Countries That Changed Their Names

From Ceylon and Siam to Zaire and Swaziland — the world's renamed nations.

Independence, revolution, and second thoughts have renamed dozens of countries in living memory. Burma became Myanmar, Ceylon became Sri Lanka, Siam became Thailand, Swaziland became Eswatini, and Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Listed here with every former name and the years it was used, most recent change first.

#	Place today	Former names
1	North Macedonia A landlocked Balkan land of lakes, mountains, and ancient crossroads	Macedonia (1991–2019)
2	Eswatini Africa's last absolute monarchy in the highveld hills	Swaziland (until 2018)
3	Serbia A landlocked Balkan crossroads on the Danube, between empires and eras	Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)
4	Democratic Republic of the Congo A continent-sized country at the green heart of Africa	Congo Free State (1885–1908) Belgian Congo (1908–1960) Zaire (1971–1997)
5	Samoa The heart of Polynesia	Western Samoa (1920–1997)
6	Belarus A landlocked heart of Eastern Europe, forest and marsh between giants	Byelorussia (until 1991)
7	Moldova A landlocked country of vineyards between the Prut and the Dniester	Moldavia (until 1991)
8	Namibia Where the world's oldest desert meets the Atlantic	German South West Africa (1884–1915) South West Africa (1915–1990)
9	Cambodia The land of Angkor on the Mekong floodplain	Kampuchea (1975–1989)
10	Myanmar A land of pagodas and rivers between India and China	Burma (1948–1989)
11	Burkina Faso The land of upright people at the heart of the Sahel	Upper Volta (1958–1984) Haute-Volta (1958–1984)
12	Vanuatu A volcanic chain in the southwest Pacific	New Hebrides (until 1980)
13	Kiribati Astride the equator and the date line	Gilbert Islands (until 1979)
14	Zimbabwe Stone cities, the Zambezi, and a land of dramatic reinvention	Southern Rhodesia (until 1964) Rhodesia (1964–1979) Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979)
15	Suriname A small, forested mosaic of cultures	Dutch Guiana (until 1954) Surinam (1975–1978)
16	Djibouti A strategic furnace at the gate of the Red Sea	French Somaliland (until 1967) French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (1967–1977)
17	Benin Birthplace of Vodun and heir to the Kingdom of Dahomey	Dahomey (until 1975)
18	Mozambique A long Indian Ocean coast steeped in Swahili and Portuguese worlds	Portuguese East Africa (until 1975)
19	Timor-Leste Southeast Asia's youngest nation, on a divided island	Portuguese Timor (until 1975)
20	Tuvalu A low-lying nation on the front line of climate change	Ellice Islands (until 1975)
21	Guinea-Bissau A maze of mangrove coast and the Bijagós Islands	Portuguese Guinea (until 1974)
22	Belize A jungle-and-reef nation where Maya ruins meet the Caribbean	British Honduras (1862–1973)
23	Sri Lanka A teardrop island of tea, temples, and tropical biodiversity	Ceylon (until 1972)
24	Bangladesh A densely populated delta nation at the mouths of the Ganges and Brahmaputra	East Bengal (1947–1955) East Pakistan (1955–1971)
25	United Arab Emirates A federation of desert emirates turned global hub	Trucial States (until 1971)
26	Oman Frankincense coast and mountains at Arabia's edge	Muscat and Oman (until 1970)
27	Equatorial Guinea Central Africa's Spanish-speaking oil enclave	Spanish Guinea (until 1968)
28	Botswana Diamonds, the Kalahari, and the watery miracle of the Okavango	Bechuanaland (1885–1966)
29	Guyana The English-speaking corner of South America	British Guiana (1831–1966)
30	Lesotho The mountain kingdom in the sky, surrounded by South Africa	Basutoland (until 1966)
31	Malawi The warm heart of Africa beside a great lake	Nyasaland (until 1964)
32	Tanzania Roof of Africa, cradle of safari, and the Swahili shore	Tanganyika (1961–1964)
33	Zambia Copper, the Zambezi, and the thundering smoke of Victoria Falls	Northern Rhodesia (1911–1964)
34	Malaysia Two coasts of a peninsula and a slice of Borneo	Malaya (1948–1963)
35	Togo A slender sliver from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel	Togoland (1884–1916) French Togoland (until 1960)
36	Central African Republic A landlocked heart of the continent, rich in resources, scarred by conflict	Ubangi-Shari (until 1958)
37	Guinea The water tower of West Africa, rich in bauxite	French Guinea (until 1958)
38	Mali Heir to Timbuktu and the great empires of the Niger	French Sudan (until 1958)
39	Republic of the Congo Brazzaville's oil republic on the great river's northern bank	Middle Congo (until 1958)
40	Ghana The Gold Coast and West Africa's beacon of democracy	Gold Coast (until 1957)
41	Sudan Land of the two Niles, where Arab and African Africa meet	Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956)
42	Indonesia The world's largest archipelago, spanning two oceans	Dutch East Indies (until 1949)
43	Jordan A desert kingdom of Petra and the Jordan Valley	Transjordan (1921–1949)
44	Germany Europe's economic engine at the continent's crossroads	German Reich (1871–1945)
45	Thailand The never-colonized kingdom at the heart of mainland Southeast Asia	Siam (until 1939)
46	Ireland The Emerald Isle, green, Atlantic, and famously diasporic	Irish Free State (1922–1937)
47	Iran An ancient Persian civilization on a high desert plateau	Persia (until 1935)
48	Cameroon Africa in miniature, from rainforest to Sahel	Kamerun (1884–1916)
49	Mauritius A multicultural island where the dodo once walked	Isle de France (1715–1810)
50	Ethiopia The ancient highland heart of the Horn of Africa	Abyssinia
51	Mongolia The land of Genghis Khan, vast steppe and the Gobi Desert	Outer Mongolia
52	Nauru The world's smallest island republic	Pleasant Island (from 1798)
53	Tonga The last Polynesian kingdom	Friendly Islands

Ordered by the most recent change. Each entry lists its full name history, native names, and Spanish names. Browse all guides or open the explore map.