Burma?

[lsanderson]

Can we all chip together and get the White House a new globe? Burma changed its name to Myanmar quite some time ago. (1989)

Comments

[quadong]

But we don't recognize the government as having the moral standing to change the name, or something? I read about this a long time ago.

[calimac]

Yes, it's kind of complicated. A lot of the country's dissident groups, which the US supports because it disapproves of the military government which changed the name, don't accept the name change and still call it "Burma". Accordingly that's still what the US officially calls it.

Also, the claim that "Myanmar" is more respectful or more accurate is challenged by a lot of linguistic scholars.

People from the country get to have an informed opinion on this, and they disagree. For the rest of us, it's just a mess.

In general

[lsanderson]

'It's just a mess' is a fairly adequate description of a country with so many ethnic groups and waring areas. See Shan State for more information. I still think it's better to call a country by its own 'official' name unless that name is the head honcho's name or his favorite horse.

Re: In general

[calimac]

That's a choice. In this case it's not a compelling imperative.

[carbonel]

I thought it was more like "had its name changed by its conquerors."

Too True

[lsanderson]

That's usually who gets to name countries. The rest of the world uses 'Myanmar.' It's time to move on.