diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 4f5ad277f..7b969727b 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 * Added a new sub-command `augur curate parse-genbank-location` to parse the `geo_loc_name` field from GenBank reconds. Previously, this was available as the `translate-genbank-location` script within the nextstrain/ingest repo. [#1485][] (@genehack)
 * curate format-dates: Added defaults to `--expected-date-formats` so that ISO 8601 dates (`%Y-%m-%d`) and its various masked forms (e.g. `%Y-XX-XX`) are automatically parsed by the command. [#1501][] (@joverlee521)
 * Added a new sub-command `augur curate translate-strain-name` to filter strain names based on matching a regular expression. Previously, this was available as the `translate-strain-names` script within the nextstrain/ingest repo. [#1514][] (@genehack)
+* Added a new sub-command `augur curate rename` to rename field / column names. Previously, a similar version was available as the `translate-field-names` script within the nextstrain/ingest repo however the behaviour is slightly changed here. [#1506][] (@jameshadfield)
 
 ### Bug Fixes
 
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@
 [#1509]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1509
 [#1514]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1514
 [#1518]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1518
+[#1506]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1506
 
 ## 24.4.0 (15 May 2024)
 
diff --git a/augur/curate/__init__.py b/augur/curate/__init__.py
index c8aacbbc5..c5961a9b1 100644
--- a/augur/curate/__init__.py
+++ b/augur/curate/__init__.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 from augur.io.metadata import DEFAULT_DELIMITERS, InvalidDelimiter, read_table_to_dict, read_metadata_with_sequences, write_records_to_tsv
 from augur.io.sequences import write_records_to_fasta
 from augur.types import DataErrorMethod
-from . import format_dates, normalize_strings, passthru, titlecase, apply_geolocation_rules, apply_record_annotations, abbreviate_authors, parse_genbank_location, transform_strain_name
+from . import format_dates, normalize_strings, passthru, titlecase, apply_geolocation_rules, apply_record_annotations, abbreviate_authors, parse_genbank_location, transform_strain_name, rename
 
 
 SUBCOMMAND_ATTRIBUTE = '_curate_subcommand'
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
     abbreviate_authors,
     parse_genbank_location,
     transform_strain_name,
+    rename,
 ]
 
