Name of Iran

{{Short description|Etymological analysis of the name "Iran"}} {{redirect|Persia (name)|other uses|Persia (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} [[File:Persia with part of the Ottoman Empire, 1872.jpg|thumb|A map of West Asia in 1872, with "Iran or Persia", ruled by the Qajar dynasty, shaded in pink.]] Historically, Iran was commonly referred to as "Persia" in the Western world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fishman |first=Joshua A. |year=2010 |title=Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives |volume=1 |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195374926 |page=266 |quote='Iran' and 'Persia' are synonymous. The former has always been used by the Iranian speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages}}.</ref> Likewise, the modern-day ethnonym "Persian" was typically used as a demonym for all Iranian nationals, regardless of whether or not they were ethnic Persians. This terminology prevailed until 1935, when, during an international gathering for Nowruz, the Shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi officially requested that foreign delegates begin using the endonym "Iran" in formal correspondence. Subsequently, "Iran" and "Iranian" were standardised as the terms referring to the country and its citizens, respectively.<ref name="yarshater1"/>

In 1959, the last Iranian Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced that it was appropriate to use both "Persia" and "Iran" in formal correspondence.<ref name="yarshater1">{{Cite journal |last=Yarshater |first=Ehsan |date=1989 |title=Communication |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=XXII |issue=1 |pages=62–65 |doi=10.1080/00210868908701726 |jstor=4310640}} Reprinted online as [http://www.iran-heritage.org/interestgroups/language-article5.htm "Persia or Iran, Persian or Farsi"] ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024033230/http://www.iran-heritage.org/interestgroups/language-article5.htm |date=2010-10-24 }}).</ref> Dana Pishdar (Zana Vahidzadeh) notes that the terminology shift from "Persia" to "Iran" in 1935 was more than a mere change in foreign naming conventions; it represented a reclamation of national identity rooted deeply in the region's long history.<ref>Lawrence Davidson, Arthur Goldschmid, A Concise History of the Middle East, Westview Press, 2006, p. 153</ref>

A variety of scholars from the Middle Ages, such as the Khwarazmian polymath Al-Biruni, also used terms like "Xuniras" ({{Langx|ae|Xvaniraθa-}}, {{Translation|"self-made, not resting on anything else"}}) to refer to Iran: "which is the center of the world, [...] and it is the one wherein we are, and the kings called it the Iranian realm."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Shahbazi |first=A. Shapur |title=HAFT KEŠVAR -- Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haft-kesvar |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=iranicaonline.org |language=en-US |archive-date=14 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714231549/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haft-kesvar |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology of ''Iran''== {{Main|Iran (word)|l1 = ''Iran'' (word)}}

The Modern Persian word ''Īrān'' ({{lang|fa|ایران}}) derives immediately from Middle Persian ''Ērān'' (Pahlavi spelling: ''ʼyrʼn''), attested in a third century AD inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of the first Sasanian king Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rostam.<ref name="MacKenzie">{{cite encyclopedia|last=MacKenzie|first=David Niel|title=Ērān, Ērānšahr|year=1998|volume=8|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|publisher=Mazda|location=Costa Mesa|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-eransah|access-date=14 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313095654/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-eransah|archive-date=13 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> In this inscription, the king's Middle Persian appellation is ''ardašīr šāhān šāh ērān'' in the Parthian language inscription that accompanies the Middle Persian one. The king is also titled ''ardašīr šāhān šāh aryān'' (Pahlavi: ''... ʼryʼn'') both meaning ''king of kings of the Aryans''.<ref name="MacKenzie" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-eransah | title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica | access-date=18 March 2024 | archive-date=17 May 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517053453/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-eransah | url-status=live }}</ref>

