Why Did Siam Change It's Name To Thailand?

[@NameExplain]

Anyone watching it Thailand?

[@veryblocky]

No, I live in England

[@WaterShowsProd]

Yes, I am. As for the use of the name Siam today, there's a popular shopping district in the heart of Bangkok which is called Siam with malls there called Siam Paragon, Siam Center, Siam Discovery, a shopping village called Siam Square, and an aquarium called Siam Ocean World.

[@benjaminmenist]

I used to live abroad in Thailand, so this was very interesting

[@Lames067]

Thai living in Thailand. A minor mistake in the pronunciation of Phibun, P should be a heavy sound, but I understand foreigners trying to pronounce another language.

[@ItsPForPea]

Hi! I'm Thai and I love watching you videos! From what I've been listening to, your major flaw is that, you're doing contents about linguistic, but you lack non-English words pronunciation skills. I suggest, whenever possible, when you come across a name in non-English language, look up their Wikipedia articles, find the IPA, if you're lucky, there might be some recordings, but if there isn't, just put the name in their native language and put it on google translate and listen to it. It's still better than coming up with a pronunciation from how it's spelled using Latin alphabets. Please, never, ever go by your English language instinct, Phuket is pronounced "Poo-get" and not "Fuck-it", so "Phibun" is "Pee-Boon" not "Fi-bun"

[@sayuncleordie]

They were sick of being known for cats and conjoined twins.

[@veesatayamas6515]

A town where I lived in my childhood is a sauce name. #sriracha 🤧

[@sayuncleordie]

Vee Satayamas That's good stuff.

[@adiabd1]

The island I lived in is a name of popular coffee and programming language 😂

[@stickynotemetagaming]

@@adiabd1 Java?

[@thefolder3086]

555(you will get the references if you are Thai)

[@vladprus4019]

"Both of these nations have even red, white and blue flags too" You have an idea how little that narrows it down?

[@EpicB]

The French, Dutch and Russian flags also come to mind. Also of note is the flag of Liberia, which looks a lot like the American flag.

[@MrInitialMan]

@@EpicB No surprise with the last one, as Liberia was basically founded by the United States.

[@TheAlps36]

And Cuba, and the UK, and Norway and Iceland....

[@MrInitialMan]

@@TheAlps36 Reminds me of a joke in a webcomic called Transmission. Two young men (brothers) are living in California, and are called out by their neighbor for not flying the Red, White, and Blue. As these two young gents are recent immigrants from ENGLAND, guess which flag they fly.

[@stickynotemetagaming]

@@TheAlps36 the UK is not a country

[@F-Man]

I guess you could say Siam’s hands were Thai’d

[@lucasknox4871]

Boooooooo. No actually, nice one

[@joshk5734]

Owch

[@khadirafarah1314]

Nice one! XD

[@randodox8375]

This pun is great. lmao

[@horseshit1503]

Siamese twins

[@Angelgreat]

10:25 There's my name and it's pronounced correctly! Thank you Name Explain!

[@thefolder3086]

Thank you. I like to see this video of my country.

[@LangThoughts]

While the people are called Thai and speak the Thai Language, they are part of a collection of Ethnic Groups called the Tai People, and the language, along with all the languages of the Tai People, are called Tai Languages. In fact, Laotians are Tai, and Laotian is a Tai language.

[@garretwoeller7669]

So people in Thailand speak Laotian intresting I thought it was a country is also the language type thing as in Thai people speak Thai.

[@LangThoughts]

@@garretwoeller7669 No, there are a group of languages called Tai Languages, spelled without an h. One of them is Laotian. Another is Thai, spelled with an h. But Laotian *is* a Tai (spelled without an h) language.

[@garretwoeller7669]

@@LangThoughts again I did not know this and I'm glad I learned it as I wish to go Thailand at some point.

[@zerwif]

@@garretwoeller7669 You'll find the exact opposite in Laos, especially in large cities like Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Lao people tend to listen to TV and music in Thai, giving them conversational proficiency or even fluency in Thai.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

The Thai language displays regional variation. Travelling east into Issan there are changes in dialect. Travelling further east into Laos this trend continues. Though the scripts of Thai and Lao are different, the basic spoken language may be phonetically intelligible for day to day purposes. (The basic verbs and sentence structure for example)

[@shybutopinionated1428]

In malaysia (or malay conversation) we usually use “siam” (see-arm) for people and “thailand” for country. Bcoz theres siam community in malaysia too.

[@user-wy4bx9ko6s]

that makes sense... since malay was once part of siam before british separate and created malaysia.

[@shybutopinionated1428]

@@user-wy4bx9ko6s malaya (now Malaysia) u meant, malay is ethnicity/language.

[@bakabon114]

In Malaysia, you have a food menu, called"Mee Siam", but we don't have this menu in Thailand. So ironic indeed...haha

[@shybutopinionated1428]

@@bakabon114 dont forget bandung juice and USA fried rice lol.

[@thefolder3086]

@@bakabon114 it looks very similar to Phad Thai which is an actual iconic food in Thailand. Maybe that is the origin.

