Burma to Myanmar

One word, two forms

In the Burmese language the country has been called Myanma since the 13th century.^[1] Myanmar and Burma are really the same word: Burmah, as the British spelled it in the 19th century, came from a local form of it. Both forms were used inside the country for a long time, the formal, literary Myanmar in writing and the everyday Burma in speech.^[2][4]

Burma became the official English name under British rule, from 1885, and it stuck after independence.^[1][2]

The 1989 change

In 1989 the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, which had crushed a pro-democracy uprising, killing thousands, renamed the country the Union of Myanmar.^[4][2] On 18 June 1989 it informed the United Nations.^[3] English spellings of other places changed too, to match Burmese pronunciation: Rangoon became Yangon.^[2][4]

The military said Burma referred only to the Burman majority and left out the country’s 134 other ethnic groups, and that the name was a colonial reminder.^[2]

Taking sides

The UN, France and Japan accepted the new name; the United States and Britain did not. Aung San Suu Kyi said she preferred Burma “because the name change was made without reference to the will of the people”. Critics came to see the choice of name as a sign of where a speaker’s sympathies lay.^[2]

After the military seized power again in 2021, the White House said its official policy was to say Burma, but to use Myanmar as a courtesy in some communications.^[2] Atlas uses Myanmar, the name used by the UN.

“the main reason why I prefer to use Burma is because the name change was made without reference to the will of the people.”^[2]