Persia Becomes Iran · Nam-e Iran

Culture of origin: Iranian · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran

For centuries the West called the country Persia, though its people had long called it Iran, Iranshahr or Iranzamin. Reza Shah's government asked foreign delegates to use the native name 'Iran' in formal correspondence from the new year of 1935, and 'Iran' and 'Iranian' became standard. In 1959, amid concern that the change had turned a known name into an unknown one, a committee led by Ehsan Yarshater advised a reversal, and Mohammad Reza Shah allowed both names.