 
diff --git a/augur/curate/rename.py b/augur/curate/rename.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..68730fa28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/augur/curate/rename.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+"""
+Renames fields / columns of the input data
+"""
+
+from typing import Iterable, Literal, Union, List, Tuple
+import argparse
+from augur.io.print import print_err
+from augur.errors import AugurError
+
+def register_parser(parent_subparsers):
+    parser = parent_subparsers.add_parser("rename",
+    parents = [parent_subparsers.shared_parser],
+    help = __doc__)
+
+    required = parser.add_argument_group(title="REQUIRED")
+    required.add_argument("--field-map", nargs="+", required=True,
+        help="Rename fields/columns via '{old_field_name}={new_field_name}'. " +
+             "If the new field already exists, then the renaming of the old field will be skipped. " +
+             "Multiple entries with the same '{old_field_name}' will duplicate the field/column. " +
+             "Skips the field if the old field name is the same as the new field name (case-sensitive).")
+
+    optional = parser.add_argument_group(title="OPTIONAL")
+    optional.add_argument("--force", action="store_true",
+        help="Force renaming of old field even if the new field already exists. " +
+             "Please keep in mind this will overwrite the value of the new field.")
+
+    return parser
+
+
+def parse_field_map(field_map_arg: List[str]) -> List[Tuple[str,str]]:
+    seen_new = set() # keep track of the new field names
+    
+    field_map = []
+    for field in field_map_arg:
+        fields = [n.strip() for n in field.split('=')]
+        if len(fields)!=2:
+            raise AugurError(f"The field-map {field!r} must contain a single '=' character.")
+        old_name, new_name = fields
+
+        # Sanity check the requests to catch typos etc
+        if not old_name:
+            raise AugurError(f"The field-map {field!r} doesn't specify a name for the existing field.")
+        if not new_name:
+            raise AugurError(f"The field-map {field!r} doesn't specify a name for the new field.")
+        if new_name in seen_new:
+            raise AugurError(f"Asked to rename multiple fields to {new_name!r}.")
+        seen_new.add(new_name)
+
+        field_map.append((old_name, new_name))
+    return field_map
+
+
+def transform_columns(existing_fields: List[str], field_map: List[Tuple[str,str]], force: bool) -> List[Tuple[str,str]]:
+    """
+    Calculate the mapping of old column names to new column names
+    """
+    # check that all columns to be renamed exist
+    for idx,names in enumerate(field_map[:]):
+        old_name, new_name = names
+        if old_name not in existing_fields:
+            print_err(f"WARNING: Asked to rename field {old_name!r} (to {new_name!r}) but it doesn't exist in the input data.")
+            field_map.pop(idx)
+
+    # iterate through field_map and remove rename requests if they would drop an existing column
+    # doing this ahead-of-time allows us to preserve the order of fields using a simpler implementation
+    if not force:
+        for idx, fields in enumerate(field_map[:]):
+            old_field, new_field = fields
+            if new_field in existing_fields and new_field!=old_field:
+                print_err(
+                    f"WARNING: skipping rename of {old_field} because record",
+                    f"already has a field named {new_field}."
+                )
+                field_map.pop(idx)
+
+    names_to_change, new_names = set([f[0] for f in field_map]), set([f[1] for f in field_map])
+
+    m = []
+    for field in existing_fields:
+        if field in names_to_change:
+            m += [(field,new_field) for old_field, new_field in field_map if old_field==field]
+        elif field in new_names:
+            pass # another column is renamed to this name, so we drop it
+        else:
+            m.append((field, field)) # no change to field name
+    return m
+
+
+def run(args: argparse.Namespace, records: Iterable[dict]) -> Iterable[dict]:
+    col_map: Union[Literal[False], List[Tuple[str,str]]] = False
+    for record in records:
+        if not col_map: # initialise using first record
+            col_map = transform_columns(list(record.keys()), parse_field_map(args.field_map), args.force)
+        yield({new_field:record[old_field] for old_field, new_field in col_map})
diff --git a/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/drop-columns.t b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/drop-columns.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d31844ae4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/drop-columns.t
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+
+Setup
+
+  $ export AUGUR="${AUGUR:-$TESTDIR/../../../../../bin/augur}"
+
+  $ cat >records.ndjson <<~~
+  > {"strain": "s_1", "country": "c_1", "accession": "a_1"}
+  > {"strain": "s_2", "country": "c_2", "accession": "a_2"}
+  > {"strain": "s_3", "country": "c_3", "accession": "a_3"}
+  > ~~
+
+Rename the strain column to accession -- we don't move the strain column to where accession was,
+We simply rename it and drop the (old) accession column. The alternate (which I don't like) produces:
+{"country": "c_1", "accession": "s_1"}
+{"country": "c_2", "accession": "s_2"}
+{"country": "c_3", "accession": "s_3"}
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "strain=accession" --force < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"accession": "s_1", "country": "c_1"}
+  {"accession": "s_2", "country": "c_2"}
+  {"accession": "s_3", "country": "c_3"}
+
+Similarly, renaming accession to strain re-names the column "in-place" and drops the (old) strain column
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=strain" --force < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"country": "c_1", "strain": "a_1"}
+  {"country": "c_2", "strain": "a_2"}
+  {"country": "c_3", "strain": "a_3"}
+
diff --git a/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/duplicate.t b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/duplicate.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..40d513e55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/duplicate.t
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+Setup
+
+  $ export AUGUR="${AUGUR:-$TESTDIR/../../../../../bin/augur}"
+
+  $ cat >records.ndjson <<~~