[@randodox8375]

Funnily enough, we start calling ourselves siam people (ชาวสยาม) too for some reason. The name's still relevant today but is slowly fading away.

[@randodox8375]

@@quidam_surprise I don't know the real answer. The school's history book doesn't really tell me when we start to call ourselves siamese. We just do for some reason. However, some people said we call ourselves as siamese to avoid confusion to foreigner, since there are alot of people who still refer to Thailand as Siam back in the day. Some said that it's our "original name" and we should embrace it more (which i find it conflicting, since originally, as the video stated, we natively call our country as "Muang Thai" from the start.)

[@ApatheticNonbuynary]

@@randodox8375 same situation with "Bangkok" (it's actually read "Bahng-gawk"), it's an old name. Most Thais calls it "Krungthep". Only foreigners calls it Bangkok.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

@@ApatheticNonbuynary Krungthep, the City of Angels, is much more beautiful.

[@mammoth9080]

@@Simon.the.Likeable full name of krungthep Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

@@mammoth9080 รู้แล้ว

[@MirzaAhmed89]

Finland is also an exonym.

[@weirdlanguageguy]

Suomi

[@netsong2239]

It's very interesting since Finland and Suomi, while very different, have always been used in exactly the same way even though the definition of Finland has changed through the years. Neither of them really have a known meaning so that probably helps.

[@jhutt8002]

What I'm pretty sure about etymology of Finland -> Fenland, in finnish is literally suomaa -> Suomi

[@gutentagichliebebretzel2571]

Albania (shqipëria) and Croatia (Hrvatska) are also exonyms

[@conk6379]

Greece too

[@RoseSiames]

As a thai I personally prefer the name Siam as it represents the vast and diverse country, more than the singular ethnic name of thai. And while being the name of the people group; more and more the name is associated with the Central Plain Tai than the tai ethnic group as a whole, like how these day german is more associated with just germany and not the entire germanic group which of course encompasses the Netherlands Flanders Austria Switzerland and maybe even the UK. The name also remines of times when the government were attempting to create a tai ethno state, like Greater Germany, not to mention the assimilation of others tai culture in to that of the central tai, destroying their entire language and culture.

[@suhribzevolution645]

ผมชอบไทยแลนด์ดูเท่ห์เป็นสากลเป็นที่รู้จัก

[@varotjutaviriya1808]

As a Siamese (aka. A Thai), I think my country english name should be called Siam. Rarely any far eastern country has suffix" -land" which sound quite european. Also it is more inclusive to the chinese and the muslim malays in the south.

[@WyxienTheFox]

The name Siam also sounds cooler than Thailand, imo

[@muayboran6111]

Nah, malays call thais orang siam or siam people still to this day… it’s becoming increasingly rare but the association of Siam is still the Thais

[@คนไทย-ล9ฟ]

As a thai we should name it Kalaland. We are not unite anymore, fight among our self and corruption.

[@lanchenba2274]

Hey I want to ask a question, what happened after Ayutthaya fall? How many Siam people are alive today?

[@giannilyanicks1718]

"Siamland" sounds cool

[@hugoleonardoamaral586]

So sad to know that the "land of the free" suffers coup after coup after coup...

[@ravens4096]

what country are you talking about?

[@koyangtsai]

@@ravens4096 He's referring to Thailand

[@nuits.8815]

ประเทศที่เสรีภาพ น้อยลงทุกวัน จึงเกิดการประท้วงขึ้นในหลายเดือนที่ผ่านมา

[@ApatheticNonbuynary]

We've never truly been free in the first place. Same goes to slavery, yes it were demolished, but. Only to be replaced by Military Drafting instead. They worked the Drafted extremely hard. Even tho it's just two years service, it is still hell on earth akin to slavery.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

Coups are a better bet than communism.

[@joriskuipers4112]

And the Netherlands is the land of the Nether... wait, what?

[@sakataginko9092]

And you can only access it if you have obsidian and flint and steel. :)

[@supribodong154]

And Holland is the Land of Hol

[@suhribzevolution645]

ทำไมฮอลแลนด์ถึงเปลี่ยนชื่อครับ??

[@TxDuallyNation]

Nether = means below = land below , because the Netherlands are mostly below sea level 👍

[@joriskuipers4112]

@@TxDuallyNation I know that. I am Dutch. It was a joke

[@marrrtin]

I live in Thailand and wrote a book about Siamese cats. They really do come from here! In ordinary conversation, "pen Tai" (เป็นไท - a different spelling to ไทย - Thai) means to be out of debt, slavery or other obligation. There's a proverb which puns on this. Roughly, "do what you want, is really free/Thai", can be used negatively, such as for bad driving or litterbugging. Otherwise the usual word for "free" is "itsara" and "freedom", "itsara-paap" . Also, Prathet Thai is more formal, and Meuang Thai is more casual "Siam" also survives in the name of corporations, an effect I've noticed in many places.

[@LaOrOrn]

In Thailand, the word Siam is still commonly used. Both the work related to the royal court, the royal family, government work, including the names of companies, places or people's names.

