Name of Iran

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There has been much debate as to what to call the Islamic Republic of Iran in common usage of the English language. The two possible names are Iran and Persia; their adjectives being Iranian and Persian, respectively.

History of the debate

Serious argument on this matter began in the 1980s, when Prof. Ehsan Yarshater (Editor of the Encyclopedia Iranica) started to write several articles on this matter (in both English and Persian) in Rahavard Quarterly, Pars Monthly, Iranian Studies Journal, etc. After him, a few Persian scholars and researchers followed the issue. Several times since then, Persian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage of 'Persia' and 'Persian' in English.

In view of many of these articles, it seems that the subject has not been explained sufficiently. Some think the name Persia belongs to antiquity, and ought not to be used now. Others believe that "Persia" includes only one province within Iran, and should not be used for the whole country. There are also many Persians and non-Persians in the West who prefer "Persia" and "Persian" as the English names for the country and nationality, similar to the usage of La Perse/Persane in French, and Das Persien/Perser/Persisch in the German language.

Most countries and languages have different names in other languages. For example, Germans call their language "Deutsch"; in English people say "German", and Persian-speaking people say "Almaani". People of Greece, Finland, India and Japan call their countries Hellas, Suomi, Bharat and Nippon in their respective languages. Similarly, the native name of "Persia" is Iran.

Etymology of Persia

Since 600 BC, Greeks used the name Persis for Persia / Iran. Persis was taken from Pars - the name of the region where the Persian rulers lived. Persian people likewise used the name of Younaan (instead of Hellas) for Greece. "Younan" in fact is taken from the name of Ionia, in the south-east of Greece.

"Persis" since then has been used as the name of Iran in all European documents, maps, etc. Only in later centuries did some Europeans (in view of their languages) change it to "Persia" (English, Italian and Spanish), "La Perse" (French), "Das Persien" (German), etc. The name "Persia" until 1935 was the "official" name of Iran in the world, but Persian people inside their country since the Sassanian period have called it "Iran" meaning "the land of Aryans". They also used "Parsa" in the Achaemenids period.

Re-introducing the name "Iran"

In 1935, Reza Shah announced that all Western countries should use the name of "Iran" in their languages too. This act brought cultural damage to the country and separated Iran from its past in the West. Also, many people confused it with Iraq (an Arab state West of Iran). For many westerners, "Persia" became a dead empire that does not exist anymore.

After some Persian scholars protested this announcement, in 1959 Prof. Ehsan Yarshater made a committee to research this matter. The committee announced that "changing the name has not been right", so Mohammad Reza Shah announced that both 'Persia' and 'Iran' can be used interchangeably.

Source

Akbarzadeh, Pejman: What is the English Name of Our Country? Iran or Persia?, Rahavard Quarterly, Los Angeles, Spring 2004

References

When Persia Became Iran by Prof. Ehsan Yarshater
Bring back Persia by G. Motamedi
Iran or Persia? Farsi or Persian? by Pejman Akbarzadeh
A Particular Iranian Identity Crisis by Amir Rostam Beigie