+  > {"accession": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  > {"accession": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+  > ~~
+
+
+Asking to rename the same column multiple times results in duplication of the column.
+Additional columns are inserted next to the existing one, and the order of the new columns
+matches the field-map
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=id" "accession=genbank_accession" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"id": "record_1", "genbank_accession": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  {"id": "record_2", "genbank_accession": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+
+
+We can use the same name to keep the original column
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=id" "accession=accession" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"id": "record_1", "accession": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  {"id": "record_2", "accession": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
diff --git a/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/force-behaviour.t b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/force-behaviour.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5886c599c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/force-behaviour.t
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+Setup
+
+  $ export AUGUR="${AUGUR:-$TESTDIR/../../../../../bin/augur}"
+
+
+  $ cat >records.ndjson <<~~
+  > {"accession": "record_1", "country": ""}
+  > {"accession": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+  > ~~
+
+Test that --force is required if a key exists, irregardless of its associated value
+(This was not the behaviour in the precursor command `transform-field-names`)
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=country" < <(cat records.ndjson) 1> out1.ndjson
+  WARNING: skipping rename of accession because record already has a field named country.
+
+  $ diff records.ndjson out1.ndjson
+
diff --git a/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/general.t b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/general.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f7f4401d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/curate/cram/rename/general.t
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+Setup
+
+  $ export AUGUR="${AUGUR:-$TESTDIR/../../../../../bin/augur}"
+
+The tests here use NDJSON I/O and don't explicitly test TSV I/O as we rely
+on the general curate infrastructure to enforce that each row has the same
+fields. See <https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/issues/1510> for more
+
+  $ cat >records.ndjson <<~~
+  > {"accession": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  > {"accession": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+  > ~~
+
+The --field-map argument is requried (error text not checked as it includes the entire argparse usage text)
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename < <(cat records.ndjson) 2>/dev/null
+  [2]
+
+Rename "accession" to "strain" -- the order should be preserved (i.e. strain is first column)
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=strain" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"strain": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  {"strain": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+
+
+Rename "accession" to "country" - single error message is reported as we won't overwrite without --force
+and we don't change the data
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=country" < <(cat records.ndjson) > out2.ndjson
+  WARNING: skipping rename of accession because record already has a field named country.
+
+  $ diff records.ndjson out2.ndjson
+
+Rename "accession" to "country" using --force
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=country" --force < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"country": "record_1"}
+  {"country": "record_2"}
+
+Asking to rename multiple columns to the same new name is an error!
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=foo" "country=foo" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  ERROR: Asked to rename multiple fields to 'foo'.
+  [2]
+
+Asking to rename a non-existant column raises a warning. Using a warning not an error allows the command
+to be idempotent.
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "strain=foo" < <(cat records.ndjson) 1> out3.ndjson
+  WARNING: Asked to rename field 'strain' (to 'foo') but it doesn't exist in the input data.
+
+  $ diff records.ndjson out3.ndjson
+
+
+Rename will re-order fields to match the first observed record (with any necessary changes applied)
+This produces NDJSON output which more closely matches TSV output.
+
+  $ cat >records.unordered.ndjson <<~~
+  > {"accession": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  > {"country": "country_2", "accession": "record_2"}
+  > ~~
+
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=id" --force < <(cat records.unordered.ndjson)
+  {"id": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  {"id": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+
+
+Using --field-map without a single '=' char is an error
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  ERROR: The field-map 'accession' must contain a single '=' character.
+  [2]
+
+Using --field-map with more than a single '=' char is an error
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=id=strain" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  ERROR: The field-map 'accession=id=strain' must contain a single '=' character.
+  [2]
+
+Using --field-map with spaces surrounding field names is OK (as long as you quote the arg appropriately)
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map " accession = strain " < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  {"strain": "record_1", "country": "country_1"}
+  {"strain": "record_2", "country": "country_2"}
+
+Using --field-map with an empty "old field" doesn't make sense
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "=accession" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  ERROR: The field-map '=accession' doesn't specify a name for the existing field.
+  [2]
+
+Using --field-map with an empty "new field" doesn't (yet) make sense
+  $ $AUGUR curate rename --field-map "accession=" < <(cat records.ndjson)
+  ERROR: The field-map 'accession=' doesn't specify a name for the new field.
+  [2]