Why Countries Change Their Names

In this video, I look at why countries might want to change their names. I look at the specific cases of North Macedonia, Eswatini, Burma/Myanmar, Iran, Czech Republic, and more.
This video was made in collaboration with Atlas Pro, check out his related video: • Exonyms vs. Endonyms: ...
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator

[@WonderWhy]

Excited to announce that this video was made as a collaboration with a fantastic (and fairly new) KZbin channel called Atlas Pro. I've been subbed to him since he had just 11k subs, and he's been blowing up lately, and rightly so. Go watch his related video on Renaming the Continents: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmjZgZSNgN-jeas Thanks to everyone for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. And any new subs that may have come from Atlas Pro's channel: welcome!

[@dongochoangkhang8984]

Hide i'm from Vietnam can you explain my country history

[@therealdave06]

Wow I was wondering throughout the video why the animations looked eerily similar to Atlas Pro's

[@TheBigRedskull]

I recently subbed to him wow thats awesome!

[@packi_5]

Love the new animation style

[@patrod2327]

China has limited recognition

[@mohammadgalihputra4081]

Swaziland: *Changed it's name so people don't confused it with Switzerland* Austria & Australia: Hmmmmm....

[@mustapha1403]

Slovakia to slovenia : are you thinking what i'm thinking ?

[@bbenjoe]

Don't forget about Asturia.

[@TheMicdave]

@@bbenjoe It's AsturiaS

[@bbenjoe]

@@TheMicdave You are right! I am from Hungary, and we call the land Asztúria thats why I made the error.

[@user-lj2dr4fb4w]

I'm from Austria and Austria is "Österreich" in German and Australia is "Australien" in German so there is no problem at all for us

[@jacobbahr9316]

Germany: Guten tag, mein name ist 'Deutschland' England: Hi, Germany France: Salut, Allemagne Poland: Cześć, Niemcy Sweden: God dag, Tyskland Finland: Hei, Saksa

[@asephidiru]

Indonesia: Apaan si bgsd

[@justawhitenigga]

Romania: Salut, Germania!

[@user-xm2nb7qj1t]

Szia, Németország!

[@lazyperson7343]

Hellas: Γεια γερμανία

[@csalt2981]

HOLA ALEMANIA

[@maximo0987]

So calling Iran “Persia” is basically like calling the Netherlands “Holland”

[@jacob-qw1de]

And the UK “England”

[@alanivar2752]

It's exactly like that

[@Egalitarianism_Secularism]

Not exactly, Holland is the name of the main part of the Netherlands where most of the population lives but it still exists as opposed to Persia which is the older name

[@Tangerinewcwof]

And the United States “Texas”

[@Tangerinewcwof]

And Canada “Ontario”

[@ThePuma1707]

Where do you live? East East i mean where exactly? Eastern East East

[@oliversmalley7771]

I live in the east of an island east of east east.

[@YellowToad]

*e a s t*

[@paradoxcynicalenigmasynthe8498]

East east is East Timor or Timor leste.

[@dogodog1247]

Timor Leste's name is interesting, because while it is definitely in the east, it isn't the most east, which means that even though its name is east east, it isn't the east, EAST.

[@ErnestJay88]

French Sudan, the one and only flag with STICK FIGURES on it.

[@tinytimtam]

Liberian county flags

[@eden4279]

Oh no, Carthage's flag looks like a Woman in a Dress with her hands up

[@rock3tcatU233]

When your flag design has to be finished before lunch time.

[@phwaedih]

Belize is the only country in the world that currently has people depicted on its flag..

[@tonytruong861]

@@eden4279 It does. Probably meant to represent the founding mother of Carthage, Queen Dido.

[@thorns.1364]

No one: Hungary: Ｍａｇｙａｒｏｒｓｚáｇ

[@danielrand8849]

Where my magyars at

[@Debre.]

No one: Every single American ever: HaHa Ur hUNgRy?!

[@fane757]

No one: The ottoman empire in the 16th century: WhAt HuNgArY???🤔🤔🤔

[@XiaoMof]

S. A. Debre That's actually true... sadly.. 他媽的。 Ich haße mein leben!

[@bozidarduic9892]

Croats call you by your name-Mađarska :)

[@sktzn6829]

The funny thing about the Czech Republic/Czechia dispute is that its neighbour Slovakia has nearly always been called Slovakia (because of Czechoslovakia), even though it's official name is the Slovak Republic.

[@heychrisfox]

Gonna be honest, this video blew my mind, because I had no idea Swaziland changed its name.

[@pronkb000]

Same. Completely missed that one.

[@JimboRustles]

For some reason I thought Swaziland wasn't an internationally recognized country anyways.

[@bidilz]

@@JimboRustles same

[@neptune8168]

I miss Swaziland.. I liked that country name.

[@aaravdiwakaristhebest]

Same

[@maxwellli7057]

Fun fact: the Chinese name for North Korea can be translated to “everyday is fresh” in old Chinese.

[@scythal]

I mean, North Korea doesnt have much pollution....

