Côte d’Ivoire was mentioned as the French name for Ivory Coast. In fact, 10 or 15 years ago they changed their English name to Côte d’Ivoire as well, sometimes without the circumflex. Rather bizarre, and I’m not sure what the motive was, but this is now accepted usage by English-speaking governments and institutions.
Other recent name changes off the top of my head:[ul]
[li]Upper Volta became Burkina Faso.[/li][li]Zaire became Democratic Republic of the Congo, not to be confused with the Republic of the Congo on the other side of the river.[/li][li]Burma became Myanmar.[/li][li]Rumania became Romania.[/li][li]The Ukraine clarified its preference for Ukraine (without the “the”).[/li][li]Byelorussia became Belarus.[/li][li]Moldavia became Moldova.[/li][li]Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.[/li][li]South-West Africa became Namibia.[/li][li]Some of the ex-Soviet “stans” clarified their English spelling after the breakup of the USSR: currently Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan.[/ul][/li]
The silliest example I can think of, and the best to illustrate your concern about names being offensive, is Macedonia. A good chunk of ancient Macedonia is now in northern Greece, but a portion of it was also in what became Yugoslavia. The Macedonians of northern Greece are protective of their name and heritage, but neighboring Macedonia, one of six republics in Yugoslavia, wasn’t a real issue so long as it was under the boot of Tito (not the Jackson).
When Yugoslavia broke apart, each republic became its own independent state: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, leaving Serbia and Montenegro to be discussed in another thread. Naturally, Macedonia wanted to keep its own name. Greece, was slightly fearful this newly independent Macedonia might have designs on ancient Macedonian territory in Greece, but was mostly annoyed that it was trying to appropriate Greece’s heritage. The selection of a shield design used by Alexander the Great for the country’s flag didn’t make things any easier. So Greece blocked entry into any international organization under that name. To put this into perspective, a Greek friend told me it would be similar to Mexico changing its name to Texas, and putting the Alamo on its flag.
Eventually, Macedonia agreed to be admitted to the UN and elsewhere as “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” pending final resolution of the name. I’ve heard talk it may become Northern Macedonia, but that was a couple years ago. As a UN member, it is still alphabetized under T, for “the”.
UN Member States
