Rebranding the Czech Republic: Czechia
Simplification of European place names continues as Prague government adopts a one-word name for the country.
A vendor displays a t-shirt with the word 'Czechia' in a store in Prague, Czech Republic.
Petr David Josek/AP
The end of the cold war and the breakup of the former Soviet Union had any number of totally positive consequences. The threat of mutual assured destruction through thermonuclear warfare receded considerably, for instance. And several place names became a lot simpler.
To start with the Soviet Union itself: News organizations, including the Monitor, revived the use of 鈥淩ussia.鈥� 鈥淭he Ukraine,鈥� a name derived from Russian or Polish words meaning 鈥渁t the border,鈥� . This made 鈥淯kraine鈥� seem more like a proper name and less like a common noun. (鈥淗ey, if you鈥檙e not using it this weekend, can I borrow your Ukraine?鈥�)
Byelorussia became Belarus. This spared people from figuring out whether to say 鈥淏yellow-Russia鈥� or 鈥淏uy-low-Russia鈥� (sounds like maybe a food co-op?).聽
Farther west, reunification let us trade in East Germany and West Germany for one bigger country: Germany.聽
About the same time, the European Community became the more concise European Union. For a body whose institutional instincts seem to run toward complication, this was an extraordinary simplification.聽
Now another country on the redrawn map of Europe looks about to be renamed: An effort is under way in the Czech Republic to make the official short form of the country鈥檚 name in English. Czechoslovakia emerged as an independent republic from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. It combined two main groups, the industrialized Czechs in the west and the more agrarian Slovaks to the east.
Its peaceful breakup in 1993 was called 鈥渢he velvet divorce.鈥� And to continue the domestic metaphor, we might say that the Slovaks got the house. Slovakia definitely sounds like a name, and the name of a country at that.
The Czechs, though, were left with 鈥�,鈥� which sounds a tad incomplete 鈥� an adjectival combining form that cries out for a sturdy noun to lean upon.聽
And so they settled on 鈥渢he Czech Republic鈥� as their official name. But advocates for note that 鈥淐zech Republic鈥� is a 鈥減olitical name鈥� 鈥� like 鈥渢he French Republic,鈥� for instance; they want a 鈥済eographical name鈥� for their country 鈥� a name like 鈥淔rance,鈥� in other words. Political names are fine on a country鈥檚 postage stamps or the business cards of its diplomats. But citizens need a real name to shout from the stands when their national team takes the field. (Americans sing 鈥淎merica the Beautiful,鈥� not 鈥淭he United States the Beautiful.鈥�)
Opponents have worried that is likely to be confused with Chechnya. Some suggest 鈥渢he Czech Lands,鈥� but that sounds provisional, like some real estate project that hasn鈥檛 gotten past the zoning board yet. Or possibly 鈥淐zechlands,鈥� on a par with 鈥渢he Netherlands.鈥�
I鈥檒l be glad to go with Czechia when it鈥檚 official. It鈥檚 shorter, and it 鈥渟ounds nicer,鈥� as Czech President Milo拧 Zeman has noted.聽
Besides, it sounds like the name of a country. What鈥檚 not to love?聽