[@merrittanimation7721]

Sounds like a air freshener slogan.

[@Debre.]

@@scythal You can't have pollution if you don't have the tools to pollute **black guy pointing at head**

[@sktzn6829]

it's not even Old Chinese. Chao and Xian still mean "morning" and "fresh" in Modern Chinese lol

[@maxwellli7057]

@@sktzn6829 its just not the most common way of saying those two words

[@zzzzzz4110]

Who else realized the visuals look alot better?

[@merrittanimation7721]

The animations are nice.

[@KasabianFan44]

Better? I thought they were much worse! Way too much going on; it distracted me from the talking.

[@rodton1000]

It looks like wendover productions

[@OzzieTheHead]

@@KasabianFan44 that doesn't mean "worse"... Objectively you are pointing at higher animation quality and then saying it is too much for your feeble brain

[@KasabianFan44]

Ozan Akyıldız No, I’m just saying that MORE =/= BETTER. You’re basically saying I’m too dumb to watch these videos, which is okay for you to say but it’s definitely not the way WonderWhy should look at constructive criticism.

[@Grace-365]

Also, the "endonym" name for New Zealand is Aotearoa (which translates to "land of the long white cloud"). Named by the Maori and still used frequently. We are also one of few countries to have 2 national anthems (one in Maori and one in English),.

[@adwoafrimpomaahasante2685]

Ghanaian here, Ghana also has 2 national anthems, 1 in English and 1 in a local language Twi. English - "God bless our homeland Ghana", and Twi - "Yen ara y'asase ni". Quite Cool!

[@Grace-365]

@@adwoafrimpomaahasante2685 So cool! I just looked up the lyrics, what a great national anthem :)

[@luyandapapiyana5526]

Being a New Zealander you must be accustomed to hearing the South African national anthem which is sung in 4 different languages as well.

[@kenkur27]

The Canadian national anthem has English and French versions, sometimes sung half in each language.

[@mikeymikey4186]

The protoslavic word for Germany (We'll take "Niemcy" in Polish as an example) comes from the words "Nie mówiący" or "Niemy" meaning "Not speaking" or "Speachless". It is believed that the slavic tribes called Germans that because they didn't understand their language , and vice versa

[@KnightSlasher]

Country: I want that name Other country: *I am that name* Continents: *We hold all your names*

[@ethanbrown4656]

@Proud Bangladeshi গর্বিত বাংলাদেশী I prefer to pronounce it "bangladesh"

[@susmitamohapatra9293]

@Proud Bangladeshi গর্বিত বাংলাদেশী Ikr! I'm an Indian and I cringe everytime I hear a Western pronounciation of bangladesh, or a Western pronounciation of any Sanskrit/Hindi/Urdu/Bangla name for that matter. Only some people like NativLang pronounce it right.

[@cv4809]

@@susmitamohapatra9293 I cringe whenever Indian try to pronounce western names

[@susmitamohapatra9293]

@@cv4809 I can understand your point 😁 some Indian pronunciations of western names are very cringy, difference in accents and tones makes up the difference in pronunciation, but many south Asians get western names right while westerners struggle with our words, this includes Bangladesh and Pakistani words

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

@Proud Bangladeshi গর্বিত বাংলাদেশী How is Bangladesh pronounced in your language?

[@sciblastofficial9833]

Name Explain: (misses a topic on how a country changes names) WonderWhy: Now this looks like a job for me

[@nasyithrahman9594]

"It's a free real estate"

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

Name Explain is just a decent artist and narrator. content-wise its subpar

[@thomasschulz8477]

So everybody come follow me, cyz we need a little controversy

[@AS-mw6pw]

Zrzavy coz it feels so empty without me

[@antonioramirez4985]

@@AS-mw6pw I love how almost any sentence can just be an Em reference

[@rylandmalcolm3825]

To think of your country and to think of two names like Myanmar and Burma seemed so strange to me until I relisted I do the same , Aotearoa being the second name for New Zealand.

[@kalinskivadim]

Everyone: Finland Finns: SUOMI!

[@japanpanda2179]

Idk why but I love the Finnish language. Everything in it sounds so pleasant.

[@ra_alf9467]

Hmm, "Husband"

[@yuxinlittlemagic]

@@ra_alf9467 that's "suami" lmao

[@DoctorCyka]

Lithuanians: SUOMIJA!

[@Tr1ck3ry]

Doctor CykaHD TV me who speaks Finnish and Lithuanian: Yeah makes sense

[@benbear08aj]

French Sudan’s flag is so funny 😂 2:02

[@pyrrosdimas5798]

HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAA

[@andymadden8183]

Sardinia's flag is four copies of a blindfolded man's head.

[@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong]

Supposed to represent a man on his knees raising his hands towards the sky, praising God. I like it.

[@Suite_annamite]

Nowadays, Chad's flag is just pathetic ... looks like it evokes a "French Arizona" or something.

[@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong]

@@Suite_annamite French Sudan is now Mali. Chad has always had that flag you speak of.

