It seemed like it should be simple. Metro conducted market research and found that riders wanted short names for the 86 Metro stations in the system. The transit agency decided to take a new look at the names because it is redoing its map and three-quarters of its signs for a change to Blue Line service scheduled next summer.

But one look at the U St/African American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo station name should have warned agency officials that it wouldn’t be an easy task. Naming, it turns out, is political.