The gentilic ''ēr-'' and ''ary-'' in ''ērān'' and ''aryān'' derives from Old Iranian ''*arya-''<ref name="MacKenzie" /> ([Old Persian] ''airya-'', Avestan ''airiia-'', etc.), meaning "Aryan",<ref name="MacKenzie" /> in the sense of "of the Iranians".<ref name="MacKenzie" /><ref name="Schmitt_Aryans">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schmitt|first=Rüdiger|title=Aryans|pages=684–687|volume=2|year=1987|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|location=New York|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aryans|access-date=14 January 2012|archive-date=20 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420222159/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aryans|url-status=live}}</ref> This term is attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions and in the Zoroastrian Avesta tradition,<ref name="Bailey_Arya">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Bailey|first=Harold Walter|author-link=Harold Walter Bailey|title=Arya|pages=681–683|year=1987|volume=2|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|location=New York|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arya-an-ethnic-epithet|access-date=14 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194904/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arya-an-ethnic-epithet|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|In the Avesta the ''airiia-'' are members of the ethnic group of the Avesta-reciters themselves, in contradistinction to the ''anairiia-'', the "non-Aryas". The word also appears four times in Old Persian: One is in the Behistun inscription, where ''ariya-'' is the name of a language or script (DB 4.89). The other three instances occur in Darius I's inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam (DNa 14-15), in Darius I's inscription at Susa (DSe 13-14), and in the inscription of Xerxes I at Persepolis (XPh 12-13). In these, the two Achaemenid dynasts describe themselves as ''pārsa pārsahyā puça ariya ariyaciça'' "a Persian, son of a Persian, an Ariya, of Ariya origin". "The phrase with ''ciça'', "origin, descendance", assures that it [i.e. ''ariya''] is an ethnic name wider in meaning than ''pārsa'' and not a simple adjectival epithet."<ref name="Bailey_Arya" />|group="n"}} and it seems "very likely"<ref name="MacKenzie" /> that in Ardashir's inscription ''ērān'' still retained this meaning, denoting the people rather than the empire.  [[File:The word Iran in Pahlavi on a coin of Shapur I.jpg|thumb|The form of the word ''Ērān'' (𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭) in Inscriptional Pahlavi on a coin of Shapur I.]] [[File:کتیبه شاپور یکم در کعبه زرتشت.jpg|thumb|Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht ({{circa|AD 262)}}, with ''Ērānšahr'' and ''Ērān'' highlighted.]]

It reappears in the Achaemenid era where the Elamite version of the Behistun Inscription twice mentions Ahura Mazda as ''nap harriyanam'' "the god of the Iranians".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pierre.|first=Briant|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/733090738|title=From Cyrus to Alexander : a history of the Persian Empire|date=2006|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-57506-120-7|oclc=733090738}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hutter|first=Manfred|date=2015-12-12|title=Probleme iranischer Literatur und Religion unter den Achämeniden|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/zaw-2015-0034|journal=Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft|volume=127|issue=4|pages=547–564|doi=10.1515/zaw-2015-0034|s2cid=171378786|issn=1613-0103|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopaedia Iranica1">{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroastrianism-i-historical-review | title=ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORICAL REVIEW | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=William W. Malandra | date=2005-07-20 | archive-date=5 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205062939/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroastrianism-i-historical-review | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Encyclopaedia Iranica">{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eastern-iranian-languages | title=EASTERN IRANIAN LANGUAGES | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=Nicholas Sims-Williams | archive-date=29 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229085019/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eastern-iranian-languages | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran | title=IRAN | access-date=2011-01-14 | archive-date=20 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220115017/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avestan-language | title=AVESTAN LANGUAGE I-III | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=K. Hoffmann | archive-date=28 November 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128070925/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avestan-language | url-status=live }}</ref>

Notwithstanding this inscriptional use of ''ērān'' to refer to the Iranian peoples, the use of ''ērān'' to refer to the empire (and the antonymic ''anērān'' to refer to Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sasanian era. Both ''ērān'' and ''anērān'' appear in 3rd century calendrical text written by Mani. In an inscription of Ardashir's son and immediate successor, Shapur I "apparently includes in ''Ērān'' regions such as Armenia and the Caucasus which were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians".<ref name="Gignoux_Aneran">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Gignoux|first=Phillipe|title=Anērān|pages=30–31|volume=2|year=1987|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|location=New York|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aneran|access-date=14 January 2012|archive-date=28 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928192042/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aneran|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Kartir's inscriptions (written thirty years after Shapur's), the high priest includes the same regions (together with Georgia, Albania, Syria and the Pontus) in his list of provinces of the antonymic ''Anērān''.<ref name="Gignoux_Aneran" /> ''Ērān'' also features in the names of the towns founded by Sassanid dynasts, for instance in ''Ērān-xwarrah-šābuhr'' "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in the titles of government officers, such as in ''Ērān-āmārgar'' "Accountant-General (of) ''Ērān''" or ''Ērān-dibirbed'' "Chief Scribe (of) ''Ērān''".<ref name="MacKenzie" />