[@ronukaj8968]

Albania is also a foreign exonym that derives from latin. In albanian, we call Albania "Shqipëria".

[@anotheraccount2052]

Ron Ukaj shqipe spotted

[@iloveindomienoodle]

And there's several places that is derived from the word "Albania", or in the case of the Caucasus, formerly used it

[@saptasuryapalit9433]

Yup as our BHARAT(भारत) is called as India by the western world as our motherland was called sindo or indo in ancient Persian and Greek

[@ILLYRIANW0LF]

That is not certain, during the middle ages albanians referred to their lands as Arberia and themselves as arber, or arbresh, which may be a continuation of what the world refers to now as Albania.

[@ronukaj8968]

Caucasian Albania's name derives from greek or an ancient caucasian language though so they are completely different things.

[@cosmonautdubs]

Excellent post! thank you so much for making this. I enjoy every single one of your videos!

[@xjg685]

Finland is really weird because from what I’ve seen in most languages, only 2 refer to it by the native name Suomi: Finnish (obligatory) and Estonian, as Soome. Every other language refers to it as Finland.

[@egbront1506]

Suomija and Somija in Lithuanian and Latvian

[@yuho4141]

In sami Finland is Suopma

[@MM-xm5vx]

Glad to see a KZbin that prioritizes quality over quantity

[@ieuanhunt552]

If you are interested in this look up Atlas Pro. Damn good geography based channel.

[@JaKingScomez]

@@ieuanhunt552 YES YOU'RE RIGHT

[@MM-xm5vx]

Ieuan Hunt I love atlas pro.

[@kbye2321]

Don't forget Ted Ed!

[@rajbabumanandhar6450]

Kurzgesat

[@won1853]

Thailand changed its name from Siam to Thailand.

[@netajithevar296]

Why?

[@viveka2994]

Because the east asian co prosperitu sphere

[@won1853]

@@netajithevar296 I'm not sure about the etymology but IIRC Siam was an exonym.

[@jackyex]

@@won1853 Actually Siam was an endonym but they changed ut to be more west friendly and because it was weird the people living in Siam be Thai as Thai was the endonym and siamese the exonym

[@wakakabravo7998]

Siam is foreign word actually. There are many theories of it origin but it probably come from Sanskrit word which mean dark people. The official name is rattanakosin kingdom before they change it to Thailand in 1932. They always call themselves mueng Thai which mean people of Thai and it probably come from tai ethnic group name.

[@username4835]

Great collaboration. As you discussed country names I wondered about the origin of Europe’s name.

[@doylelocker4337]

I have wondered about this very subject. Great job with your video.

[@rexlunae]

Korea is an exonym, derived from the Goryeo dynasty that ended in 1392. South Korea calls itself Hanguk (한국), after the name used by the short-lived Korean Empire, while North Korea calls itself Joseon (조선) after the last dynastic kingdom of unified Korea. And the two countries also have different words for their language and writing system that reflect these different names. I think it's a pretty interesting case.

[@jacob_and_william]

Meanwhile Japan calls North Korea 'Kita Chousen' meaning 'North Joseon' or alternatively in a sense, 'North North Korea'...

[@rexlunae]

@@jacob_and_william kinda. Although, since neither country recognizes the other, they both consider their chosen names to be applicable to the whole country, and don't recognize each other's...I'd say not really.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@rexlunae I would say it became an exonym, since it's derived from a dynastic name of Korea.

[@japanpanda2179]

Hey, at least Korea is named after a Korean name for the dynasty. "Japan" is a Chinese name for Nippon, "China" is a Hindi name for Zhongguo, and "India" is a Greek name for Bharat.

[@albadelgado6751]

Japan Panda true! Although I don’t know how people got the “Ja” of Japan from “riben” in Chinese ! I mean the chinese pronunciation of Ri is very characteristic

[@Narmatonia]

1:12 It's weird how you can see Lesotho's border in satellite images like this

[@Ambigious]

Narmatonia Not at all. Countries are often split up by geographical hinders

[@Sparx632]

Brad Smith no

[@iberniaofficial]

Kappazoid Lesothos own population is so poor and hungry they want to join south africa

[@nazukah2861]

@@iberniaofficial Their population is so porn, all they do is fuck right? Lmao

[@nazukah2861]

@@zacharymohammadi Hey Hey, PrimaProduction said that first, not me, no clue how he pressed a r instead of an o, guess hes been watchibg stuff ;)

[@truebigboss]

Norwegian here, we say Tyskland instead for Germany and Hellas instead for Greece.

[@Matheodor2]

a country that calls mine (greece) with the correct name..finally

[@user-vn7ce5ig1z]

5:10 - The twist is that many Iranians/Persian (especially expats) don't like the name Iran because it is too closely associated with religion and oppression since the 1979 revolution. They opt for "Persian" because while it is an exonym, it hearkens back to the pre-clerical glory days of the empire and its culture. They have to choose between two bad options. :-\ 9:15 - Greeks also use hellas to refer to the world/Earth. Old or small cultures often did this before meeting other lands.

