8 Countries That Changed Their Names and Why

After a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey in early February 2023, people began noticing the media using the spelling Türkiye when covering the disaster. That's because Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu requested the United Nations change the spelling from Turkey to Türkiye in June 2022. The request was based on a decree from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which said the spelling Türkiye "represents and expresses the culture, civilisation and values of the Turkish nation in the best way." The United States officially followed suit in January 2023 when it recognized the spelling on all government documentation. Although the rest of the world is recognizing the "new" spelling, it's not "new" for people in Türkiye since they've been writing it this way since 1923.

If you think that Holland and the Netherlands are the same and that you can use the names interchangeably, think again. The Dutch government said goodbye to the name "Holland" in 2020 to clean up this country's image. Curiously, the name Holland wasn't representative of the entire country; Holland referred only to an area in the Netherlands, specifically, The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. So, now you can scratch Holland as an alternative name and start referring to this country as The Netherlands.

This European country that borders Greece switched its name from the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of North Macedonia in 2004. Although the name was changed in 1991 when the country became independent after the breakup of Yugoslavia, initially the country was referred to as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece objected because it has a Macedonia region. So in 2018 the Balkan country and Greece signed an agreement that, among other things, resolved yearslong disagreements between the two nations, and agreed on the name Republic of North Macedonia. The new name has proven helpful as the country is now part of the European Union and NATO.

Swaziland, a small, land-locked country tucked within the country of South Africa — that's right, it's located inside another country — changed its name in 2018 to The Kingdom of eSwatini. King Mswatti III, the country's absolute monarch, announced the name change in honor of the country's 50th anniversary of independence from Britain, though he'd been referring to the country as eSwatini (which means "land of the Swazis" in the Swazi language) since 2014. "African countries on getting independence reverted to their ancient names before they were colonized," Mswatti told the crowd who gathered for celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence. "So from now on, the country will officially be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini."

If you hadn't heard the Czech Republic changed its name to Czechia, you're not alone. Despite the United Nations recognizing the name change in 2016, it's still not very well-known. In fact, during an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, wasn't even aware of the name change. "I didn't know this. I don't like it at all," he said in the interview. And to be fair, the country has had a few names since 1993 when Czechoslovakia split into two separate states: Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.

This 10-island country with a population of around 500,000 is located off the coast of Western Africa in the Atlantic Ocean was named Cabo Verde (meaning Green Cape) by Portuguese sailors in 1444 when they were uninhabited. Throughout time, the name became more anglicized Cape Verde. But in 2013, the Secretary-General submitted an official request to the United Nations to official revert its name back to the Republic of Cabo Verde. The country uses both names of Cabo Verde and Republic of Cabo Verde.

In 1927, Luang Phibunsongkhram (Phibun) formed the radical People's Party in what was called Siam. Believed to be of Chinese origin, the name Siam was used by Portuguese colonists. Phibun helped lead a coup in 1932 against the Chakri king and formed a western-style democracy. The monarchy survived, but in 1938 Phibun became a nationalist dictator and changed the country's name to Thailand. In 1939, Thailand became a constitutional monarchy and the world updated its name.

What was once known as Persia was renamed Iran March 21, 1935. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi changed the name after he eventually became shah of Iran (1925-41) after he headed a British-orchestrated coup and occupied Tehran in 1921. As Reza Shah Pahlevi, he wanted redevelop Iran because he said Persia was too "colonial" and he wanted it to catch up with the modern world. He felt like Persia was lagging behind, and thought giving it a new name — Iran — would help give it a facelift. But it wasn't just a name change. Reza Shah introduced reforms, including more rights for women, mandatory education for both boys and girls; and reorganization of the government. He also banned the chador in 1936.