The term ''Iranian'' appears in ancient texts with diverse variations. This includes ''Arioi'' (Herodotus), ''Arianē'' (Eratosthenes apud Strabo), ''áreion'' (Eudemus of Rhodes apud Damascius), ''Arianoi'' (Diodorus Siculus) in Greek and ''Ari'' in Armenian; those, in turn, come from the Iranian forms: ''ariya'' in Old Persian, ''airya'' in Avestan, ''ariao'' in Bactrian, ''ary'' in Parthian and ''ēr'' in Middle Persian.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Encyclopaedia Iranica |title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iranian-identity-ii-pre-islamic-period/ |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=iranicaonline.org |language=en-US |archive-date=13 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240413125331/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iranian-identity-ii-pre-islamic-period |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology of ''Persia''== {{Further|Persis|Fars province}} [[File:Mappa di Eratostene.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|A modern reconstruction of the ancient world map of Eratosthenes from c. 200 BC, using the names ''Ariana'' and ''Persis'']]

The Greeks (who had previously tended to use names related to "Median" for the region) began to use adjectives such as {{grc-tr|Πέρσης}} ({{wikt-lang|grc|Πέρσης}}), {{grc-tr|Περσική}} ({{wikt-lang|grc|Περσική}}) or {{grc-tr|Περσίς}} ({{wikt-lang|grc|Περσίς}}) in the fifth century BC to refer to Cyrus the Great's empire.<ref>{{cite book| author= Liddell & Scott| title= Lexicon of the Greek Language| publisher= Oxford| year= 1882| page= 1205 | editor1= Henry George Liddell| editor2= Robert Scott}}</ref> Such words were taken from the Old Persian ''Pārsa'' – the name of the people from whom Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty emerged and over whom he first ruled, before he inherited or conquered other Iranian Kingdoms. The Pars tribe gave its name to the region where they lived, the modern-day province is called Fars/Pars, but the province in ancient times was smaller than its current area.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} In Latin, the name for the whole empire was ''Persia'', while the Iranians knew it as ''Iran'' or ''Iranshahr''.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

In the later parts of the Bible, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah), it is called ''{{Transliteration|hbo|Paras}}'' ({{langx|hbo|פָּרַס}}), or sometimes ''{{Transliteration|hbo|Paras u Madai}}'' ({{lang|hbo|פָּרַס וּמָדַי}}), ("Persia and Media"). The Arabs likewise referred to Iran and the Persian (Sassanian) Empire as ''{{Transliteration|ar|Bilād Fāris}}'' ({{langx|ar|بلاد فارس}}), in other words "Lands of Persia", which would become the popular name for the region in Muslim literature. They also used ''{{Transliteration|ar|Bilād Ajam}}'' ({{langx|ar|بلاد عجم}}) as an equivalent or synonym to "Persia". The Turks also used this term, but adapted to Iranian (specifically, Persian) language form as "Bilad (Belaad) e Ajam".

A Greek folk etymology connected the name to Perseus, a legendary character in Greek mythology. Herodotus recounts this story,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Herodotus |title=Histories |volume=Book 7 |chapter=61}}</ref> devising a foreign son, Perses, from whom the Persians took the name. Apparently, the Persians themselves knew the story,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Herodotus |title=Histories |volume=Book 7 |chapter=150}}</ref> as Xerxes I tried to use it to suborn the Argives during his invasion of Greece, but ultimately failed to do so.