[@gan247]

Many Malaysians still call Thailand as Siam (pronounced see-um, instead of Sy-am).

[@Q_Q123-j3e]

​@@gan247sa-yarm

[@pipe2devnull]

Wales needs to promote Cymru as its name for the same reason. From the Internet .. While 'Cymru' is the Welsh word for Wales and means 'friends' or 'fellow countrymen', the word Wales, by which most people know the country, stems from a word used by the invading Anglo Saxons to mean 'foreigners' or 'outsiders', despite the Welsh being native to the land.

[@grantorino2325]

Maybe they could compromise and settle on "Cambria" (the Latin name for Wales). 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 I say this because when it came time to coin an Internet top-level domain for Switzerland, there was much wrangling as to which letters to include. French speakers wanted an abbreviation of "Suisse." German speakers wanted one of "Schweiz." Italian speakers wanted one of "Svizzera." And Romansh speakers wanted one of "Svizra." In the end, they settled on " .ch ," from the Latin name of the country *Confederatio Helvetica* . 🇨🇭

[@michaellittlewood3032]

Thank you. Wales seems magnificent. I want to go .....

[@joshuacarre06]

Cymru am byth

[@thecozyfox.]

@@grantorino2325 nah cymru am byth, fuck that latin shih

[@Ineedtospendlesstimeonyoutube]

There are also an area located at the downtown Bangkok called Siam. I think most people in Bangkok especially the younger generation would think of Siam as a sky train station more than the past name of Thailand.

[@softhunterdevil]

In Bengali & Hindi we call Thailand as Shyamdesh till now. (Shyam means BLACK/DARK/GOD SRI KRISHNA or Shyamal means GREEN, FERTILISED, AGRICULTURE ....., Desh means COUNTRY). Thailand is influenced by Hindu & Buddhist philosophy which came from India. Still now Ramayana (Hindu Epic) plays takes place in Thailand which means connection to India is from ancient times. Also Chola Empire from Southern India had long traditions of trade & rule in nearby areas. British could not prnounce ShyamDesh , so they named it Siam. This type of changing names by British / Portuguese has been done across various places and countries. So the connection of name is older than British / Portuguese

[@tanongsakmhuentoei2715]

Yes, I agree.

[@lakelimbo]

10:14 funny, 'cause in Portuguese, conjoined twins are still called "Siamese Twins" ("Irmãos siameses")

[@RoseSiames]

Their also call Siamese twin in thai too(แฝดสยาม/Faed syam)

[@adiabd1]

Siamese twins to call conjoined twins is pretty popular worldwide, I guess

[@heri9949]

in malay we say 'kembar siam' literally meaning siam twin. i guess a global phenomena

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

Here's the reason: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_and_Eng_Bunker

[@veryblocky]

You should make a video about why pounds shillings and pence are abbreviated as LSD, or perhaps old coinage in general

[@bar7381]

Lindy beige has a video on that if anyone's interested

[@veryblocky]

@@bar7381 yeah I’ve seen it, I thought it may be an interesting topic for viewers of this channel too

[@kakalimukherjee3297]

Lol

[@thomaslong8401]

I had a student from Thailand. She was married to someone from China. Both of their families were horrified. I ask her what why her family was horrified. She said they didn’t like that his skin was more yellow.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

"Had" in the biblical sense? When she was already married?

[@thomaslong8401]

@@Simon.the.Likeable had, as in teaching in college in the early 80s. I had students back then taking my class . Nothing biblical! I did bump into her and her husband on campus one time. He was so nice. And I thought “why the family upset”??? Such a great couple.

[@anshul6168]

"Siam" doesnot only refer to brown skinned people . It is also the name of a Hindu God . And since India has people of all colours , its highly unlikely the name was used because of skin colour. So it might have something do with related to God ( may be Ayutta ) or might be some other thing.

[@nashinchan-dy6fd]

Anshul Yes Siam is not refer to skin tone like Laotian said. Thailand believe there is พระสยามเทวาธิราช (Siam Devathiraj) who is God that protect the land also Siam can mean green land or Golden land.

[@soravisable]

Mueang Thai (เมืองไทย) is a colloquial name Thai people use for calling their country. The official name though, is Prathet Thai (ประเทศไทย) as shown on our passport. To ask what the locals called Siam at the time the land was just a loose union of different smaller kingdoms? That's a tough question because the concept of nation state didn't exist in Southeast Asia until European colonialism came. Our history textbooks taught us to call it according to the name of the capital of the most prominent kingdom, for example Kingdom of Ayutthaya. To answer what the natives called their country when they didn't know what a nation state was sounds odd to me.

[@soravisable]

Ratcha-Anachak Thai (ราชอาณาจักรไทย) is a full official name that almost nobody uses in daily life, usually only appears on legal texts. Even our passport doesn't contain that word in Thai (well, but Kingdom of Thailand is used in English).

[@claudekingstan4084]

Kob kun kub for covering this. I grew up in Thailand and my parents are Thai.

[@koyangtsai]

The term Siam is still used, but mostly for a train station and a mall named Siam Paragon.

