Countries that changed their names
Some country names you may have learned at school are no longer what those countries call themselves. Here are four recent changes, when they happened and what exactly changed.
Swaziland became Eswatini (2018)
The Kingdom of Swaziland became the Kingdom of Eswatini, short form Eswatini. The UN records 19 April 2018 as the date the change took effect.1
Turkey became Türkiye (2022)
On 26 May 2022, in a request to the UN Secretary-General, the Republic of Turkey changed its official name to the Republic of Türkiye.2
Macedonia became North Macedonia (2019)
The country joined the UN in 1993 under a provisional name, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", until a dispute over its name was settled.3 The Prespa Agreement with Greece settled it. The agreement came into force in February 2019, and the official name is now the Republic of North Macedonia.4
Czechia: a new short name (2016)
Czechia is a slightly different case. In May 2016 the Czech government approved Czechia as the English short name, the equivalent of the Czech "Česko". The official name, the Czech Republic, did not change.5
The names on this site
This site uses the short name people actually say, so these four appear as Eswatini, Türkiye, North Macedonia and Czechia. The sources page explains where all names come from.