[@jorgeenriquemedina5638]

Really? But the name of the country in Persian has been Iran for millennia, and the request to refer to it as Iran came decades before the revolution.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

Seriously?🤨 I hadn't heard of this. Interesting, because it was the Shah that wanted the name change and did it in the League of Nations.

[@metadragon7500]

This whole time I thought East Timor and Timor Leste were different countries. I want to cry now.

[@tryingmybest206]

Ffs

[@bidilz]

@RandomMe Entertainment me too because im indonesian. the history is the portugese colonized them, but indonesia got the land but than got released

[@andriilham5625]

Add Timor Timur 😂

[@nadiaparamita101]

How?!

[@risannd]

In Indonesia itself the name "Timor Timur" refers to the former province of Indonesia, while "Timor Leste" is used when talking about the independent country of Timor Leste.

[@AliceConsortium]

Beijing being renamed from Peking explains the airport code of PEK.

[@Perririri]

and #PekingDuck

[@birchtree5884]

And Peking University

[@xcmodev1558]

Now we need to find the Airport with the code KEK

[@risannd]

Guangzhou = CAN Mumbai = BOM Chennai = MAA Kolkata = CCU St. Petersburg = LED Astana = TSE Makassar = UPG

[@darkouss6253]

In French we still call it Pékin (derived from Peking)

[@JeremyWS]

That was interesting. I liked it. Very informative and entertaining and educational.

[@ESCKrish]

Loving the new production!

[@sergeybychkov5348]

Don't forget Georgia: some countries refer to it now as Sakartvelo.

[@vegabi4534]

CROATIA ALBANIA ARMENIA,JAPAN,KOREA egsonim

[@Suite_annamite]

I speak *Vietnamese, where we still call it "Gruzia"* after we borrowed that name from Russian.

[@wayward4657]

That would clear up a lot of confusion between the state and country if they changed it...

[@loveseal990]

I thought about Kartvelia as a another name for Georgia (the country).

[@scythal]

Gruziya!

[@greggr8250]

Greece's name in English (and also in other languages) came from the Greek word Γραικός (Grekós) and then came into Latin (Grecia). Greece is also called Hellas in Norwegian and Yunanistan in Turkish

[@JJH-jc1fg]

I hope to visit that beautiful country some day

[@lamichael8659]

Yavan in hebrew too

[@w.d.gaster3261]

Its called yunan in arabic (يونان)

[@amritlohia8240]

@lagjes cuni2 The term Γραικός comes from Γραῖα (Graîa), a city on the coast of Boeotia, where the Greeks and Romans first met. Accordingly, the Romans referred to the people as Graeci. As for where the city's name comes from, it means "grey", from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old”).

[@gelisgeo1309]

@lagjes cuni2 According to ancient Greek mythology, Graicos was a hero, son of Pandora and god Zeus. "Gracos" means old,very old, ancient Nothing common with ALBANIAN PROPAGANDA

[@fekkezaum]

Thanks for including subtitles 🙏 We definitely need them 😂

[@dnsvls]

Great video, WonderWhy. I always enjoy your content.

[@christianstarke1117]

Sri Lanka also changed its name from Ceylon. Burkina Faso changed its name from Upper Volta. There are countless more examples that were missed, but the video can only be so long. I enjoy your videos.

[@Suite_annamite]

It was *always called (Sri) Lanka by South Asians:* *"Ceylon"* was just the *Portuguese name* for it, *just like they called Taiwan "Formosa".*

[@NickNackItaliano777]

Democratic Republic of the Congo changed its name from Zaire

[@jakeg3126]

And no one in Zaire even noticed

[@kenkur27]

​@@NickNackItaliano777And before that Belgian Congo in the colonial times.

[@aoterou]

Belize changed its name from “British Honduras”

[@downja]

My first exposure to an exonym was when I was stationed in Japan. I kept hearing Nippon, and kept wondering what the hell people were referring to. Turns out, that’s the official name for Japan in Japanese, while most westerners call it Japan.

[@gold.nheart]

Gorkha to Nepal

[@SaraMahdi]

Thank you so much for mentioning Iran. I was anticipating you mentioning it. As an Iranian myself, thank you :))

[@keolypola661]

Cambodia changed its name 7 times in 50 years: -1st Kingdom of Cambodia (1953-1970) -Khmer Republic (1970-1975) -Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) -People’s Republic Of Kampuchea (1979-1989) -State Of Cambodia (1989-1992) -United Nations Transitional Authority In Cambodia (UNTAC) (1992-1993) -2nd Kingdom Of Cambodia (1993-Today)

[@floatingdisembodiedhead8975]

So it's like the P Diddy of nations.

[@lacanm1554]

You forgot Zaire being changed to DRC

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

Actually, Congo-Kinshasa (and yes that's what we all should call it) just went back to its original official name after independence from the Belgians.

[@quiteunknown3050]

@@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions, I prefer DR Congo.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@quiteunknown3050 Why? Honestly, why would you want to pronounce initials everytime when words are better?