[@muayboran6111]

That’s a bit of a letdown considering siam was home to 4 kingdoms throughout the years... sukhothai, ayuthaya, thonburi and of course krung tep or bangkok.... all 4 are Siam and now it’s a name for shopping district. Siam is the better name for the country and it should be our pride to be called siam... like japan, like the uk

[@Karlokz11]

I once worked at a Asian market with a guy who said he was Siamese, which confused me because everyone else said they were Thai

[@erinrising2799]

There was a man named Mr. Thai who went to the same church as us when I was little and I thought the country was named after him

[@NantThananan]

As a Thai, my favorite holiday is Angel Amezquita Day. Families would gather and pray together to our patron saint and rewatch this video.

[@madmoblin]

Fun Fact, it’s no coincidence that Thailand and the US both have red white and blue flags, Thailand/Siam adopted its current flag when the nation entered WWI on the side of the Entante, and 4/6 of the major allies had that colour scheme (🇫🇷🇷🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸) Thailand/Siam changed its flag out of solidarity

[@Lloyd_lyle]

Don’t insult the king, if you ever visit Thailand and they find out you will be in jail for the rest of your life

[@nuits.8815]

โปรดยกเลิก112

[@Whoami1988_]

Are you a royalist?

[@Lloyd_lyle]

No, just a fair warning

[@natureenthusiast660]

I think "SIAM" means green. In Bengali, "Shyam" means green. Bengal was one of the regions where early Buddhism was flourished and it had deep connection with east Asia. Thailand is a very lush and green country. I'm sure, its name derived from Bengali "Shyma" or "Shyam" meaning green land.

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

Even Indians name themselves shyam

[@proCaylak]

That can make sense in cardinal directions(North, East, West, South etc.) as well. In many eastern cultures, cardinal directions were colored. For example in Chinese one; North, East, West and South were colored Black, Blue, White and Red respectively. In other neighboring cultures, the color for East could be Green or even a mix of Blue and Green. Therefore, "Shyam" could mean "Eastern land" as well.

[@forretresss]

That could be true. In Siam, 100 years ago, the entire country was full of forests (about 65-70% of whole land area). Nowadays, only 30% of forests remain due to deforestation and crop growing...

[@musAKulture]

so thailand is the real greenland

[@heiAMB]

Siamdesh. It was part of Ancient Indian Subcontinent which known was Bharat Varsh

[@navatouch]

It was partly true that Siam wasn’t a name Thai people used for calling the country internally. Before the period of King Rama V, there wasn’t a concept of country state that we have today. Each cities are their self-governing kingdoms under the influence of Bangkok or Rattanakosin Kingdom. Then after the power centralization by King Rama V, he also established a new country state as we know today and officially adopted Siam as a country name also in Thai. Noted: Thai romanization, ph = p, th = t. p and t have broken sounds but just leave them as p and t are close enough. But not read Phibun and fibun please just pibun...

[@b34m270]

Well I guess I'm too young, I mever knew Thailand used to be called Siam and only now learned that siamese related to a place

[@passatboi]

"Revert back" is redundant. It's just revert. It reverted to Siam.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

A number of Americans have trouble negotiating spoken English.

[@passatboi]

@@Simon.the.Likeable And the English as well, as this case demonstrates.

[@andrewlentner]

@@Simon.the.Likeable well this guy is British so...don't know why you dragged Americans into this.

[@AetherTheGenshin]

Funny enough, we're in 2021. But in Thailand, they already in 2564. So Thailand is 543 years ahead from us. So IDK why Phibun decided to Westernised the Calendar too. Maybe because he don't want to confused the Foreigners with a Thai Calendar.

[@mrkhim3427]

That’s just the Buddhist calendar

[@redapol5678]

“Poland is the land of the Poles, Finland is the land of the Finns and Thailand is the land of the Thai” - and England is the land of the Ings 🤣 * I know, I know. It’s actually the land of the Angles but the Ings sound sound so much better and match closer to the other three examples 🤣

[@waynemarvin5661]

Mantra of Under Thirty's: Never miss a chance to display ignorance. It's fun!!!

[@marmac83]

ConquerIng.... GenocidIng...

[@redapol5678]

@@waynemarvin5661 what’s your problem? No fun allowed?

[@heatherswanson1664]

Land of the Eng, the families descended from Chinese settlers

[@Lillith.]

Netherlands the lands of the Nethers. If this were the case would it refer to the height of the people or the hellish nature?

[@dumdumbrown4225]

I had no idea Thailand was once called Siam - good to know 😃

[@muayboran6111]

Seriously? Siamese cats, siamese twin, siamese fighting fish... at some point you have to wonder where siam is so you search it out

[@gosnooky]

I didn't think it was possible to NOT know this.

[@bluesquadron8667]

The original siamese twins were brutal slave owners and both had sons that fought for the confederacy.

[@wave17424]

Well​ yeah​ and​ am​ thai But​ in​ thailand​ we​ don't​ know​ that​ much​ info

[@claudekingstan4084]

Can you please cover why the Capital of Thailand called Krung Tabe meaning the City of Angels is called Bangkok by foreigners. It is as rude as foreigners calling Thailand Siam. The world should be forced to call the capital of Thailand Krung Tabe. How would they feel if we call the Vatican City or Washington DC BangPuszie?

