White Flint is no more. It’s North Bethesda now. Or at least it will be soon.

The Metro board voted 8-0 Thursday to change the name of the White Flint station on the Red Line in Maryland to “North Bethesda” at the request of planners, developers, and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.

“A key goal for the community — both residential and business — is identity; and White Flint is no longer a relevant name or term used,” Elrich wrote back in May.

White Flint was the name of a mall that closed in 2015 and was demolished. While that property has not had major work, the area is home to the upscale Pike & Rose shopping area and other areas nearby are under mixed-use redevelopment.

The vote came even after the results of a non-scientific Metro survey that asked 4,700 people about the name. It found 51% liked the White Flint name while 40% liked the North Bethesda name.

In the end, the board sided with developers who are trying to re-brand the area.

“We’ve done enough of these over the years that we know that our riders tend to like familiarity,” said Metro Assistant General Manager Lynn Bowersox, who heads up customer service, communications, and marketing. “And change is hard. And when something changes, they want it to be obvious, and they want it to have wayfinding value so that when they arrive, they know where they are.”

Elrich said the county came up with the name in collaboration with the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, the Friends of White Flint, the White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee, and other community leaders. Bowersox said, “we know that the county and the development community is very anxious to change the name to North Bethesda” as two new hotels and convention centers used the name.

But Metro board member Tracy Hadden Loh of D.C. said the name change will create confusion with the Bethesda station that is three stops to the southeast. She also pointed to similar confusion with Farragut North and Farragut West, Pentagon and Pentagon City, and soon West Hyattsville and Hyattsville Crossing.

“There’s a cost (to this change) because people who are riding the Metro who meant to get off at Bethesda are going to get off at North Bethesda and vice versa,” she said. “It is going to happen.”

She said one item in Metro’s naming standards clearly points out that station names should be distinct. She also thought it was odd that many of the groups wanting the name change, like the Friends of White Flint, haven’t even changed their own organization’s name.

Virginia Metro board member Matt Letourneau said he chooses to defer to Maryland board members and the jurisdiction that requested the change. Sarah Kline, who represents the federal government on the Metro board, said she has nostalgia for the White Flint name since she shopped at the mall as a kid and lived near the Metro station for a while, but she said the station name change will actually help to shape that that new branding that the county is looking for.

It’s not the first time the board has approved a name change that hasn’t been universally popular. The board also recently voted to change Prince George’s Plaza to Hyattsville Crossing, which some residents said was a sign of gentrification and an attempt to change the identity of the area.

Any jurisdiction that requests a name change must pay for the estimated $300,000 cost of new signs and maps. The state will pay $250,000 and the county is contributing $50,000, according to the letter.

All of these changes will take effect when Metro prints new maps after the second phase of the Silver Line, which adds new six new stations, opens sometime next spring.

Alex Block shared some of the Metro name changes over time on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/alex_block/status/1468974738735304709

Metro will soon vote on the Largo Town Center name change.