Old Names of Countries Quiz

Can you name the old names of countries?

created by Schkum

Enter a country in the box below
Correctly named countries will show up below
Click any empty Current Name or Old Name to answer for that location
Give the old name. All answers are English language names. Some countries have multiple old names; in that case, just enter one old name. Some old names may still be in partial use.
This quiz has not been verified by Sporcle

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Show Missed Answers

Current Name	Old Name
Zambia
Ethiopia
Sri Lanka
Myanmar
Cambodia
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Japan
Netherlands
China
Zimbabwe
Burkina Faso
Tuvalu
Taiwan
Belarus

Current Name	Old Name
France
Bangladesh
Indonesia
Thailand
Kiribati
Iran
Niue
Samoa
Belize
Guyana
Namibia
Ghana
Cote d'Ivoire
Benin

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Old Names of Countries Quiz

by Schkum

Created Jul 28, 2010 in History
Game Plays 355

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	Auguste:	Jul 28th, 2010 at 19:49 GMT	1 point
	Ivory Coast has never been the former name of Côte d'Ivoire, since it's just the translation of the French name. Holland is a geographic part of the Netherlands. You'd rather referring to United Provinces. The same for Indonesia which was called Dutch East Inidies.

	chriskotx:	Jul 28th, 2010 at 20:47 GMT	1 point
	Yes. I put Dutch East Indies as well and went to Wikipedia to confirm that it was called that, along with Netherlands East Indies. I still dont know why we're supposed to refer to Ivory Coast by its French name now. Do he have to call Spain Espana and Ireland Eire too ?

	HiddenPalace:	Jul 28th, 2010 at 21:40 GMT	3 points
	Didn't accept Dutch East Indies. If you're going to make a quiz, accept plausible alternatives.

	AutonomusPlebian:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 00:59 GMT	2 points
	Netherlands has never been called Holland, Holland is a part of the Netherlands

	cantthinkofaname:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 01:53 GMT	0 points
	Last time I checked, there wasn't a country named Niue.

	johnlk:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 13:47 GMT	1 point
	Holland is a synecdoche for the Netherlands.

	johnlk:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 13:49 GMT	3 points
	Zimbabwe was called just "Rhodesia" from 1965-1979, so that should be an acceptable answer. (Also "Zimbabwe-Rhodesia" from 1979 to 1980)

	johnlk:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 13:51 GMT	-1 points
	And Jesus, can everyone please stop throwing a tantrum? "Niue isn't one of the 195 countries I've memorized. Waa! I want my mommy!"

	Schkum:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 15:54 GMT	1 point
	Thanks johnlk! Thanks others for the constructive feedback. I added alternatives for Zimbabwe. To inform the others, the Netherlands have and are still called Holland by many people both outside and inside of the Netherlands. Cote d'Ivoire is still called Ivory Coast to some extent, and it used to be the only name used for it in English. Wikipedia it. Funny, I felt sure the only complaint would have been "Giapan." If you didn't check, it's the first spelling there is record of in English.

	Neostinker:	Jul 29th, 2010 at 23:11 GMT	2 points
	This is much better than the older version of this, has loads more countries. Also for those who are arguing over Netherlands, when they were occupied by france it was called the Kingdom of Holland!

	outofmanassas:	Jul 30th, 2010 at 04:09 GMT	2 points
	Byelorussia should be accepted for belarus

	Schkum:	Jul 31st, 2010 at 00:01 GMT	1 point
	Alternatives added for Belarus, though they're not the same as outofmanassas's suggestion.

	davebesag:	Aug 1st, 2010 at 21:34 GMT	1 point
	@johnlk: Nobody's throwing a tantrum, someone just pointed out that Niue isn't a country.

	Schkum:	Aug 2nd, 2010 at 15:44 GMT	0 points
	Niue is a country. Look it up. Just because a country isn't a member of the UN, that doesn't take away its sovereignty. Switzerland became a member in 2002, but has been a country for centuries. Johnkl has a good point.

	Aaron_Kashtan:	Aug 3rd, 2010 at 06:47 GMT	1 point
	If you're going to accept Giapan, you should also accept Cipangu. Wa and Yamato would be even better answers since those names were actually used by the Japanese themselves.

	Aaron_Kashtan:	Aug 3rd, 2010 at 06:49 GMT	0 points
	Oh, and similarly, for China, it would make more sense to accept Zhongguo, Middle Kingdom, Tianxia, or "all under heaven".

	Schkum:	Aug 3rd, 2010 at 16:30 GMT	1 point
	Hey Aaron Kashtan. Your ideas are nice, but they don't work for my quiz. If you didn't notice, the instructions say that all answers are English place names. Wa, Yamato, Cipangu, and Zhongguo are not English names, but are part of other languages. They would fit in a quiz named "Names of Countries in Other Languages." Middle Kingodom is a translation of a Chinese name. That would fit in yet another quiz. Giapan is the first spelling of the English name for Japan, which makes it in a different category than all of your suggestions.

	daHOOK:	Oct 21st, 2010 at 02:17 GMT	1 point
	Byelorussian SSR?

	carbon_rod:	Apr 28th, 2011 at 00:41 GMT	1 point
	Byelorussia still not being accepted, and I've certainly seen it used a lot in older writings. Cipangu should be accepted for Japan, for similar reasons (particularly on old maps). Niue may be a "country", but it isn't sovereign; it politically belongs to New Zealand. That doesn't mean you can't have it in a quiz like this, though.