[@redapol5678]

I never knew this. It seems that English speakers/nations are sometimes reluctant to change place names unless there is some political pressure to do so. Beijing was called Peking for a long time even though it didn’t match the Mandarin pronunciation. Iran was called Persia for a long time. There’s another example recently that I can’t think of where the government pretty much said “if you address letters using the old name, we won’t deliver them” which forced English speaking nations to adopt the new name. Maybe it was Istanbul (formerly Constantinople, but that wasn’t so recent). Maybe the Thai government just needs to put some political pressure to force people to adopt a new name for the capital? (Though timing would be important, maybe with COVID, countries are focusing on more important matters currently?)

[@Lames067]

Bang Kok (pronounced Baang Kork) in local language (Bang mean Many of, Kok mean a name of a tree called Kok, so District of many Kok trees) was a district near the Chao Phraya river where the old capital (Thon Buri) is located on. The capital was moved to the East side of the river and named Phra Nakon and later Krung Thep but foreigners stick with the old name of Bang Kok since, and unfortunately Thai too (Officials should not adapt the word Bangkok in international trades and politics, I guess it's just for convenient)

[@darrenwatson874]

Krung Thep is just the start of it. In full it is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, the longest city name in the world.

[@alanparker9608]

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, only Thailand survived European colonial threat in Southeast Asia due to centralising reforms enacted by King Chulalongkorn and because the French and the British decided it would be a neutral territory to avoid conflicts between their colonies

[@adiabd1]

Speaking of Siamese, I was confused when i saw a hydrant with a word "Siamese connection" until I realized it's for the shape of it that's similar to the heads of a Siamese twins

[@OhmHobby]

Phibun or PhibunSongkram is his surname tho his name is plaek full name is plaek phibunsongkram he graduated from france and live during king rama VI period which in that time thailand already got an open mind about the world and western because of king rama V the great who is known for his revolutioning in various industries and keep us free from colonization using his relationship with russian monarch.back to phibunsongkram his surname translate to the one who has sight/tactic in war

[@Freddie_Dunning-Kruger_Jr.]

I always think of Stephen Malkmus song 'Jo Jo's Jacket' lyrics: 'I'm not what you think I am I'm the king of Siam I've got a bald head My name is Yul Brynner And I am a famous movie star Perhaps you saw me in Westworld I acted like a robotic cowboy It was my best role I can not deny I Felt right home deep inside That electronic carcass"

[@greenbutter3190]

Stable video 👍

[@cnwang01]

Another thing I find interesting is in Chinese the character “暹” or xian is used nowhere else other than describing Thailand. Usually unless the region is really old. It is extremely hard for a region to have its own character associated. My assumption is 暹 could be the name of the region and the name of the ethnic people being 泰/傣 tai. like in the Chinese region of Canton which describes the modern geography or the people of 廣東 guangdong/canton. Instead of the historical name of 粵 or Yue. So thats why when refering might say 廣東話 or 粵語 （language）or 廣東菜 or 粵菜.

[@gold-toponym]

It comes from Khmer. Referring to that region. Or the later migrants of Tai Kadai, and a mixture nowadays, into the former territories of khmer empire. Just like we happened to call Viets as Yuan / Yuen. But interestingly, as Viet are tai kadai, we didn't refer to them as that. All regions which bordered the Khmer empire would soon call them Xian / Xiêm, Siem cambodia (Siem Reap) Siem, Champa and Siam, Malaya (same thing)

[@endlessamor]

I’m Thai and I didn’t know even know “Thai” means freedom until I had to double check googled it. welp.

[@jamestaylor909]

Wow .. Very fascinating comments. I enjoyed both. The video and comments.

[@allanlank]

My wife, who is Chinese, uses Siam (pronounced see-am), to refer to almost all of South-east Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam).

[@allanlank]

@@gold-toponym Excellent observation.

[@HornetMain]

Cymru is what the Welsh call Wales and I believe it translates from Latin as foreigner.

[@berranari1]