[@wolfstar3883]

Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville sound quite clunky.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@wolfstar3883 How so? You know Guinea-Bissau (what was Portuguese Guinea) exists right?

[@superbere]

Fantastic video! Thank you so much

[@jamesparker6743]

Came across this video randomly - one of the most interesting things I've watched in ages.

[@coulrophobic123]

Canton was changed to Guangzhou, not Guangdong. Guangdong is the province that Guangzhou (formerly Canton) is the capital of.

[@pingliao7949]

That is true. The name 'Canton' did derive (mistakenly) from 'Guangdong' the province, but most historical writings use it to refer to 'Guangzhou' the capital. Also, the 'Cantonese' dialect was originally spoken only in the area around the capital, while people in other parts of the province may speak some very different dialects such as Hakka and (a variation of) Hokkien as their mother tongues.

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

canton is guangdong. guangxi is kngsai/cansai

[@ZhangtheGreat]

Fun fact: the birthplace of professional American football in the United States (Canton, Ohio) got its name from the old Romanization of Guangzhou. The city was named in memorial to an Irish merchant who had named his estate in Maryland "Canton."

[@coulrophobic123]

@@ZhangtheGreat that's also where Canton, SD got its name. The settlers wanted to name their new town after the city that appeared most opposite them on the globe which appeared to be Canton, China.

[@HughMiller98]

And it's also a kind of grass-based jelly used in Chinese desserts

[@bayareajokester9456]

This is awesome as to how Atlas pro and you Wonderwhy are pulling off this collab!

[@mokodo_]

Your videos blow my mind, thanks 👏

[@knockshinnoch1950]

Another excellent informative and entertaining presentation.

[@Kyle-td6px]

Loving the new graphics! They actually go really well with your overall style

[@thulx3997]

How to start comment war: Step 1: *"Macedonians have joined the chat"* Step 2: *"Greeks have joined the chat"* Step 3: Start talking about name controversy Step 4: _enjoy_

[@wizzya9966]

What you said is "Ancient greeks joined the chat" "Greeks joined the chat" Urgh,how?

[@DacLMK]

Hello from the country that changed it's name to North Macedonia. Most people (including me) hate the new name and it will be changed back when VMRO comes to power. Cheers.

[@DacLMK]

@@wizzya9966 "Ancient Macedonia joined the chat" "Some Ethiopians who claim to be Greeks joined the chat"

[@bakarana455]

@@DacLMK Brate misli se deka ke ni go smenat. SDS I VMRO se edno isto sranje drugo pakovanje...

[@user-sb7ys7ge8p]

@@wizzya9966 What?

[@the_Kutonarch]

Me: "Hey Luke, did you hear that Swaziland has just changed its name?" Random Jawa: *"Eswatini!"*

[@lp-xl9ld]

I hadn't even heard about "Eswatini" prior to now, and I generally consider myself pretty well informed. Thanks also for clearing up the Burma/Myanmar thing...I have a co-worker who's from there, and far as I know, she calls herself "Burmese" and not... what, "Myanmarian"? (Sounds like a reference to your earlier "America: Country or Continent?")

[@sktzn6829]

Well it's because the official country name is Myanmar, but there is no updated demonym, which is why they still use the demonym Burmese, and the official language is still called Burmese.

[@DeWaltDisney]

We have 4 commonly used names: Éire in the Irish language, Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann) which only came into international use from 1953 at the request of FIFA, to differentiate from Norn Iron, as both teams were playing competitive fixtures as Ireland until then, The Irish Football Association originated in Belfast and later the Football Association of Ireland was set up in Dublin. Hibernia is the final name from Roman times, translating as 'land of winter' and can be seen on the 2016 €2 coins, celebrating 100 years since the 1916 rebellion.

[@atrillagaming7805]

6:09 Czech Rep. - Czechia Dominican Rep. - Dominica Dominica: -_-

[@caf3in323]

they could use The Singing Nun - Dominique as an anthem just imagine armies marching to this song

[@Perririri]

Kaomoji normie

[@wandaperi]

Roblox Kaomoji normie

[@marber7475]

You make excellent videos. Thank you.

[@LeftPinkie]

"Dutch" is still used to refer to Germans... for example, in the US, Pennsylvania Dutch are German descendants in the Pennsylvania area.

[@pulaski4837]

It's Actually spelled as "Deutch" It's just pronounced as "Douche" Kinda offends me as a half german

[@binrahmat.khairulnizam7743]

It's actually Deutsch...

[@Jack_Stafford]

But in American English, when referring to Amish, it is Pennsylvania DUTCH.

[@Jack_Stafford]

@Wally Banter people are talking about Americans in Pennsylvania, so one would think that how Americans refer to their own people would matter to people that care about things being correct.

[@ayusaleha4452]

Dutch is Netherland people. For German, it is Deutsch.

