The military changed the English-language spelling of Rangoon, the nation’s major city, to Yangon at the same time. The conundrum emerged in 1989 when the ruling military government changed the country's name from Burma to Myanmar after quashing a pro-democracy uprising by killing thousands of people. The State Department website uses ‘Burma (Myanmar)’ in some places and ‘Burma’ in others.” “So, for example, the embassy website refers to Burma - Myanmar because they are by definition dealing with officials and the public. “Our official policy is that we say ‘Burma’ but use ‘Myanmar’ as a courtesy in certain communications,” Jen Psaki, the White House spokesperson, said when asked to address the issue during a press conference this week. In official documents issued by the Biden administration, the country with beaches on the Andaman Sea is Burma.Īnd whenever the country is in the news, the question of what’s in a name returns. Myanmar is the official name of the country upended by a military coup this week.