== ''Xuniras'' == In the Iranian tradition, the world is divided into seven circular regions, or ''karshvar''s, separated from one another by forests, mountains, or water. Six of those regions flank a central one called ''Xvaniraθa-'' in Avesta and ''Xuniras'' in New Persian, which probably means 'self-made, not resting on anything else'. It was equal in size to all the rest combined and surpassed them in prosperity and fortune.<ref name=":0" />

Originally, only ''Xuniras'' was inhabited by humans, which also hosted the "Iranian home" (''Airyō.šayana-'' in the Avestan)''.'' In the later tradition, from about 620, ''Xuniras'' came to be the same as Iran itself, with known countries such as the Roman Empire and China surrounding it.<ref name=":0" />

The Abu-Mansuri Shahnameh describes ''Xuniras'' as such: "(and) the seventh, which is the center of the world, ''Xuniras-e bāmi'' (splendid ''Xuniras''), and it is the one wherein we are, and the kings called it the Iranian realm/''Ērānšahr''." Another scheme of the seven regions of the world is reported by Abu Rayhan Biruni, who similarly arranges known nations into six connected circles surrounding the central ''Ērānšahr''.<ref name=":0" />

==Name in the Western world== Source:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |date=1997 |title=Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/164017 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=205–234 |issn=0020-7438}}</ref>

The exonym ''Persia'' was the official name of Iran in the Western world before March 1935, but the Iranian peoples inside their country since the time of Zoroaster (probably circa 1000 BC), or even before, have called their country ''Arya'', ''Iran'', ''Iranshahr'', ''Iranzamin'' (Land of Iran), ''Aryānām'' (the equivalent of ''Iran'' in the proto-Iranian language) or its equivalents. The term ''Arya'' has been used by the Iranian people, as well as by the rulers and emperors of Iran, from the time of the Avesta.<ref>[http://www.avesta.org/mp/viraf.html Arda Viraf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514151617/http://www.avesta.org/mp/viraf.html |date=14 May 2023 }} (1:4; 1:5; 1:9; 1:10; 1:12; etc.)</ref>

Evidently from the time of the Sassanids (226–651 CE) Iranians have called it ''Iran'', meaning the "Land of the Aryans" and ''Iranshahr''. In Middle Persian sources, the name ''Arya'' and ''Iran'' is used for the pre-Sassanid Iranian empires as well as the Sassanid empire. As an example, the use of the name "Iran" for Achaemenids in the Middle Persian book of Arda Viraf refers to the invasion of Iran by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.<ref>[http://www.avesta.org/mp/viraf.html Arda Viraf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514151617/http://www.avesta.org/mp/viraf.html |date=14 May 2023 }} (1:4; 1:5; 1:9; 1:10; 1:12; etc.)</ref>

The Proto-Iranian term for Iran is reconstructed as *Aryānām (the genitive plural of the word *Arya); the Avestan equivalent is ''Airyanem'' (as in Airyanem Vaejah). The internal preference for "Iran" was noted in some Western reference books (e.g. the Harmsworth Encyclopaedia, ''circa'' 1907, entry for Iran: "The name is now the official designation of Persia.") but for international purposes, ''Persia'' was the norm.<ref>https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-eransah/</ref>

In the mid-1930s, the ruler of the country, Reza Shah Pahlavi, moved towards formalising the name ''Iran'' instead of ''Persia'' for all purposes. In the British House of Commons the move was reported upon by the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs as follows:<ref>HC Deb 20 February 1935 vol 298 cc350-1 351</ref>

{{blockquote|On the 25th December [1934] the Persian Ministry for Foreign Affairs addressed a circular memorandum to the Foreign Diplomatic Missions in Tehran requesting that the terms "Iran" and "Iranian" might be used in official correspondence and conversation as from the next 21st March, instead of the words "Persia" and "Persian" hitherto in current use. His Majesty's Minister in Tehran has been instructed to accede to this request.|author=|title=|source=}}

The decree of Reza Shah affecting nomenclature was intended to take effect at the start of the new year in 1935.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv3hh4s2 |title=Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 |date=2014-08-07 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6507-9 |location=Princeton |publication-date=1999 |pages=219}}</ref>

To avoid confusion between the two neighboring countries of Iran and Iraq, which were both involved in World War II and occupied by the Allies, Winston Churchill requested from the Iranian government during the Tehran Conference for the old and distinct name "Persia to be used by the United Nations [i.e., the Allies] for the duration of the common War". His request was approved immediately by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The Americans, however, continued using ''Iran'' as they then had little involvement in Iraq to cause any such confusion.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}

In the summer of 1959, following concerns that the native name had, as Mohammad Ali Foroughi<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yarshater |first1=Ehsan |date=1989 |title=Communication |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=62–65|doi=10.1080/00210868908701726 |jstor=4310640}}</ref> put it, "turned a known into an unknown", a committee was formed, led by noted scholar Ehsan Yarshater, to consider the issue again. They recommended a reversal of the 1935 decision, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi approved this. However, the implementation of the proposal was weak, simply allowing ''Persia'' and ''Iran'' to be used interchangeably.<ref name="yarshater1"/> Today, both terms are common; ''Persia'' mostly in historical and cultural contexts, ''Iran'' mostly in political contexts.

