FONT=“Century Gothic”][/FONT]
Hello Mr. Cecil,
Thank you so much for your forum about the many different ways in which different countries address Germany. I was really interested in this subject and now I feel more receptive to a more in depth research on this country and its lenguage.
I hope German will be my third lenguage.
The way I figure, I took me about 15 years to learn Español, 15 years to learn English, so I should be able to learn German in about the same amount of time.
Happy writings, 
Syntia
Welcome to the SDMB, Syntia.
A link to the column you’re commenting on is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: Why are there so many names for Germany, AKA Deutschland, Allemagne, etc.? - The Straight Dope
It would be interesting to know if any other country has as many names as Germany.
If Germany has the most names, the question then would be: why Germany? This Cecil didn’t really address.
Yes he did.
But if you want further clarification, it has something to do with the fact that there was no such nation-state as Germany until 1871. Before that, there were dozens of small German kingdoms, and before Napoleon, there were hundreds of tiny little kingdomlets that were kinda-sorta united under the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, whenever they felt like it.