yeah, they officially started recommending it only in 2016. tbh I didn’t know Eswatini changed its name until I read it here, so just because not many people know it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t follow the recommendation of the countries.
this is a very good argument.
I am not sure if countries have any real power when it comes to changing their name in a foreign language other than making a polite request.
With the exception of google maps, relatively few sources mention Czechia so I think changing it now would be putting the cart before the horse a bit. I propose that it stays the same until Czechia catches on, if it ever does.
Apparently the name change was registered in 2017 with the UN but it has not found favour with English speakers who think it sounds too much like Chechnya and also do not like change!
Here in Norway we write and say «Tsjekkia»
Are RB going for «English» or «National» country names? Norway = Norge or Noreg (two official languages but not really a big difference)
Germany or Deutschland?
The Ivory Coast changed its official name in English to Côte d’Ivoire in 1985 but it has not caught on with many, including this site. The pronunciation probably has a lot to do with it!
First of all Czechia is not the native name for the country, it’s Česko in Czech. It actually dates back to 1993, but was recommended to be used more widely, to replace Czech Republic in 2016. So it’s not new at all.
Secondly I understand the fact about countries having little sway in having their names changed in a foreign language, but since all official correspondence has now switched to Czechia, I would accept that as the reality.
As for further geographical distribution, we could go NUTS for Europe.
Indeed:
The name Czechia first appeared in Latin about 400 years ago. The first English text to mention it was in 1841.
This is just stupid, to say you’ve changed your English name to something French.
not really - the official name of the country in English is “Republic of Côte d’Ivoire” - you can see it as a name.
You could also say that Eswatini is only the transliteration of a Swazi name, but that doesn’t make it not a valid name in English.
This link gives many good arguments in favour of Czechia:
They didn’t “change their name”; the name of the country is Côte d’Ivoire and French is their sole official language.
Côte d’Ivoire is commonly used in the US.
Chechia is not. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard the word spoken. Check-chia? Chech-ia? Chech-ya?
Seems to be a caucasian problem -
I know that, I was just pointing out that it’s stupid to say “hey people of the English speaking world: the name of our country in English is something in French”.
Georgia (the ex-Soviet country) actually attempted to do something like this recently by asking other (non-English speaking) countries to call it “Georgia” instead of “Gruzia”. It was a massive failure.
The irony is that almost all of the countries that call it something derived from the Russian name are also ex-Soviet, who you might expect to have some sympathy.
After hearing lots of people from lots of countries refer to The Czech Republic of my youth (technically false - it was Czechoslovakia in those days) as /Czechia/, even I as a brit decided that that was the more sensible name to use, and that’s exclusively what I use. It’s shorter, for pity’s sake, what’s not to like? The pronunciation’s easy too. If you’re a brit that’s never encountered it, it’s like the final word in “The Slovaks are a bit checky, but the Czechs are checkier”, at least if you’re non-rhotic.
Not exactly the same, although I get what you’re saying. However, it would be more similar to what I pointed out if they’d say: hey English speaking world, you are calling us Georgia now but in English our country is named Sakartvelo.
First paragraph of the article:
The country known in the West as Georgia in fact has many names – “Sakartvelo” in Georgian, “Gurjistan” in Turkish, and “Vrastan” in Armenian, to name just a few.
Post-Brexit Britain will insist on being called Big Mistake
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