In recent years most exhibitions of Persian history, culture and art in the world have used the exonym ''Persia'' (e.g., "Forgotten Empire; Ancient Persia", British Museum; "7000 Years of Persian Art", Vienna, Berlin; and "Persia; Thirty Centuries of Culture and Art", Amsterdam).<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.hermitage.nl/en/content.htm |title = "Persia", Hermitage Amsterdam |access-date = 2007-05-03 |author = Hermitage |author-link = Hermitage Amsterdam |date=2007-09-20 |work = Hermitage |quote = Persian objects at Hermitage |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070428162002/http://www.hermitage.nl/en/content.htm  |archive-date = 2007-04-28}}</ref> In 2006, the largest collection of historical maps of Iran, entitled ''Historical Maps of Persia'', was published in the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.brill.nl/m_catalogue_sub6_id23605.htm |title = General Maps of Persia 1477–1925 |access-date = 2006-05-03 |author = Brill |author-link = Brill Publishers |date = 2006-09-20 |work = Brill website |publisher = Brill |quote = Iran, or Persia as it was known in the West for most of its long history, has been mapped extensively for centuries but the absence of a good cartobibliography has often deterred scholars of its history and geography from making use of the many detailed maps that were produced. This is now available, prepared by Cyrus Alai who embarked on a lengthy investigation into the old maps of Persia, and visited major map collections and libraries in many countries ... |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060421083949/http://www.brill.nl/m_catalogue_sub6_id23605.htm |archive-date = 2006-04-21 }}</ref>

=={{anchor|Recent debate}} Modern debate in Iran ==

In the 1980s, Professor Ehsan Yarshater (editor of the ''Encyclopædia Iranica'') started to publish articles on this matter (in both English and Persian) in ''Rahavard Quarterly'', ''Pars Monthly'', ''Iranian Studies'', etc. After him, a few Iranian scholars and researchers such as Prof. Kazem Abhary, and Prof. Jalal Matini followed the issue. Several times since then, Iranian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage of ''Persia'' and ''Persian'' in English.

There are many Iranians in the West who prefer ''Persia'' and ''Persian'' as the English names for the country and nationality, similar to the usage of ''La Perse/persan'' in French.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Evason |first=Nina |date=2016-01-01 |title=Iranian Culture: Other Considerations |url=https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/iranian-culture/iranian-culture-other-considerations |website=Cultural Atlas |publisher=Special Broadcasting Service |language=en}}</ref> According to Hooman Majd, the popularity of the term ''Persia'' among the Iranian diaspora stems from the fact that {{"'}}Persia' connotes a glorious past they would like to be identified with, while 'Iran' since 1979 revolution... says nothing to the world but Islamic fundamentalism."<ref name=Majd2008a>Majd, Hooman, ''The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran'', by Hooman Majd, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 23 September 2008, {{ISBN|0385528426}}, 9780385528429. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1kuSfuHovwMC&pg=PA161 161]</ref>

=== Official names of Iranian states === Since 1 April 1979, the official name of the Iranian state is '''Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân''' ({{langx|fa|جمهوری اسلامی ایران}}), which is generally translated as the ''Islamic Republic of Iran'' in English.

Other official names were '''Dowlat-e Aliyye-ye Irân''' ({{langx|fa|دولت علیّهٔ ایران}}) meaning the ''Sublime State of Persia'' and '''Kešvar-e Šâhanšâhi-ye Irân''' ({{langx|fa|کشور شاهنشاهی ایران}}) meaning ''Imperial State of Persia'' and the ''Imperial State of Iran'' after 1935.

