Quiz: What's This Country's Former Name?

The Soviet Union existed between 1922 and 1991, and was the world's largest country. A highly centralized, communist government eventually gave way to 15 independent countries, like Latvia, Ukraine and Russia.

In 1885, Britain annexed this nation as one of its territories, giving it the name Bechuanaland, meaning the country of the Tswana, the main ethnic group. At independence in 1966, it was renamed Botswana.

Persia was a common name for Iran, particularly in the Western world. In 1935, the Iranian government requested that countries use the term "Iran" rather than "Persia" because "Iran" means "land of the Aryans" and this was to show that the country belonged to more than just Persians. ("Aryan" was an ancient word for Indo-Iranian-speaking people.)

More than 1,000 years ago, people who mostly spoke a subset of the Tai languages began settling in what’s now called Thailand. But back then, it was named Siam, which came from the Sanskrit word "syam." In 1939, after a successful coup, dictator Luang Phibunsongkhram changed the country's name to Thailand. It was briefly called Siam again from 1945-48 when he was out of power.

The British called it the Gold Coast, in part because there was so much of the precious mineral in the area. At independence in 1957, its name was changed to Ghana.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia all sprang from the late Yugoslavia.

The Republic of Zaire was fairly short-lived, lasting from just 1971 to 1997. Before and after that time, the country was referred to as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After a military junta used extreme violence to put down a political uprising, it changed the nation's name from Burma to Myanmar. The U.S. and some other countries don't recognize the name change.

Cook named them in 1778 after one of his sponsors, the Earl of Sandwich — and not because he had eaten a delicious sandwich there. After the 1840s, the local name of Hawaii became more popular.

The eastern coast of Africa is home to a land formerly known as Abyssinia or Ethiopia. Abyssinia was the preferred name by outsiders but locals have always called it Ethiopia.