On This Day - Persia Was Finally Renamed As Iran In The Year 1935

The suggestion for the change supposedly came from an Iranian ambassador to Germany.

On March 21, 1935, the Iranian government asked those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia "Iran," which was actually the name of the country in Persian. It is believed that the suggestion for the change in name of the nation came from the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who was under the influence of the Nazis.

Since at the time, Germany was in the grip of racial fever and wanted good relations with nations of "Aryan" blood, the German friends of the ambassador requested him, at the advent of Reza Shah, that Persia should free itself from the influences of Britain and Russia, and turn a new leaf in history. It was so because the influences of Britain and Russia and their interventions left the country crippled under the Qajars.

Hence, it was ideal that Persia stuck to its own roots and be called by its own name, "Iran." They believed it would mean not only a new beginning but will also usher a new era in Iranian history, aiming at the Aryan race of its population. For those caught unaware, "Iran"is a cognate of "Aryan" and the word is derived from it.

Once it was formally decided that Persia would now be renamed as “Iran”, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out a circular in Tehran to foreign embassies, with a request that the nation should thenceforth be called "Iran." All the diplomatic nations obliged and soon, by the name "Iran", the country appeared in official correspondence and news items.

Well, it would not be wrong to say that at first "Iran" sounded alien (for non-Iranians), and most people could not recognize its connection with Persia. Some related to it were new countries like Iraq and Jordan, or a country Africa or Southeast Asia that had just been granted independence. Some even confused it with Iraq.

But as time passed, the name "Iran" became generally accepted across the globe, and "Persia" remained in disuse.