==Pronunciation==

The Persian pronunciation of ''Iran'' is {{IPA|fa|ʔiːˈɾɒːn||}}. Commonwealth English pronunciations of ''Iran'' are listed in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɑː|n}} and {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n}},<ref name="Oxford_Iran">{{Cite web |title=Iran |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/iran |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229033251/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/iran |archive-date=29 December 2016 |access-date=7 February 2017 |website=Oxford Dictionaries}}</ref> while American English dictionaries provide pronunciations which map to {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɑː|n|,_|-|ˈ|r|æ|n|,_|aɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n}},<ref name="MW_Iran">{{Cite web |title=Iran |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Iran |access-date=7 February 2017 |website=Merriam-Webster |archive-date=10 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510231403/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Iran |url-status=live}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n|,_|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɑː|n|,_|aɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n}}. The ''Cambridge Dictionary'' lists {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɑː|n}} as the British pronunciation and {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n}} as the American pronunciation. Voice of America's pronunciation guide provides {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɑː|n}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How do you say Iran? |url=https://pronounce.voanews.com/phrasedetail.php?name=IRAN |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080458/http://pronounce.voanews.com/phrasedetail.php?name=IRAN |archive-date=11 February 2017 |access-date=7 February 2017 |website=Voice of America}}</ref>

Some Americans prefer to pronounce the word ''Iran'' with American English phonology: {{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n}} or {{respell|eye|RAN}}.<ref name="Wills">{{cite news |last1=Wills |first1=Neil |title=Surfers Paradise: Neil Wills Shreds the Net |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdb1fciEgWMC&pg=PA27 |work=Third Way |date=November 2004 |page=27}} In this article, Wills notes that the song "I Ran" always makes him think of the country, and then wishes he were a North American because the pun "works better with their particular take on the English pronunciation of the bat-shaped Middle Eastern country".</ref><ref name="Goodall_Page_308">{{cite book |last1=Goodall Jr. |first1=H.L. |author1-link=Bud Goodall |title=A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abington and New York |isbn=9781315435688 |page=308 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-BmDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA308#v=onepage&q&f=false}} Goodall explains that as an ignorant American teenager in the 1960s, the only thing he knew about Iran was that it formed part of the punch line for a childish schoolyard joke. The jokester would ask the victim to name two adjoining countries in the Middle East, then when the victim confessed they did not know, the punch line was "Iraq, and Iran" (as in "I rack", followed by kicking the victim in the testicles, and then "I ran", as in running away).</ref><ref name="Ghosh">{{cite news |last1=Ghosh |first1=Palash R. |title=Iran: The Country's Name is Pronounced “Eee-Rahn” Not “Eye-Ran” |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/iran-countrys-name-pronounced-eee-rahn-not-eye-ran-213712 |work=International Business Times |date=16 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="Ostby">{{cite news |last1=Ostby |first1=Marie |title=Why mispronunciations like 'Eye-ran' matter |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4948914-why-mispronunciations-like-eye-ran-matter/ |work=The Hill |date=24 October 2024}}</ref> Many Americans mistook the hit song "I Ran" as a reference to Iran.<ref name="Thompson">{{cite book|first= Dave |last= Thompson |authorlink1= Dave Thompson (author) |year= 2000 |title= Alternative Rock: Third Ear – The Essential Listening Companion |publisher= Miller Freeman Books |location= San Francisco |page= 142 |isbn= 9780879306076|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHP-r9-eqdAC&pg=PA142}}</ref> The common American pronunciation has been heavily criticised by persons familiar with the Persian pronunciation.<ref name="Ghosh" /><ref name="Ostby" />

==See also== *Iran (word)

==Bibliography== * {{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm60419092 |title=Birth of the Persian Empire |date=2005 |publisher=I.B. Tauris in association with The London Middle East Institute at SOAS and The British Museum; In the U.S. of America and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-84511-062-8 |editor-last=Curtis |editor-first=Vesta Sarkhosh |series=The idea of Iran |location=London; New York : New York |oclc=ocm60419092 |editor-last2=Stewart |editor-first2=Sarah |editor-last3=London Middle East Institute |editor-last4=British Museum}}

==Notes== {{reflist|group="n"}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://hamshahrionline.ir/details/6644 The names of Iran in the course of history] at hamshahrionline.ir * [http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/iranpersia/index.htm Iran and Persia- Are they the same?] at heritageinstitute.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Name of Iran}} Category:1935 in international relations Iran Iran Category:History of Iran