With all of the news coming out around Myanmar recently, some people have noticed that some publications will call the country "Myanmar" while others prefer the term "Burma". It's the only country that I can think of where there is actually a debate on what to call it. In fact, when visiting US Senators start using the name "Myanmar", people write whole articles on it. (here and here)
So, where does this confusion come from? Let me take you on a long, winding and insightful look as to where these names come from.
Burma/Myanmar
To begin with, there's a lot of debate as to where the name Myanmar actually comes from. In short, it's been around since around the 9th century, at the same time that Bagan was in its heyday. Whatever the origin, it was clear that the term Myanmar was there to represent the people who inhabited that kingdom. There were many other ethnic groups and societies living in modern-day Myanmar at that time including Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, Mon, and Kayin just to name a few. So, the name Myanmar was applied only to the people of the central, lowland areas.
Over time, the spoken word "Myanmar" changed over time and morphed into "Bamar", so that "Myanmar" became the written/literary form while "Bamar" became the colloquial/spoken form. In other words, they are two words that mean the same thing: a description of one group, one race of people.
When the British came and colonized the area, they named it "Burma" which was similar to the name "Birmania" that was given by Portuguese traders. When the British first arrived, they only controlled the central, flat plains areas, the same areas that were inhabited by the majority Bamar/Myanmar people. Most of the outlying regions (now Shan State, Chin State, Kachin State, etc) were left under the control of whomever was in charge there, whether it be a local chieftan or king. The British later annexed those regions, but left them semi-automomous. So, at the end of the British rule we have a country called "Burma" which consisted of a middle region which was chiefly British administered surrounded by some annexed lands which were administered in a sort of patchwork fashion.
Eventually the country gained independence from the British and decided to call their country "Burma", which included the central areas as well as the outlying mountainous regions. That name stuck around until...
In 1989, after the government invalidated elections that were primarily won by the NLD (National League for Democracy), they decided to change all of the "colonial" names back to their "original" names, with the country name reverting back to Myanmar as well as the names of various cities reverting back to their originals. As you can imagine, given the timing of the name change, this made many people angry, so many people continue to use the name Burma as a form of protest against the legitimacy of the current government.
What do you use?
The short answer is that I use both, because they both mean exactly the same thing. The terms Myanmar/Burma still are descriptions of the majority ethnic group, the Bamar. If someone starts using the word "Burma", then I will use that, if someone uses "Myanmar", then I will use that.
I have even started noticing (now that I can read Burmese) that many places will write "Myanmar" in Burmese and then translate that into "Burma" in English. And these are writings from groups that are definitely not buddy-buddy with government officials. What that tells me is that even for politically active people, the debate is not as simple as many make it out to be.
In general, though, I tend to lean towards using the word Myanmar for several reasons:
1) For better or worse, I think that name is going to stick. Crazier things have happened, but I can't see the country changing names again as the change would bring up too many issues.
2) I don't see how insisting on using the name Burma is going to change anything. When there are serious conversations going on within the country about things that affect a lot of lives, I don't think it does any good to pick a fight about a name. It's like calling someone "Johnny" when he prefers to be called "John". I'd rather just drop the silly name issue and move on to more important things.
3) I spend most of my time with college-age students from nearly every ethnic group and most of them use the tern Myanmar. Some do it out of habit (they're only 20, it's what they grew-up with) while some believe it is a more encompassing term to describe all of the ethnic groups (with Bamar being the majority group). While they may be wrong historically on the latter point, that's what the word means to them. Since most of them are not ethnic Bamar, I respect that definition and I want to say a word that represents all of the ethnic groups.
My only request is that when foreigners use whatever name they choose, that they don't tell me to conform to whatever standard they have set. Call it whatever you want, but respect the right of others to do differently. With locals, I always defer to their preferred nomenclature, since it's their country and I respect whatever decision they choose.
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Of course, the Burma/Myanmar name is just the tip of the iceberg. There are some other names and words that can be confusing to people new to the country.
The term "Burmese"
A tough one. Again, during British rule and until 1989, anything within the country was referred to as "Burmese" which meant "from the country of Burma". So, "Burmese food" would be any food dish that comes from Burma. Many people still use this term to describe anything that comes from the country.
Many people, though, use the term without discretion or having any idea what it means. They have no idea that there are a wonderful array of ethnicities and just call everything "Burmese". Kachin food is "Burmese", Chin people are "Burmese", and a Mon longyi is "Burmese". Since it comes from the country, it's just tagged as "Burmese".
The British got around this conundrum by calling the ethnic group Burman. So, someone sensitive to the issue might talk about some wonderful Kachin food that he ate ate with his Burman friends. The term "Burmese" would only describe the population as a group or the language which is spoken in most of the country.
