# Map language and Ivory Coast **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343 "2004-11-01T16:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/21 "2004-11-11T02:14:34Z")
It’s not as if the French spoken in CdI is the same as in France… or Senegal for that matter. I’m American and I speak English, but certainly not the Queen’s English. When world maps changed the name of where I lived from “Colonnie of Pennsylvania” or what have you to “United States of America,” the fact the language used was English didn’t diminish the point that we were independent. Nor would our changing the name of the country to “Northern Mexico” tomorrow and asking you to oblige in updating your maps accordingly as you print them. Many cultural identifications are fairly complex; modified forms of the French language are now as west African as Islam (also an import) and tea (another import). In any event, Burkina Faso (for one) changed it name once upon independence a few decades ago and has stuck to it. How this makes for either “fashion” or “PC” is something I’d need explained in some detail. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/22 "2004-11-11T02:20:41Z")
> [@](#): > > The naming convention seems subject to the fickleness of PC fashion. Deustchland, Espana, etc. don’t have a crowd of liberals making a fuss about the different names. Since this is **GQ** , I will simply note the _factual_ contradiction to this opinion that all those country names are recognized by the “conservative” governments currently ruling much of the Western world and that no “liberal” group has ever campaigned for the changes mentioned. As noted throughout the thread, the names of nations are selected by the nations and most people go along with those decisions for _diplomatic_ reasons, not at the behest of small groups of “liberal” petitioners or protestors. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/23 "2004-11-11T02:24:10Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > In any event, Burkina Faso (for one) changed it name once upon independence a few decades ago and has stuck to it. How this makes for either “fashion” or “PC” is something I’d need explained in some detail. I don’t know of any other country that has not _changed_ its name, but solely insisted that the French form be used no matter what the context. That’s what seems to irk so many otherwise-PC-minded views. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/24 "2004-11-11T12:23:10Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I don’t know of any other country that has not _changed_ its name, but solely insisted that the French form be used no matter what the context. That’s what seems to irk so many otherwise-PC-minded views. Well, there are any number of countries that have insisted upon a native language being used to describe themselves post-independence. Perhaps we’re only noticing this one because it’s in French as opposed to a non-European language. Should we be calling Zimbabwe “Rhodesia” these days? Except for the fact that we can commonly translate the French into English with ease it’s very much the same concept. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/25 "2004-11-11T14:25:53Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > Well, there are any number of countries that have insisted upon a native language being used to describe themselves post-independence. Perhaps we’re only noticing this one because it’s in French as opposed to a non-European language. Should we be calling Zimbabwe “Rhodesia” these days? Except for the fact that we can commonly translate the French into English with ease it’s very much the same concept. Not really. Ivory Coast/Cote d’Ivoire is clearly the European name for the country/area, rather than a native one. The Gold Coast, for example, changed its name to Ghana at independence. Aside from Liberia and Sierra Leone (and names derived from the country’s location like Central African Republic and South Africa), it’s the _only_ country in sub-Saharan Africa that retains its European-language colonial name. (Some countries may use an inaccurate Europeanized version of a local name, but at least these are not derived from a European language). ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/26 "2004-11-11T15:01:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Aside from Liberia and Sierra Leone (and names derived from the country’s location like Central African Republic and South Africa), it’s the _only_ country in sub-Saharan Africa that retains its European-language colonial name. Eritrea is kind of an interesting case in that regard; the name is Italian, from Latin _Mare Erythraeum_ (“Red Sea”), ultimately from the Greek _eruthros_ (“red”). There’s also the case of Ethiopia, which may be from the Greek for “burnt face”, or may be an inaccurate Hellenized (and folk-etymologized) version of a local name (and is, in any case, very old, unlike Eritrea, which dates back only to the late 19th Century). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/27 "2004-11-11T16:22:34Z")
Interesting. I seem to have overlooked a few others as well. According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_name_etymologies), several others are derived from Portuguese, though quite modified: Cameroon (_Rio de Camarões_ “River of Shrimps”), Gabon (_Gabão_, “hooded overcoat” referring to the shape of a river estuary), Gambia (_câmbio_, “trade” or “exchange”). There’s also the Cape Verde Islands and Sao Tome and Principe. Nigeria/Niger are often assumed to derive from the Latin _niger_, “black,” but do not. Instead they come from _ni gir_ or “River Gir.” Another source says it is from Tuareg _n’ger-n-gereo_, “river of rivers.” ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/28 "2004-11-11T17:14:44Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > They’re the names of the UN members according to whom? Big lists are no match for an explanation of where they come from. The UN website ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/29 "2004-11-11T17:20:06Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > The UN website If one wanted to know the correct name of a country, one often will look to some authority. Since many countries belong to the UN and belonging is voluntary, one can presume the name used at the UN is based on the one that that particular country choses. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/30 "2004-11-11T17:27:26Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > If one wanted to know the correct name of a country, one often will look to some authority. Since many countries belong to the UN and belonging is voluntary, one can presume the name used at the UN is based on the one that that particular country choses. One notable exception is “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” which would rather be called just “Macedonia” but is forced to use the other name due to Greek opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343/31 "2004-11-11T23:30:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Not really. Ivory Coast/Cote d’Ivoire is clearly the European name for the country/area, rather than a native one. Ivoirian French is no longer a European langauge, but is derived from one. Any native speakers in Europe are immigrants from Africa. Obviously there aren’t more than a handful of countries in Africa that have traditional ‘native’ names, considering Europeans drew most of the borders in ways that split linguistic groups and forced others together in ways that made no sense to the inhabitants. The non-colonial names of these places that were chosen after independence were often compromises or inventions that everyone (or most people) could live with, sometimes drawing on a partial historic reality for some residents (Zimbabwe) and sometimes missing the mark completely (Benin). The various linguistic groups of CdI can agree on their version of French as a uniting factor and prefer use of that, which is something that they can all understand and which differentiates them from anglophone west Africa (not that you or I would understand half of the English spoken in some of those areas). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/map-language-and-ivory-coast/272343.md?page=1)