For tourists and commuters alike in Washington, the names of the city’s metro stations are a bit of a mouthful.

U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo, Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Centre, and New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U do not exactly roll off the tongue, but officials say that will soon change.

Over the next year, officials will work to clip the names to make it easier for travellers – and to conform to long-standing guidelines.

“The shorter, the better,” Dan Stessel, a spokesman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, said. The decision was made “for simplicity, for people for whom English is not their first language, for our international guests – in this world of Twitter and its 140 characters... it makes sense,” he said.

The transit authority is taking advantage of work on two of the city’s five metro lines to kickstart the project, as new maps will need to be printed. Stations will now be known by their shortened names of no more than 19 characters – U Street, Mt Vernon Sq or New York Ave.

The longer names will be printed below in a smaller font.