A look at some notable corporate and agency name changes

A look at some corporate and agency name changes

Examples of notable corporate and government agency name changes:

Corporate:

—Blackwater Worldwide, a security firm, changed its name in 2009 to Xe Services, as the company tries to rehabilitate its image following a 2007 shooting in Iraq that killed 17 people and led to federal charges against several Blackwater guards.

—ValuJet merged with AirTran in 1997 and took the AirTran name after a deadly crash in 1996.

—Philip Morris Co., the tobacco company, became Altria in 2003.

Government:

—Department of Foreign Affairs became the State Department in 1789.

—Department of War became the Department of the Army in 1947 as part of a military services unification. Two years later Congress established the Department of Defense.

—Department of Heath, Education and Welfare became the Department of Health and Human Services, as the new Department of Education was created in 1980.