“Desperate” and “suck up” are words some national bloggers have used to describe a recent proclamation by the mayor of Topeka, Kansas, to change the town’s name to Google, Kansas, for the month of March. The screenshot below is taken directly from the state capital’s website.

The reason for this civic stunt: Topeka, er “Google,” hopes to be chosen as a test market for the search giant’s new fiber optic broadband service, which promises speeds of 1Gb per second.

As this blog post explains, Google wants to make super-fast broadband Internet connectivity a public utility, and it has sounded the call for communities to tell why they should be chosen.

Judging by the low-key delivery of the employee in this explanatory video, Google probably wasn’t expecting any municipalities to go changing their names.

Some locals are calling the move cheesy but are ultimately showing support.

KCBizBeat, for one, gives props to mayor Bill Bunten and the Think Big Topeka campaign for creativity — and for having over 11,000 Facebook group members.

Bizbeat also points out, tongue-in-cheekly, that this isn’t the first time Topeka has changed its name to attract a trendy suitor. In 1998, the state capital redubbed itself “ToPikachu” in honor of Pokemon.

Now that was desperate.

The Star hammers Topeka for being boring but also says the idea deserves credit.

What do you think about Topeka’s “Google” play? Dorky? Noble?

Our take: We love the community action on display here. Folks in Topeka clearly realize that Google’s Utopian-sounding fiber network could do their depressed town a world of good — to say nothing of the bragging rights they’d get — and by golly, they’re gonna do what they can. Sunflowers over silicon!

However, the cheese factor is a bit overwhelming. It would’ve been nice if they’d focused more on rallying citizens online than on resorting to kitschy stunts. Only one tweet about this, Topeka?

There’s still time, though. And if they pull it off, we’ll gladly make the hourlong drive to show support by downloading all previous Lost seasons in Top City. (Kidding, of course…)