I believe it was the Anglo-Saxons (Germanic people now known as English). They called them "Wall Ez". Now two terms, Wales and Welsh. The term meant foreigner, but it was the invaders calling the natives foreigner, how rude. I know the Welsh call it Cymru, but it sounds like "Koomley" to me when spoken. Before the Anglo-Saxons the English had many different tribal names. The Romans called them all Britons or Brytons, but they also had specific area names. They called Ireland, Hibernian, which translates to Winterland. The people from Ireland were called "Gaels", the Romans called them Scoti. The Scots were called Picts. The modern Scottish people are a blend of the Picts and Gaels. Scotland was called Caledonia, England Albion. In 410 AD the Romans called Wales "Britannia secunda". Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, Cymru. The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity). It emerged later, in the medieval period, after the Anglo-Saxon settlement. Ireland's people and language were Gaelic, but the country was named after the goddess Eiru. Eireland - Ireland. I am from Australia. Did you know that Australia "stole" the name Australia from Antarctica? Well sort of. Before the discovery and naming of Antarctica, explorers declared that there was no other "great southern land" than the place we now call Australia. But on older maps you can see that parts of Antartica and parts of Australia were not known as separate continents and were called "Terra Australis Incognito". Incognito meant that it was unknown as they had not finished the maps. When Mathew Flinders finished sailing around Australia, he decided to drop the "incognito" and change the Latin to Greek? But when Antarctica was discovered Australia had fully stolen the name for itself. The continent of Antarctica is in the Antarctic circle, so it is aptly named. Australia the country of course is named after the continent. The U.S.A. is also named after its continent or rather it is the name that it uses because it never got a name. This is why people consider "The United States" to be the name of the country. At least it's not all called "New England"! America, the U.S., the states, we know you mean the U.S. of A. The name took a backseat to the war against Britain. Britain's war was against their "American" colonies. Which is why some people, like us Australians, call them Americans. Eventually the remaining British colonies in North America were named Canada. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years. So America is derived from Amerigo. Vespucci was the person who truly "discovered" the two American continents. Another reason the USA doesn't have a name is because the U.S. are 50 states and they are like 50 united countries. In Australia there are two states whose names are a compass direction and the word Australia. Another two were named for the same Queen. The only really cool one is Tasmania. It was originally called Van Diemen's Land by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Can you guess who they ended up naming it after? The Dutch name New Zealand has stayed. I think it translates to "new sea land". That almost sounds the same as New Zealand. The original Zeeland in the Netherlands are islands.

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

In India you will see people with name shyam so I think it must be connected

[@ThatFanBoyGuy]

Good video, but you need to update the video's title. It should be "Why did Siam change ITS name to Thailand?" No apostrophe. Kind of ironic from a channel called Name Explain

[@StayCoolKeto]

Yeah, I can't believe he wrote that! drives me insane that mistake! I wondered after I commented on it if anyone else noticed. Maybe the next video he can name explain its and it's lol

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

It's merely another example of an American having problems with language. He couldn't pronounce Phibun properly @ 06:47 either.

[@StayCoolKeto]

@@Simon.the.Likeable What American?

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

@@StayCoolKeto The narrator. Also, it should be, "Which American?"

[@StayCoolKeto]

@@Simon.the.Likeable If you are going to be pedantic, there is no full stop after "The narrator" as it's not a sentence. Also, you are wrong! 'Which' is used when there are a few choices, and "what' is used with an unknown/ large number. I still have no idea what American you are talking about.

[@unstabletableismine]

Interesting video! Small correction - when transliterating thai into Latin script, the letter 'h' is used to strengthen hard consonants. So, 'Phibun' is pronounced 'Pee-boon' (with the 'oo' being the same as in 'look'). The same thing happens with Phuket (pronounced 'Poo-ket') and with 'Thailand' itself. They don't ever use 'ph' as a 'f' sound.

[@gosnooky]

This annoys me to no end. English arrogance thinking the world revolves around their phonetics!

[@piesause1376]

In Cambodia Siam is pronounced Siem. In the present we call the country just Thai, no land at the end and if we want to talk about the in a negative way or related to negative things we say Siem.

[@forretresss]

For saying that, give us back Siemmarat! (and Si Sophon, Phra Tabong, Prachankiriket). They are Siamese territories! Thailand will win them back!

[@piesause1376]

@@forretresss hopefully you're kidding haha. Why would you want sth that doesn't want you. Also it's pronounce Serei Soaphon(BanteyMeanchey) Battambang in the NATIVE way and I don't even know what that last thing is I'm assuming Pursat or Koh kong

[@forretresss]

@@piesause1376 Prachankiriket is the siamese name of KohKong province that the French refused to return to Siam... They only returned Trat [in exchange for Siemmarat, Si Sophon and Phra Tabong provinces.] Thai-Laos-Cambodia are 1 country. If not for the French, it would be the Greater Thai kingdom. Laos would not have turned poor and communist and Khmer would not have Khmer Rouge massacre and would still have Saigon (Khmer Krom). Cambodia and Laos king and queens are related with Siamese kings by marriage but they betrayed Siam and sided with France...

[@jemappllesphan6143]

@@forretresss Boo Hoo, we are free from you people now. We got our old land and still got few left in Surin, Buriram and Sisaket.

[@lp-xl9ld]

The cats in LADY AND THE TRAMP: "We are Siamese, if you please..." The people in this country; "We are THAI, thank you very much!"

[@singlah]

I believe Siam is pronounced see-umm and not Sai-am. Within Thailand, places that carry this name are always pronounced see-umm.

[@adiabd1]

Yeah well, Patrick has records of mispronunciations, we just have to live with it

[@yujilee112]

Sa-yam

[@user-kg7hz9kx4l]

Sa-yam

[@PJK19]

See-umm? I think you are not Thai.

