The Name Change to Myanmar from Burma and Why Some People Still Use Burma
The name of the Myanmar can sometimes be confusing, especially if you are an American because the US government almost always uses Burma instead of Myanmar. Even in Myanmar some still refer to the country as Burma, mostly supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and others use the official Myanmar. Under both names Burmese is used as an adjective. Why do some people still use Burma and other prefer Myanmar? The answer has to do with the name change in 1989 and the opposition to change of name from Burma to Myanmar.
In 1989, the military government changed the official name of the country from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar. The name change had linguistic and historical justifications; Myanmar is centuries‐old term that is used in official writing in Burmese while Burma is only an English name of the country (Myanmar was under British colonial rule from 1824 to 1948 and the British called it Burma). The name change was mistake, especially because the government was attempting to promote tourism which was not helped by changing names. After the name change to Myanmar, The UN and most states accepted the change of names and began using Myanmar.
However, the NLD and the Burmese opposition in general refused to accept the name change form a government that they viewed as illegitimate, which is why Aung San Suu Kyi often still refers to the country as Burma. The US simply followed the lead of the NLD and continued to call the country Burma because the US viewed the military government as illegitimate. The result of this is that which name you prefer depends on your political viewpoints.
Most people outside of the county that write about Myanmar refer to the country as Myanmar after the name change and if they are writing about the country before 1989, they refer to the country as Burma. They do this to avoid political implications, but it can be confusing for layman who see the country referred to as both Burma and Myanmar.