And you?
I'm really sensitive about classifying people or food arbitrarily as Myanmar or Burmese. I usually get around it by saying "He's from Myanmar/Burma" instead of "He's Myanmar/Burmese." That way, I'm always right :)
I do make an exception for language, though, preferring to call the language "Burmese" because that's what it is: the language of the ethnic Bamar/Burman group. There are plenty of other beautiful dialects and languages that are closely tied to the cultures of the various ethnic groups and I want to make sure to respect those languages and their origins.
Rangoon/Yangon
The Burmese term "Yangon" means end of strife, which is kind of an ironic term for a place that has had a lot of strife. The British called it Rangoon, which is the Rakhine way of pronouncing it. Outside of my Rakhine friends, I know of very few people inside of Myanmar who will say Rangoon or even insist that it be called so. For that reason, I almost exclusively say "Yangon"
Prome/Pyay
Pyay means "state" in Burmese which is appropriate given that near the city lie the ruins of an ancient capitol. Because of the Burmese spelling, some people will pronounce it "Pyay" and some will pronounce it "Pyi". The British couldn't make up their mind, so they just called it "Prome". There is even a Pyay Road in Yangon that some hardline government critics will insist on calling Prome Road. As for me, I always say Pyay, because I've never heard of anyone inside the country using the word Prome.
Mamyo/Pyin U Lwin
When the British were in charge, they established a hill station near Mandalay to escape the heat, which they called Maymyo (literally: "May's city", named after Colonel May). Now it's called Pyin U Lwin amongst other things: while there some people told me the town has 4 names in total; unfortunately, I can't remember the others. For me, again, most people will say Pyin U Lwin, with a few saying "Maymyo", so I choose Pyin U Lwin. I have a hard time calling the town that was named after a foreign colonel. Plus, Pyin U Lwin is difficult to pronounce correctly, so I like to show off my pronunciation chops :)
Pegu/Bago
I think this one comes from a bad romanization of the word from Burmese. If you directly romanize the characters in Burmese, it will come out as "Pegu" even though local people will pronounce it "Bago". There are many words in Burmese where the spelling and pronunciation differ and this is another. I've never heard any local person say "Pegu", so "Bago" is what I always say.
Irrawaddy/Ayeyarwaddy
This one I'm not really sure about. All I can say is that the correct Burmese pronunciation according to the characters would be Ayeyarwaddy but I've heard people use both in reality. People seem to understand either of them interchangeably, so I use whichever one pops into my head first.
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Phew. There now you know more than you've ever wanted to know. So, what does this all mean?
I'm not sure exactly, except that to say things are not as straightforward and easy in Myanmar as people make them out to be. With the press starting to report more on issues here, there's an impulse to over simplify the history, culture, or politics down to something that fits nicely into bite size pieces ready for readers to consume. Above are just the issues around the names of places, so you can imagine all of the intricacies and convolutions that exist behind other important subjects.
I will finish this with words that aptly describe this issue better than I could; words from Juliet to Romeo that could be aptly applied to the Burma/Mynmar name debate: "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
February 01, 2012
mumsie
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Dan
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Mica
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Samual@Orlando taxi drivers
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Rajasthan Travel
February 27, 2012
Tet Win
Thank you for your effort in this indepth information regarding the confusion on the term 'Myanmar? / 'Burma'?
There are 135 national ethnic groups that made-up the population in this country. Bamar consists of 60 percent of the population, but it is merely one of the 135 national races. When the country was invaded, the British anglocized the name and called the country 'Burma' & its people 'Burmese'. 'Myanmar' is the term referred to the whole population consisting the 135 national races. Therefore, it is only correct to use the term 'Myanmar' for the country and also 'Myanmar' for the people of this country. There is no logical correctness to use any other term whether it may be the colonial British usage or present day anti-military dictatorship usage.
Tet Win (U)
February 27, 2012
Kyle
However, whatever the reason for the change in name, I tend to agree with you in its modern usage: Myanmar to refer to the people within the country and "Burmese/Bamar/Burman" to refer to people/things of that ethnic group. I'm not a politician and I just simply think it's more clear that way.
April 21, 2012
Osokli Victor Yao
May 09, 2012
lia
burma = beautiful exotic country
myanmar = brutal despotic regime
but you are right, how many name changes do the burmese people wish to undergo, and besides, how many people recall old (free) burma anyway? i'm sure i'm in the dying throes of calling mayanmar burma also. i hope the changes bring relief and freedom to the grassroot people very soon.
the world is watching....