[@kitfisto999]

Ironically, despite his anti-Chinese/assimilation policies, Phibun was ethnically Chinese as well, being of Cantonese descent. Other members of the Khana Ratsadon (People's Party) were of Chinese descent, such as Phraya Phahon, Luang Wichitwathakan (Kim Liang) and Pridi Banomyong.

[@Simon.the.Likeable]

@ 06:47 Phibun is not pronounced Fibun for the same reason Phuket is not pronounced Fuket and Phitsanulok is not pronounced Fitsanulok.

[@SirLucian]

Siam is also still used to call the commercial centre of Bangkok, Siam Square.

[@stuartblittleynolan9486]

I’m guessing the cat breed “SIAMese” came from SIAM.

[@stuartblittleynolan9486]

I just watched the part where he said that exact same thing -_-

[@jaywardhanraghu4822]

@@stuartblittleynolan9486 XD

[@bakabon114]

Also famous Conjoined Twin came from Siam!!! So that's Siamese Twin^-^

[@Orianna_Bumssen321]

3:34 The likely reason why the Mon would call the Thai strangers is because The Thai weren't originally native to Thailand and but instead they migrated there from Southern China thousands of years ago

[@DeadweightLKS]

Please fix that typo in the title, I'm begging you please

[@o_458]

Actually in the past we call our country "sa yãm" not"si am" and fun fact: Mueang is a city or town in thai ( เมือง) and Ratcha anachak is Kingdom of the king(Ratcha = king ,anachak = Kingdom)

[@ahreach240]

Khmer language (anachark) 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 plz tell them more fake siamese country😂

[@Alucus]

@@ahreach240 อาณาจักร it's combination of a-na + jàk (อาณา + จักร ) these words came from bali or maybe sanskrit you dumb AF and if you don't know both thailand/thai/siam and khmer/cambodia used to share many of words especially royal word or royal language but now we don't do that anymore and as far as i know you guys still use loanword from thailand huh? but don't be embarrassed you guys can use it as much as you want hehe we thais have manner enough to not do dirty tricks like you guys did

[@1_Fish.2_Fish.Red_Fish.]

I love Siam food!

[@aimanmarzuqi4804]

In my country (Malaysia) we still call Thailand, Siam.

[@Mladjasmilic]

8:00 Poland is not the land of the Poles. The word pol'e in Slavic means 'field, meadow'. Pol'ak is a person who lives in the field, and modern Poland is mostly low, grassy hills.

[@Mladjasmilic]

So it is rather way around. The country is not called by the poeple, but the People by the country/area they were living in.

[@Atius]

Damn even as a Thai i did not even know this thx alot

[@erictaylor5462]

"Wanker's Corner" may not mean much to my fellow Americans but it is a local place name here in my home town suburb of Portland Oregon here in Wilsonville. I'm sure the English and Australian viewers might enjoy it as a name explain topic. I know our Irish friends were stunned to see it when they came to see us. There is a rather good Irish pub and when we suggested going to "Wanker's Corner" they thought we must be joking with them.

[@thepeacefulbuddah]

Could you please do a "are they're any pocahontas left?"

[@stickynotemetagaming]

So England comes from Angland as it was the land of the Angles, but does anyone know how the Angles came to get their name?

[@bakabon114]

EN-GER-LAND😉

[@franzbernardsergiogonzales221]

What were the ancient peoples of Asia called the archipelago of the Philippines?

[@Skel1001]

If I remember correctly the current leader of the country said that anyone can call it Siam because their aren’t any rules stating they can’t

[@jamescook2412]

Catay, the Levant, Siam, Lusitania, Cisplatin Rep...

[@Saltiren]

2:11 "Know this anyway" the way you said anyway sounds sooo french.

[@nongwithawat]

Someone suggested that Phibul use “Thai” to distinguish form other Tai ethnic groups. Thai was created by adding a letter “ย” which doesn’t change pronunciation. (Not common in modern Thai language cause new word often came from Sanskrit or Chinese) Tai >>> Thai ไท >>> ไทย

[@chayutpanvilai2157]

iirc the reasoning for adding “ย” is rather nonsensical, they said it is akin to woman applying make up or something along those line lol

[@timxtalks8186]

I laughed so hard when you tried to pronounce "ratcha-anachak Thai". I know it is hard, even for some of us. :D

[@berranari1]

The Cambodian city Siem Reap's name means Siamese defeat. I think the place was won in battle.

[@gold-toponym]

Clean up or defeat. Reap means clean up. And yes. We're the ones to refer to Thailand and Thais and the place as Siam firstly. But people have yet to explore cambodia and its history majorly overlooked. It would give you a lot of answers for today's Thailand, considering how a bunch of Angkor temples dot the landscape of Thailand. And it wasn't built by any of those you think are there today: some not all.

[@Jikkozilla]

Siam Raash สยามราช thief Khmer changed it to Siam Reap 😂😂😂

[@superpooper932]

Name Explain, I think you should make a new series where you compare two different countries and see their similarities and differenc

[@MrRhPlus]

Poland is a land of Polans as the origin tribe was called Polanie.

[@jerry2357]

Please correct the typo in the video title: “it’s”=contraction of “it is”, “its”=possessive pronoun of “it”. I cannot count the number of times I have had to write this when marking student work!

