Wikipedia:Naming conventions (countries)

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Guideline

Unless a clear consensus for an alternative name can be established, articles on countries should be named using the official short name in English as defined in ISO 3166-1.

Rationale

The ISO standards set by the International Organization for Standardization are widely accepted around the world. This standard is used by the United Nations.

ISO 3166-1 defines an official short name in English. Official names of countries which are in a language other than English should not be used on the English Wikipedia. For example, Wikipedia has an article at France, which is the official short name in English of that country. The full official name of that country is République Française, which should not be used because it is in the French language.

Examples

Official name in own official language	Direct translation of official name	Official short name in English	Usual English translation of short name	Most used per standard Google test^[1]	Consensus per WP:RM
日本	Nippon/Nihon	Japan	/	/	/
République Française	French Republic	France	/	/	/
Repúblika Demokrátika Timor Lorosa'e (Tetum) / República Democrática de Timor-Leste (Portuguese)	Democratic Republic of East Timor	Timor-Leste	East Timor	East Timor	East Timor^[2]
République de Côte d'Ivoire	Republic of Ivory Coast	Côte d'Ivoire	Ivory Coast	Côte d'Ivoire	Côte d'Ivoire^[3]

notes

^ "Standard Google test" means the Google test with standard parameters as explained in wikipedia:naming conflict#Ambiguity persists
^ 26 voters between 28 September and 15 November 2005, see Talk:East Timor#Requested move
^ 60 voters between 11 and 18 November 2005, see Talk:Côte d'Ivoire#Requested move