In Turkmenistan getting the date right was a tricky business. Instead of April there was Gurbansoltan - the name given to the month by the country's late dictator, who renamed it after his mother.

But yesterday the central Asian nation took another step towards ending its isolation, when its new president suggested dumping the names invented by his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, who took over after Niyazov's death in 2006, said he wanted to go back to traditional names, including January. Niyazov had renamed January after himself - calling it "Turkmenbashi" (father of the Turkmen). Other months were named after heroes and poets. "It is necessary to draft a Majlis [parliamentary] resolution by the end of this half of the year after a very thorough analysis," the president said.

The late dictator renamed the months in 2002 - one of a series of bizarre decrees that earned Turkmenistan the reputation of being one of the world's most repressive states. Ordinary Turkmen stuck with the old names, but the new forms became mandatory for officials and state television.

Since becoming president Berdimuhammedov has ended his predecessor's personality cult. He has allowed internet cafes to open, lifted the ban on foreign operas and increased the number of years children attend school. He has also improved ties with the west.

"He is a different generation from Niyazov. He's younger, and he understands that Turkmenistan can't live in isolation from the outside world," said Sanobar Shermatova, an expert on central Asia based in Moscow. "The iron curtain around Turkmenistan is coming down."

She added, though: "These reforms don't add up to democratisation. Turkmenistan remains as far away from democracy in the western sense as it is from the moon. The change to the names is all about unifying Turkmenistan with the world. I expect this process to continue."

Other names consigned to the scrapheap include Ruhnama - September - named after the late dictator's spiritual book.