[@TrangKleawkleern]

Alot of history and learning channels talking about thailand this month!

[@shubhampatel186]

In india(Bharat) we also know that Thailand was ones known as siam or shyam.

[@TheTytyTV]

Nice

[@diegoaespitia]

Siam prob came from an old Sanskrit word. that part of the world is super cool cause the languages carry some old relics from Sanskrit. even the Thai languages uses a letter or two for ONLY two words or something lol.

[@odaily]

0:57 When go go back next time you can do a video about Sriracha province where they made Sriracha Sauce, not a bootleg one that made in California

[@BBbl9372]

I’m thai but never knew. Thank

[@Magicboy1107]

In cambodia Siam Mean Name of the People, And Cambodia war with thailand and Win Thai,Then we put The name of the Province Call ( Siam/Siem Reap ) Mean The Defeat of The Siam.

[@ThatOneMalaysianGuy]

In Malaysia there a flower Name Bunga Kemboja or Cambodian Flower

[@ThatOneMalaysianGuy]

I think the name came from the relationship between Old Kedah/Kingdom Of Kedah before age of islam and The Kingdom Of Funan

[@davidleeconnellys1027]

Watching from Petchabon

[@qwerty-cr6po]

We malaysian still call thailand siam and myanmar burmese

[@repwashere]

Siam means Dark or Brown from Sanskrit

[@sunduncan1151]

The explanation that “Siam” (สยาม) is derived from Sanskrit “śyāma” (dark skin people) is now obsolete. The name was sanskritized to “śyāma” or “sāma” (Pali) later. Ancient inscriptions in neighboring countries never spell like Sanskrit. It’s probably from native Tai “sam” (wellspring) or Old Mon “sem” (stranger): Middle Chinese “syem” → Old Mandarin “siêm” Old Khmer “syaṁ” → Modern Khmer “siem” Old Burmese “hsyaṁ” → Modern Burmese “shan” Kamarupi Prakrit“asama” → Modern Assamese “ahom” If “Siam” is derived from Sanskrit “śyāma” it should refer to the territory which is plenty of gold or copper, not the people because Siamese has yellow skin not dark like neighboring countries. “Śyama” can be translated either “dark” or “yellow like gold”. “Thai” (cognate with Tai, Tay, Dai, Di, Hlai, Li, Sui) is derived from Proto-Kra-Dai *kəri: → *kədi: → *kədaj → Old Tai *daj meaning “ordinary/independant people” as opposed to “dependant people, servant or slave” (Proto-Kra-Dai *kra: → Modern Thai “khâ”) and “noble people” (Proto-Kra-Dai *kəra:w → Modern Thai “lāo”) recorded in Old Chinese 獠 *k.raw → Modern Mandarin 僚 liáo)

[@RobertGrif]

In answer to your question about why the Mon people would call their own country "Land of Strangers", they lived in the area for millennia while the Tai ethnic groups originally came from what is today southern China and migrated south into modern day Thailand and Laos around 1000 AD. From the Mon people's point of view, then, the land was overrun by a bunch of strangers.

[@DobiOBeirne]

Hold up...... if Red Bull is from Thailand then why is the owner from Austria and the Austrian race track called the Red bull ring

[@WaterShowsProd]

Austrian Red Bull is very different from the original Red Bull. He bought the rights to the name but changed it for the western market. These days people in Thailand aren't too happy with the wealthy family that owns Red Bull, as the son has gotten away with killing someone in a road accident. Fortunately there are energy drinks like M-150 and Carabao which people drink instead.

[@From305toSH]

The Austrian owner modified the original Thai version for western tastes and created that version of Red Bull in partnership with the Thai owner and inventor. The Thai family still owns 51 percent of Red Bull, while still selling their original version in Thailand and other Asian countries.

[@lunarlino]

Not you uploading while I’m in school again 👁👄👁

[@francesgardner7070]

Woah what happened in 2017?

[@mordeys]

my grandfathers sub was sunk in 1945 in the gulf of siam.

[@wakakabravo7998]

i thought thai in the thailand come from the word tai which the major ethnic group in thailand which how it got it name mueng thai ? just like how myanmar come from the burma/burmese ethnic group, malaysia come from malay ethnic group etc. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_peoples

[@lewatoaofair2522]

Looking at the article, it shows that “tai” and “thai” are different from each other. “Tai” are the many peoples who speak the languageS of the region, and the “Thai” are one of them. In short, all Thai are Tai but not all Tai are Thai. (Obviously, these are different words.)

[@nuits.8815]

@@lewatoaofair2522 Tai = Free

[@francoisjohannson139]

As far as I know Sayyam was the hindu kingdom of Ayutthaya, destroyed by the burmese in 1765. Watch the Thai blockbuster movie "Suriyothai"(3hrs) form 2001.

[@callum9491]

Can you do some more “Are any (significant historical figure) left” videos?

[@johnconnor6725]

Thailand, the only other place I'd like to live.

[@FFL3001]

There is something wrong with me. I find this way too interesting.