The biggest international naming disputes in history

Of the executive orders made by President Donald Trump on his first day back in the White House, one generating tons of attention was perhaps the most symbolic: renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, in addition to ordering Alaska's Denali be changed back to Mt. McKinley, after the 25th president. But these are not the only global naming disputes in recent history.

Greece and Macedonia

For over a quarter century, the Balkans were at odds over the name of the Macedonia region, which contains large parts of Southeast Europe. Macedonia "has long existed as a northern region in Greece," said the BBC, and a quarrel began in 1991 when a "new nation, born out of the collapse of Yugoslavia," began calling itself Macedonia.

The Greeks were "fiercely proud of the ancient heritage of Alexander the Great and his father Philip II of Macedon," said the BBC, and felt the former Yugoslavia was encroaching on their territory. A deal was eventually reached in 2019 to name the country North Macedonia, but in 2024 Greece accused the nation's "new center-right government of breaking a historic deal on the country's name," said The Associated Press, potentially reigniting the feud.

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Black Sea

Russian politician Denis Bulanov has proposed renaming the Black Sea to the Russian Sea. Bulanov was reportedly inspired by Trump's decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico, and "claimed that the Black Sea was historically referred to as the 'Russian Sea,' mentioned in some ancient Rus' chronicles," said Ukraine's United24 Media.

The name change "would be for domestic use within Russia only. I'm not insisting that other countries bordering the Black Sea recognize the name change," Bulanov said to a translated Russian media outlet on Telegram. It is unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin supports the change.

South China Sea

Most Westerners understandably call the body of water south of China the South China Sea. But Asian nations have been pressing for the sea's name to be changed. China, Vietnam and the Philippines all have different names for it, and these "are not just semantic; they each advance a nationalist narrative and a historical claim," said The Diplomat.

This "also reflects the geopolitical stakes in the South China Sea, where overlapping maritime and territorial claims have led to rising tensions among nations," said The Diplomat. Countries have feuded over the sea's name in the past; in 2017, Indonesia angered China when it announced it would "refer to the northern areas of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the 'North Natuna Sea,'" said CNN.

India

Indians have long feuded over the name of their country. While the nation is officially called the Republic of India, many have pushed to change its name to "Bharat," the Hindu word for India. In India itself, India and Bharat are "used interchangeably officially and by the public," said Al Jazeera.

Hindus have been pining to change the country's name officially, and the nation's constitution refers to it as "India, that is Bharat." India's president has also referred to herself as the president of Bharat. And "while some supporters of the name Bharat say 'India' was given by British colonizers, historians say the name predates colonial rule by centuries," said Reuters.

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, separating Iran from the rest of the Middle East, remains embroiled in a naming controversy. Most Iranians call it the Persian Gulf, but "Arabs are angling for it to be called the Arabian Gulf," said The Economist. The naming disagreement reflects "increasingly troubled relations" in the region, given that it is a "natural barrier for centuries of Arab-Persian rivalry."

This debate has been brewing for decades, as "states on the Arab side began calling it the 'Arabian Gulf'" during the 1960s, said The Guardian. Most recently, Iraq stirred anger when it named a 2023 regional soccer tournament the "Arabian Gulf Cup," to the ire of Iran