Burma? Myanmar? Which is it?

Question

Ok, I'm confused. I thought that Burma was now Myanmar. But Bush recently kept refering to Burma. (Which I ignored because, well, this is Bush we're talking about...) And then I heard people on BBC radio America refering to the crisis in Burma. Hence the confusion.

So, which is it? Myanmar or Burma?

Hahahhahaa! I'm feelin' the luuuv, My Evil Twin.

Yes, I realize that Myanmar used to be Burma, but that's the point of the question. I thought this name change was a long settled matter.

Answer 1

The Question is very interesting. And there is even conflict about the name among Burmese as you see some of the answers given by Burmese here. Indeed, I am Burmese.

Before I answer, you need to know that we have 135 ethnic groups, 8 major ethnics groups (Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Mon, Rakhine, Bamar or Burman, Shan). Remeber, Bamar or Burman are majority and our country both Burma and Myanmar represent them as well as our official language Burmese language is their language.

Here is the different between Burma and Myanmar.

First of all, there was no country call Burma or Myanmar until British rule. However, mostly different part of Burma was occupied by different ethnic groups and they have their own kingdoms but Burman was the biggest and the most powerful. They defeated all other regions three times and established Burman empires starting from 1044. However, the name of the empires are called by their capital names. Everytime Burman occuped other part of Burma, in modern history, it refer as first, second and third Burmese empirer. In reality, those are Burman empirers. When British occupied, entire region went under British rule and they refer that region as "Burma".

The name Burma (Bamar) and Myanmar came from Burman group which read - Ba Mar and Mya Mar - But historically they both are used in Burman empires.

When we get independent from British, our constitute define the name of the country as "Union of Burma" in English language and "PyiDaungSu Myanmar" in Burmese Language. Which means, if we write in English, we use Burma and if we write in our language, we use Myanmar. There was no problem at all

However Military government do not want to use Burma at all and they decided to use only Myanmar. So, they changed the name "Union of Burma" to "Union of Myanmar". However, Military government did not take opinions of people but force to change it. So, oppositional groups, people, originizations and country that do no accept Military rule continue using "Burma". However, after been using the name "Myanmar" for over 15 years, gradually people start refering it as Myanmar. But, as long as it's not mentioned in constitution and approved by majority of the people. We will not accept the change.

Answer 2

The actual name is Union of Myanmar. It used to be called by Burma because that's what the British thought our country is supposed to call.
To get to the history and geography, our country composed of 8 main tribes right now -- KaChin, KaYar, KaYin, Chin, Mon, Burma (or actual pronunciation should be Bama), YaKhain, Shan. So, Bama is one of the people who lived in the country.
Even though Bush or any other people in radio who doesn't want to recognize the name change of our country, they should at least study a little bit Myanmar 101 and start criticizing with the name change.
If you want to refer to our country as a group of different tribes and include the minorities as well, you can refer to it as Myanmar. If you want to just address a portion of people who happened to live in most major cities and leave out the rest, then you want refer to us as Burma.
I personally would like to be called our country as Myanmar instead of Burma even though I disapprove our government and against every single action that they are doing right now or 20 years ago. I only sometimes refer to it as Burma as a matter of communication because some people doesn't know where or what Myanmar is, but know Burma.

Answer 3

I dunno if this is a "potato/potato" issue like say, Netherlands/Holland. & according 2 the stuff on Wikipedia, I don't think that Thailand & Siam are interchangeably used names. Hard 2 believe this is the 1st time that I'm hearing about Myanmar on the news. I also remember learning about the name change in a Final Jeopardy! answer, like, over a decade ago. I think even the capital's name of Rangoon changed to Yangon. Most certainly, I think Burma was kind of an Anglicized name of Myanmar during it's colonial time. In fact, plenty of ex-colonies and other areas had such Anglicized or European names. {e.g. Rhodesia (Zimbabwe); Formosa (Taiwan); Celebes (Sulawesi); Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Canton (Guangzhou); Pretoria (Tshwane); New Zealand (Aotearoa); Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo)}.

I'd go w/ Myanmar, but that's 'cause I can @ least spell & pronounce it.

Answer 4

Union of Burma is now Union of Myanmar located close to China and Thailand. The people are still called the Burmese people. Just another name change to confuse everybody.

Answer 5

We use both since Burma and Burmese is what I grew up with and now official name is Myammar.

But I do not want to say Myanmarese. ( funny ) I will say Myanmar and Myanmar people.

Or Burma and Burmese people.

Ba sounds better than Mya.

Please watch this video about Myanmar culture and leave some comments. search for music myanmar monks in youtube or follow this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmLuT3aJw9E

Answer 6

It is the military dictatorship in Burma that insists on the Burmese people calling the country Myanmar.
They can't keep other people from around the world calling the country Burma, which is the name the country has had sense independence from the UK in 1948.

Answer 7

Gather what minimal you might need for a month, put them in a back-pack. Go to Myanmar, spend a month there visiting as many places as you are allowed to. Ask as many questions as you can. The point : you cannot expect to write about things like that from hear-say sources. It would not be fair to every body, your ownself included.

Answer 8

it is currently called myanmar but that it was changed to that by the current military dictatorship. so a lot of people don't properly acknowlegde it for that reason and still say burma

Answer 9

as the other posters said it is now Myanmar

it used to Burma in the same way that Thailand used to be called Siam

Answer 10

Myanmar used to be Burma..it isn't like anyone knows where the heck it is anyways so who cares.