After 114 years as the International Swimming Federation, the Federation Internationale de Natation or simply the acronym FINA, it will now be called "World Aquatics".

The name change came as a surprise to nobody as they joined the likes of World Athletics, World Archery, World Taekwondo and World Triathlon.

insidethegames understands other names were considered including "One World Aquatics", "Aquatics Global" and "Aquatics World" before proposing World Aquatics following a consultation process led by American digital marketing firm Martin Group.

"It’s certainly a big decision and one that probably people have been thinking about for a long time," said World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki.

"You look across the IF (international Federation) spectrum and there are lots of prefixes and suffixes that are used by Federations to describe who they are, what they are and what they are offering.

"When you start that process you look at words like international, world, global.

"You look at words like association, union, federation and you start to piece them together and play with them a little bit so you can pair them up and see what works and what doesn’t and then you put those words to your constituency and ask them what do they think?

"At the end of this you have got this wild matrix of different potential combinations but at the end of all of that the exercise it told us that perhaps it was the most obvious that was the best to go with and that was to go with World Aquatics.

"We feel great about, we feel comfortable knowing that we vetted so many potential options and we really feel that it is a name that reflects the community that we represent."

When attending the World Swimming Championships (25m), which finished in Melbourne on Sunday (December 18), I was asked on more than occasion by security staff and coach drives what does FINA stand for?

It’s a question people within the sport must be facing all the time with World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam claiming that the majority of athletes do not even know.

Some World Aquatics staff that I had spoken to during the week in Melbourne said they felt attached to FINA but Romania’s Olympic swimming champion Camelia Potec believes the name change is necessary.

"We hope this name will have more impact outside of aquatics so people can recognise us," said Potec, a women’s 200 metres freestyle gold medallist at Athens 2004 and who is head of Romanian Aquatics and Modern Pentathlon Federation.

"It’s important to be more known,

"Because I have been in this sport for more than 30 years, I get used to this name.

"I thought it was a good name because I have grown up with it and recognise it.

"I had a connection with the old name but I think the new name is a good change after so many years."

The rebranding of the organisation has also seemingly gone down well with athletes as a group, including Britain’s triple Olympic champion Adam Peaty, South Africa’s multiple world short-course gold medallist Chad le Clos and Romania’s teenage sensation David Popovici, who all attended the launch party at THE LUME, digital art gallery in Melbourne.

Peaty’s presence was particularly notable given his previous comments against the running of the organisation.

Speaking moments after finishing his men’s 100m breaststroke heat, Peaty told insidethegames that "communication" and "transparency" were the most important areas that he had seen improve under the leadership of Al-Musallam and called for that to continue.

"It’s all positive," said Peaty.

"The name change is a new era now and hopefully the athletes are able to benefit, especially in the long term.

"For the sport to grow now, there needs to be some major changes and hopefully under that new name it is going to bring that."

The new name was part of a new constitution passed at the organisation’s Extraordinary General Congress last week, with members voting overwhelming in favour of the changes.

Among those included expanding the World Aquatics Bureau to increase female representation to 38 per cent, slashing of the number of committees and removing "Honorary Life" titles.

There has also been a change to term limits of Presidents with Al-Musallam, elected in 2021, set to stand in a fresh election next year seeking a further eight years in charge.

Cato Bratbakk, head of the Norwegian Swimming Federation, was the only member to speak out against the move, saying "it’s not a good idea".

Michael Bernasconi, chair of the World Aquatics Reform Committee, defended the change, claiming that other International Federations were "not profiting from campaign models".

"A federation needs stability in order to move on with reforms," said Bernasconi.

"You cannot do reforms if you do not have stability.

"It's a completely wrong idea that if you change the chair you will have a better organisation."

There is no doubting reformist President Al-Musallam has done a lot of good since replace Uruguayan Julio Maglione in the hot seat and it is likely that he will continue to implement positive changes.

The Kuwaiti official also suggested that would will step down once he reaches 2031 despite having the option to run again for four more years, with the age limit capped at 75.

But the initial eight-year term is too long, in my opinion, and could be exploited if the running of World Aquatics falls into the wrong hands.

"There is a lot of work to be done to prepare for the 10 years, LA [Los Angeles 2028] or Brisbane [2032] to see different nations or different people winning gold medals," said Al-Musallam.

"This is my target.

"I cannot do it if I am sitting here and after two years I call Japan for lobbying and call England for lobbying.

"We are not politicians."

Al-Musallam was thrilled to witness Cayman Islands’ Jordan Crooks’ victory in the men’s 50m freestyle in Melbourne.

Crooks received the gold medal from Al-Musallam after beating the likes of defending champion Ben Proud of Britain and Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia to secure an unlikely victory.

Cayman Islands has a population of just 70,000 people but Crooks said his success proved that anything is possible.

"The Cayman Islands is a very special place," said Crooks.

"I wouldn’t have grown up in any other place.

"I am very grateful for everything they have done for me as a person and swimmer.

"I hope it shows any little kid out there that may doubt themselves and may think that because they don’t have a specific resource that they might not be able to do it that it is possible.

"There is no set way of doing things, you can carve your own path."

The United States and hosts Australia may have collected the bulk of the medals in Melbourne.

But Crooks gives hopes for the rest as swimmers from developing nations eye success under the banner of World Aquatics as the new era begins.