[@eca3101]

You forgot Egypt In English -> Egypt Egyptian Arabic -> Masr Standard Arabic -> Misr

[@Ambigious]

ECA Its still called Egypt though........ Nothing speacial with having another word in another language. Thats how languages work... duuuh

[@eca3101]

@@Ambigious No it's not, Egypt is not called "Egypt' to Egyptians, in the same way Greece is not the word for it to Greeks, as the video points out, smartass

[@Ambigious]

ECA You mean like how basicly every single country has another name that what its called in english? Wow.... revolutionary...............

[@eca3101]

@@Ambigious damn, it's almost as if you didn't watch the video with the whole endonym and exonyms Try watching the video next time buddy

[@Ambigious]

ECA Oh I did watch it. And I heard what he said about Greece/Hellas. But do you seriously expect him to name every single country? No... didnt think so

[@NeverGiveUpExisting]

3:05 That's a Lithuanian flag my man when without the star.

[@nadiaparamita101]

Thank You! I've been wondering about this! Especially German's name.

[@owlyus]

Was surprised not to hear Egypt/Missr mentioned

[@w.d.gaster3261]

Omar Zeid me too

[@msi4887]

In turkish Egypt is still called Misir lol

[@________2763]

@@msi4887 True xd

[@derubermensch9060]

in bengali egypt is called mishor

[@KemetEG]

In Egypt its= Masr.. In Arabic=Misr

[@sayyiddaffam6822]

A collaboration between two of my favorites channel, hell yeah!

[@pjuiced3893]

3:11 I love that you just see the Lithuanian flag because he missed the star idk

[@Edgeperor]

I can just imagine how the U.S. must’ve been named Thomas Jefferson: hmm... Hey George, should we be creative in naming? George Washington: as long as it’s quick, just make sure people don’t laugh at it, Jeff. Thomas Jefferson: so he thinks it’s funny to use a shortened and highly annoying version of my name, huh? Well I’ll show that incredibly handsome scallywag what’s funny *angry scribbling*

[@mjbsen]

Nice video but what about Upper Volta/Burkina Faso, Dahomey/Benin, Congo/Zaire/DRC??

[@themanwiththeplan1401]

he choose specific examples. also what about ceylon/sri lanka

[@Nothing_Here]

But Sri Lanka is on Ceylon

[@TheKripox]

@@Nothing_Here The country's official name is the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and it is generally called Sri Lanka in English. Ceylon has not been in common use for a few decades.

[@SixStringsCovers]

I think he wanted to mention only the recent ones who changed their names

[@lugosky02]

The Dominican Republic looks to «Czechia» with disappointment.

[@niall5821]

Sometime in the 2000s latinoamericans started to call it just "Dominicana"

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

Why would it be disappointed? I say both the Dominican Republic and the Central African Republic find themselves a simple toponym. I was thinking “Dominicia” for DR.

[@Icefire3339]

Maybe they don't want to be confused with Dominica?

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@Icefire3339 It would be the other way around, since DR is older. This is why the official name is Commonwealth of Dominica instead of “Republic of…”, however in English their respective demonyms are the same except for pronunciation - DR🇩🇴: Do *MI* nican, Dominica🇩🇲: Domi *NI* can.

[@risannd]

@@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions CAR has its short form, "Centrafrique"

[@DZRESPECT]

i am Algerian and algerian population call our country DZAYER While the official name is Al Djazair - Algeria

[@viveliran7509]

@@simplethewaterbender6264 We say Al Gezayer

[@a945]

In turkish called Cezayir.

[@DZRESPECT]

@@a945 yeah Cezayir came from Dzayer

[@a945]

@@DZRESPECT they have exactly same pronunciation.

[@ChammazTV]

In tunisia we say dzaier but maybe the name comes from tamazight. As i know Tûns from tamazight.

[@AJGeeTV]

Thanks for the interesting video. As a British person, from England, living on The British Isles, within The United Kingdom, I can see changes ahead for my country/countries. In Scotland I see (ECOSSE) regularly on car nationality stickers, in Wales (CYMRU), and in Northern Ireland a variety of examples ranging from IRL to ULSTER. However, in England we don't seem to care that much. Will be interesting what the next twenty years brings...,

[@kenkur27]

'Ecosse' is also the French name for Scotland.

[@johnchessant3012]

This stuff is endlessly fascinating. Thanks, WonderWhy!

[@cyrusthegreat1893]

Just like what you said, Iran has always been called Iran by its native local Iranian people and the neighboring countries. It was known as Persia only to the western world. Iran means; Land of Aryans.

[@usernamesample8386]

Not true Assyrians referred to Iran as Parsa and Arabs called it Balad Faris.

[@ankitcoolvideos]

Iran.. Paras in Sanskrit

[@antoniskonstantinidis8375]

awesome video bro

[@Dao_Griffi]

Good video but where are u from, your accent is pretty cool

[@OnepuBop]

Great. I'm interested in etymology and have learned new terms: Endonyms vs Exonyms. New Zealand is my country's Exonym. Aotearoa is my country's Endoym.

[@ddsferd1628]

Nobody can utter such a shit.

