In 1989, the military government of Burma changed the official translation of many colonial era names, including changing the country name to Myanmar. The opposition groups—as well as the United States, United Kingdom, and several other nations—didn’t recognize this as a protest against the legitimacy of the junta. The United Nations, on the other hand, does recognize Myanmar as the name of the country.
It’s all quite confusing, especially when you just want to write about the country and post some photos. While I was there, I asked a lot of questions about it all and got a lesson in the history.
Here’s the deal: Before the British arrived, the formal name of the country was Myanma, pronounced mjəmà using the international phonetic alphabet. The informal name was Bama, pronounced bəmà. When the British took over, they gave it the colonial name Burma, derived from the informal name. The renaming of the country to Myanmar by the junta—which is pronounced the same as the long standing formal name despite the addition of the ending r which trips American English speakers—is an attempt to break with that colonial past. It’s like Persia becoming Iran and Kampuchea becoming Cambodia. The only issue with it is whether or not the military government was acting legitimately in changing the English name and choosing a spelling.
In country, both terms are used with ease but almost universally, everyone identifies themselves and the land as Myanma, the long standing formal name of the country. Furthermore, and this is where things get a bit daft in my view, there’s no disagreement from the opposition party about the native official name. They simply oppose the change to the romanized spelling and the United States government has supported that disagreement for over thirty years.
So, there you have it. It’s both Myanmar and Burma, depending on how formal you want to be and if you choose to grind a political axe about it the romanization of the name. Personally—after learning about it all in detail—I’m following the lead of the locals and using Myanmar as a formal name and Burma as an informal one. There are any number of other discussion points that deserve more thought and attention than a disagreement over the romanized spelling.
Posted by James Duncan Davidson.