Out of the 195 countries in the world today, 193 are member states of the United Nations and two countries that are non-member observer states: the Holy See and the State of Palestine. However, some of these have seen their names being changed due to various reasons. 

What if we tell you that Ireland was not Ireland and Sri Lanka had its name changed? Well, lets find more:

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Irish Free State:

The Irish Free State was changed to Ireland in 1937. This was a move by Dublin to clear all its ties with the United Kingdom after being at war with them for two years. 

Holland:

Holland, as we know, is the present day Netherlands. However, the Dutch country was a unification of two regions- South Holland and North Holland. 

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Siam:

Never heard of a country called Siam, right? Well, it is called Thailand now. Siam was ruled by monarchs until in 1939, constitutional monarchy was seen as the way going forward. The then King decided to change the name. It is pronounced as Prathet Thai in its local language, which means “the country of free people.”

Persia:

Persia was renamed to Iran in 1935. An exonym, Persia, was changed after the country’s government requested those countries with which it had diplomatic relations to start using ‘Iran’ as the term for their nation. 

Ceylon: 

Sri Lanka was called Ceylon before its independence in 1948. The British invaded the island nation in the 19th century and changed what was called Ancient Ceylon to Ceylon.  The name ‘Ceylon’ came with reference to Portugal’s Ceilão, who discovered the region in 1505. In 2011, all Ceylon references were removed from official bodies and companies using the old name Ceylon.

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Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland were three different regions that were brought under the umbrella of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland between 1953 and 1963. Rhodesia was a colonial name. The country achieved international recognition after its independence in April 1980 as the Republic of Zimbabwe and was renamed Zimbabwe. 

Other countries that were renamed were:

The Republic Of Macedonia To The Republic Of North Macedonia, Swaziland To Eswatini, Czech Republic to Czechia