[@ori5315]

@@ddsferd1628 Um...ok? Māori is an incredibly easy language to pronounce. yet so many people still manage to constantly butcher it -.-

[@SixStringsCovers]

And also Mount Cook is Aoraki :) I am Romanian but I know a few facts about New Zealand as well. You have the longest name for a village with more than 80 letters I think

[@calebansell806]

As a New Zealander, I call it New Zealand. Both endonym and exonym

[@OnepuBop]

@Caleb Ansell Individually, you call it New Zealand but as a country, we use both New Zealand and Ao-tea-roa. Aotearoa is the modern-day "endonym" of NZ, even if you do not use it personally. "A name used by a group of people to refer to themselves or their region (as opposed to a name given to them by others)-is called an endonym." - www.thoughtco.com/exonym-and-endonym-names-1690691

[@grantlee5737]

Two uploads in a year? What a concept.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Similar case in Korea! We call ourselves Joseon/조선 after the last dynastic Korean kingdom. While the south call themselves 한국/Hanguk which refers to the Three Kingdoms period. They like to call us 북한/Bukhan or North Han to imply we're the northern part of their land. Thing is, we don't view each other as nations but rather ONE nation with two governments claiming to be legitimate. Another example of different names for one country is also Japan, called over there 日本 (Nihon) which roughly means "Sun's origin", and it comes from the chinese 日本 (Rìběn). The pronunciation changed when the Japanese adapted the Chinese characters to their language.

[@p4t858]

Here in the Philippines, Maharlika (Royalty in english) is one of our choices in changing our country's name.

[@jimgreen3966]

What I remember from the African map when I was a 'kidlet' in the 50s was that today's Democratic Republic of Congo, before it was Zaire, was Belgian Congo; Southwest Africa was the name for today's Namibia, and Burkina Faso was known as Upper Volta. Also, the 15 republics of the Soviet Union are now 15 separate countries, Czechoslovakia split in two, and Yugoslavia split into 6 pieces.

[@sunsetsky123]

wales is called cymru in wales

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

And Cymry are the people. That confuses people a lot.

[@montyollie]

Your videos are phenomenal. Thank you so much

[@benjibean8431]

Me: Do you live in Burma or Myanmar? Person who lives there: Yes.

[@snailie]

Not forgetting that "Burma" was called "Birma" in German.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Yugoslavia under Tito united the Slavs. It fell apart after he kicked the bucket. Sadly. Also, I wish Cambodia stayed as Kampuchea

[@saptasuryapalit9433]

What's up kim How's the JOSH

[@raptorfromthe6ix833]

how does it feel to be the only fat kid in your country

[@alexandervinesmoke9691]

Yugoslavia was united a long before even tito came and he was one of the worst thing that happened to our people that guy was stealing everything and was forcibly taking land from other people and he even brought communism to our country which destroyed everything we accomplished before it and our reputation died with it, Kingdom of Yugoslavia wasn't perfected but at least it was respected worldwide. After tito took the power he made us poorer and half of the world considered us to be a "gypsy thief nation" Because he created the system which all criminals have all rights there is and those same criminals would go to the western europe and steal every there is there and they would do it over and over because tito allowed them to do whatever they want.

[@wolfstar3883]

No. Cambodia sounds much better than Kampuchea.

[@user-jt6tc7cv6y]

He is a Filipino cause he use the word *TITO* that means *UNCLE*

[@lydan5808]

Absolutely loved this. I lived in Denmark for several years, so please tell us why they call Germany Tyskland

[@KommentarSpaltenKrieger]

Tysk has the same etymology as deutsch (=theodisc, diutisc).

[@twitertaker]

5:30 In Germany we still say "Peking" (with the German pronounciation of "e", sounding like the "e" in "else").

[@user-vu2yb1gy4l]

In Mexico you can still hear Pekín too.

[@caioaugusto3138]

@@user-vu2yb1gy4l Portuguese Pequim

[@wandaperi]

There is no native ZH sound in German

[@ANNJUN012092]

Austria is Osterreich... while Philippines is Pilipinas... In our Filipino language, we call Germany as "Alemanya", US as Estados Unidos or Amerika, China as "Tsina", Japan as "Hapon", Sweden as "Swesya", Netherlands as "Olandya" or "Olandes", Lebanon as "Ponesiya", Iran as "Persya", Belgium as "Belhika o Belgika", United Kingdom as "Inglatera", Mexico as "Mehiko", Poland as "Poloniya", France as "Pransya", Egypt as "Ehipto", Norway as "Norowega", and Switzerland at "Swisa", Thailand as "Sayam",

[@sherwinbalanquit4696]

United kingdom as rieno unidos😘

[@JagungAnjing]

We're comprised of Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Malays, Dayaks and even Papuans. *Lets name our country the Indian Islands*

[@netajithevar296]

Indian culture and religion is what united Indonesia the first time in history.

[@scythal]

(Indo)nesia is already derived from the name of India, so no need!

