke imagery in the mind of the patron”; and be no longer than 19 characters.

Both name changes are attempts to define an area’s identity separate from its shopping mall.

The Tysons change has been a long time coming. For years, Tysons redevelopment pushers and officials have been pushing the change to try to wrestle the urbanizing area’s identity away from the Tysons Corner Mall.

Both the Census Bureau and the US Postal Service dropped down to just “Tysons” years ago, but when the Metro station opened in 2014 the “Corner” was still attached. Fairfax County officials want to time the name change with the opening of Phase 2 of the Silver Line, which officials say would keep the net cost at to the county around $670,000, the Tysons Reporter wrote in June.

Prince George’s Plaza Metro station by nevermindtheend licensed under Creative Commons.

Meanwhile, Hyattsville has been working to rebrand its main shopping corridor in an effort to move its identity away from the nearby Mall at Prince George’s. The Prince George’s Sentinel reported in 2017 that a community engagement process led to the name Hyattsville Crossing. Metro notes that the adjacent station, West Hyattsville, would be keeping its name.

With 20 characters, Hyattsville Crossing is just a hair too long under Metro’s policy of limiting names to 19 characters. But it’s still a character shorter than Prince George’s Plaza (if you count the apostrophe anyway).

Tysons, of course, is well within the limit at a measly six characters. Only three other stations — McLean, Takoma, and Vienna — are that short.

Tysons Corner Metro by GKJ.

In 2010, GGWash editorial board alum Matt Johnson decried “name sprawl,” the tendency of stations to grow ever-longer with hyphens and additions, becoming linked chains resembling the trains that pass through them.

Among the most egregious offenders of years past was “U St/African Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo.” Today, that station is simply “U Street,” with the latter names delegated to subtitles.

Back in 2010, Metro’s average station character count was around 15 characters. Today the average count is around 14. But don’t get too comfortable with these shorter names: In September, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of changing the McLean station’s name to “McLean-Capital One Hall.” New name requests don’t always mean shorter.

  • Tysons Partnership

This article is part of our ongoing coverage of Tysons underwritten by the Tysons Partnership and community partners. Greater Greater Washington maintains full editorial independence over its content.

Libby Solomon was a writer/editor and Managing Editor for GGWash from 2020 to 2022. She was previously a reporter for the Baltimore Sun covering the Baltimore suburbs and a writer for Johns Hopkins University’s Centers for Civic Impact.