Countries that Changed Names

Countries change their names for a variety of reasons, often driven by a combination of political, cultural, historical, and even economic factors. Here are some of the most common motivations like making the transition from the present into the future with New thoughts and goals. Changing a Country’s Name directly shows that the country has adopted a New Ideology. Many countries that were formerly colonies have chosen to change their names after gaining independence.

In this article, we are going to learn and discuss when and why Countries have their Names.

List of Countries that Changed their names

S.no	Past Country Name	Present Country Name
1	Burma	Myanmar
2	Ceylon	Sri Lanka
3	East Pakistan	Bangladesh
4	Czech Republic	Czechia
5	Turkey	Turkiye
6	Siam	Thailand
7	Persia	Iran
8	Swaziland	eSwatini
9	Upper Volta	Burkina Faso
10	Rhodesia	Zimbabwe

Countries Overview

Present Country Name	Land Area (sq km)	Population ( million)	Literacy Rate (Percent %)	Official Language
Myanmar	6,76,578	54.4	84.8	Burmese
Sri Lanka	65,610	22.5	92.5	Sinhala, Tamil
Bangladesh	147,570	168.9	74.5	Bengali
Czechia	78,867	10.7	99.9	Czech
Turkiye	783,356	84.3	96.8	Turkish
Thailand	513,115	70.4	97.0	Thai
Iran	1,648,195	83.1	97.0	Persian
eSwatini	17,363	1.1	81	English, Swati
Burkina Faso	274,200	21.5	27	French
Zimbabwe	390,757	15.0	92	English, Shona, Ndebele

Reason for Changing Country’s Name

S.no	Country Changes Their Name To	Reason for Changing
1	Burma —–> Mayanmar	In 1889, the military government of Burma changed its name to Myanmar to show the world that they had the freedom from colonialism. Changing Burma to Myanmar is a Symbol to reflect that they are rooted to their Country’s History , cultural heritage and literature. To get International recognition as Mayanmar to give a message to the world that Mayanmar has adopted a new ideology on which the nation will walk to progress. Changing country’s name is the symbolic way that they now have their Ideology to follow and not to follow any others like the influence of Colonialism and Chinese in their country.
2	Ceylon ——> Sri Lanka	In 1989, Ceylon gained freedom from British rule and changed its name to “Sri Lanka ” the name which comes from their past culture. After getting freedom from the Colonialsm they changed their countries name to Sri Lanka that is connected with the countries cultural heritage , literature and with the language . Name-changing is a symbolic way to show the world that a country has adopted a New ideology to move further on.
3	East Pakistan –> Bangladesh	In 1971, East Pakistan Changed its name to Bangladesh after the nine-month nine-month liberation war. It changed its name to show that it has a difference in culture and a different language-speaking population in the majority. the official language of Bangladesh is Bengali and East Pakistan has Urdu. In 1952, there was a movement in Bangladesh called – the Bengali language movement This movement worked as a spark to get freedom or separation from Pakistan. Bangladesh have different language , culture and history based on that they were separated and get freedom from Pakistan .
4	Czech Republic –>Czechia	In 2016, the government of Czechia officially adopted the Name Czechia as a short name in English to give a message to the world that they have changed in Ideology and Now, they are heading towards modernization. To get International Recognition the government thought that a single word would be easy for International people to remember. Czechia directly comes from the Cesko the shorter name fro the country in Czech their national official language.
5	Turkey ———-> Turkiye	In 2021, President Erdogan announced a request for the International community to use Turkiye instead of Turkey whenever in the country. The Turkish government believes that the Turkiye is the right way to pronounce and write, it also reflects the country’s cultural heritage. To reclaim the country’s culture and present it in their a way to the world. In June 2022, the United Nations accepted the country’s name as Turkiye and will use it whenever a nation wants to refer to the United Nations as Turkiye.
6	Siam ———–> Thailand	In 1939, Siam Changes its name to Thailand under the rule of Field Marshal – Phibun Songkhram. The Field Marshal aims for nationalism and modernization in Thailand. So, he started to changes that needed to accept modernization. The meaning of Thailand – ” The land of Thailand” is the ethnic group of Thai people being united by the name. Siam was used for centuries by the iconoclasm. To show that they get Independence.
7	Persia ———–> Iran	In 1935, the Iranian government under Reza Shah Pahlavi requested the international community to use Iran whenever they were referring to the nation in literature and while speaking about it. Iran originates from the ancient Iranian language and reflects the country’s cultural heritage. The term “Persia “comes from the Greek an was referred to the southernwest region of the country, not the whole country. Changed name further to avoid confusion and misrepresentation because “Persia” leads to confusion with the English word “Persian” which means a type of cat or rug. To reclaim the culture and literature of the country.
8	Swaziland ——->eSwatini	In 2018, Swaziland changed its Country name to Eswatini because eSatini comes from the Swati language and the meaning of the country name is “Land of the Swazis “. Changing the name of the country signifies that it is the symbol of the nation’s pride to be rooted in their history and culture. eSwatini’s name is the pride symbol of getting independence from colonialism.
9	Upper Volta——>Burkina Faso	In 1984, the country changed its name from Upper Volta to “Burkina Faso” under the leadership of Captain Thomas Sankara who came into power through a military coup in 1983. Upper Volta was named to the country by the French Colonizers. Upper Volta does not associate with the country’s culture and country literature or language. Burkina Faso means “The land of Inccrouptable People” in Bambara and Dyula the two majorly spoken languages in the country. The changing country is a symbolic way of presenting countries’ love towards their cultural heritage, language and national pride.
10	Rhodesia——>Zimbabwe	In 1980, the country changed its name from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. The struggle to change was not only one year long They were constantly year by year struggling for it and it started in 1965 when Southern Rhodesia got the Unilateral Deceleration of Independence (UDI). Rhodesia was named the country under Colonialsm Rule After that when they got Independence from them they changed the country’s name to Zimbabwe. They changed it to Zimbabwe because it represents their history and culture to the majority of Shona People. The name change was very important for getting International recognition and legitimacy of the newly formed government Ideology.

Conclusion

Countries change their names for a variety of reasons, often driven by a combination of political, cultural, historical, and even economic factors. Changing any Country is a symbol of national pride, adopted new political Ideology, and Pride in gaining independence from colonialism. Every country in the world has its history , language, culture and different way of living life but When Conoliasm entered any country they changed the country’s International and National identity that’s why when countries started getting freedom or Independence Changing countries name become a symbolic way to present Now are they have their Ideology to follow and also way to connect their country name with their History, culture and literate.

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Countries that Changed Names – FAQs

What is the newest country name?

The newest country in the world is South Sudan. The African country of South Sudan, which declared independence on July 9, 2011, is the world’s latest internationally recognised country.

Which country has 3 Names?

The Republic of India has two principal short names, each of which is historically significant, India and Bhārat. A third name, “Hindūstān”, is sometimes an alternative name for the region comprising most of the modern Indian states of the Indian Subcontinent when Indians speak among themselves.

Why India is called Bharat?

The name Bharat can go back to the time of the Great Emperor Bharata who is known as the initial conqueror of the whole subcontinent – India and the Republic of India. The great King Bharata was the son of Queen Shakuntala and King Dushyant. Thus, this was a brief about the name Bharat.

Which Country changed there in 1980?

In 1980. Southern Rhodesia became Zimbabwe after the independence from colonial rule of United Kingdom.

What was the common reason in countries to change their Names?

The common reasons between the countries to change their name one is after getting independence from colonialism they changed their name as of pride and to get International recognition.