[@JagungAnjing]

Scythal no need for what? You clearly didn't get the joke. The name 'Indonesia' literally means Indian Islands. They're not even Indian.

[@japanpanda2179]

What's the native name for Indonesia? Maybe something derived from Majapahit since that was the first united Indonesian state?

[@japanpanda2179]

@Netherlands Cassava Hm ok that's great actually

[@MM-xm5vx]

Me: what a nice video Also me: looks down Time till next upload: 1 year

[@EruptedCamerupt]

This is the stuff I subbed for hell yes

[@mattm.2591]

Turkey/Türkiye is a recent example, which occurred after this video was published. I was really interested in what was going to be said about that country until I saw when this video was uploaded.

[@simonolthenorwegian]

Norwegian actually refers to Greece as Hellas in casual speech. I think Norwegian is the only language (other than greek) that does this?

[@timothystamm3200]

Apparently Chinese languages also do that.

[@eca3101]

Egyptian arabic as well

[@jyashin]

@@timothystamm3200 Chinese tries to follow the endonym as much as possible. There are some notable exceptions (Finland, New Zealand, and India for example), usually because the countries in question pretty much speak English as a secondary national language.

[@davidweber5833]

In Germany: mostly they Griechenland but sometimes they say Das Hellas.

[@sktzn6829]

Yes. In Chinese and Mandarin it is "Xila" which is a direct derivation from Old Chinese. Cantonese is a close descendant of Old Chinese (also the only language I know that I can base Old Chinese translations off), and in Cantonese it is "Hei-Laap"

[@Sergiovision]

Brilliant explanation on Czechia. Contrarily to what some people may believe, the name is actually slowly catching on.

[@Julio974]

Sérgio P. Rego I am trying to teach people around me to use « Czechia »

[@PtrkHrnk]

@@Julio974 Please don't, it's just stupid, among other reasons...

[@RealCadde]

Slowly catching on? In my language you are named "Tjeckien" which in English would be "Czechia". That is, a large portion of the world have already been calling it that in like forever.

[@Sergiovision]

@@RealCadde Swedes are intelligent and practical.

[@Sergiovision]

@@PtrkHrnk Stupid is to insist on calling a country by its long political name rather than the short geographical name. Czechia all the way.

[@dave.translates]

I need to know the fonts used on this video because I'm obsessed.

[@VinhNguyen-ln6so]

You forgot the change of Kampuchea (endonym) to Cambodia (exonym)

[@PrimusProductions]

Surprised you didn't mention the huge debates on Wikipedia talk pages for Côte d'Ivoire.

[@Madhattersinjeans]

wikipedia and debates kinda go hand in hand.

[@pronkb000]

(FYR of) (North) Macedonia was another massive one.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Regarding Timor-Leste: Timor-Leste indeed means "east east". But apart from that, the reason the island Timor got that name is for being in the eastern part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. And for the former Rhodesia colonies: Rhodesia was named by settlers after Cecil Rhodes, who founded the British South Africa Company, so being straight up named after a colonial is why nationalists in Northern and Southern Rhodesia in particular wanted to move away from their past. Zimbabwe stems from the Great Zimbabwe medieval city and is derived from dzimba-dza-mabwe meaning "houses of stones" in the Karanga dialect of Shona. Zambia on the other hand is derived from the Zambezi River. Zambezi in turn means "Great river" in Chitonga.

[@garyfrancis6193]

Finland is called Suomi in the country. Here in South Korea many names changed slightly during the new Romanization of Hangul. Pusan became Busan for example. I notice some people pronounce it ss Buthan.

[@ardenverdell4750]

I love your accent. Where are you from?

[@bgdan-qf8sn]

A few examples of european endonymes: Albania: Shqipëria Armenia: Hayastan Austria: Österreich Croatia: Hrvatska Finland: Suomi Georgia: Sakartvelo Germany: Deutschland Greece: Hellas Hungary: Magyarország Montenegro: Crna Gora The Netherlands: Nederland (many country call it Holland or they translate Netherlands in their local language which sounds very different from the original name. For instance we say Pays-Bas in French). Bonus: Ireland: Éire Scotland: Alba (gaelic) Wales (Cymbru): pronunced differently in every other language (for instance Pays de Galles in French) ... and the majority of Asian nations has very different name in English than in the local language.

[@kenkur27]

Crna Gora is actually a direct translation of Montenegro (Black Mountain in English)

[@lauraqueentint]

czech republic: i dont wanna be called by my real name, mom. eu: welllllll

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

Czechia isn't a neologism, it has existed for a long time, is just that now Czechs are tired of being known internationally by their formal name, while they and their immediate neighbors use a short toponym for the country.

[@user-sd1wx5or8i]

Why can't they just call the country as "Bohemia"

[@bain8renn]

ーザー匿名ユ because theyre czechia. They are a czech ethnicity, and they speak czech, or češko (I think).

[@bbenjoe]

9:00 - What's the name (or author) of that painting?

[@robinmiersch1451]

And 7:25 "The small southeastern Asian nation..." What a tongue twister!