[tz] Misspelling of Kyiv in the Time Zone Database

[Paul Eggert]

On 03/05/2018 10:02 AM, Mykola Moroziuk wrote:
> In the Time Zone Database it's written as "Kiev" which is wrong.

"Kiev" is certainly wrong as a transliteration of the Ukrainian "Київ", 
just as "Prague" is certainly wrong as the transliteration of the Czech 
"Praha". However, "Kiev" and "Prague" are the most common spellings in 
English, so they are what we use. "Kiev" came from old Slavic via 
Russian, and "Prague" came from old Slavic via French, so the two cases 
are reasonably similar.

This topic comes up every now and then on the tz mailing list and every 
time I look into it, "Kiev" is the most popular spelling in English. 
Even if its popularity were merely tied with "Kyiv" we should stick to 
the traditional spelling, as that would mean less disruption for our 
users. If "Kyiv" becomes substantially more popular than "Kiev" in 
English, we can switch then.