A view of the sea

Countries That Changed Their Names Recently And Why

Turkey ➡️ Türkiye In 2022, Turkey officially requested to be called “Türkiye” internationally to better reflect its language and identity, distancing from the bird "turkey"

Macedonia ➡️ North Macedonia To resolve a long dispute with Greece, Macedonia changed its name to North Macedonia in 2019, allowing it to join NATO and aim for EU membership

Czech Republic ➡️ Czechia In 2016, the Czech Republic adopted the short-form name Czechia for easier international branding, though both names are still used

Swaziland ➡️ Eswatini In 2018, King Mswati III renamed Swaziland to Eswatini, meaning "land of the Swazis", to shed colonial ties and avoid confusion with Switzerland

Holland ➡️ The Netherlands In 2020, the Dutch government stopped using “Holland” for tourism and officially promoted the full country name: The Netherlands

Burma ➡️ Myanmar Although done in 1989, the name change from Burma to Myanmar is still debated. Some countries and groups use the old name due to political reasons

Belarus ➡️ Belaya Rus Proposal A name change to Belaya Rus ("White Rus") has been discussed to reflect historical identity, though it’s not official yet. The debate continues

Read More