Turkey's New Name at the UN Has an Umlaut

Turkey is joining Eswatini, North Macedonia, and the Netherlands in the club of countries that have officially changed their names. The United Nations has granted the country's request to change its name to "Türkiye" at the UN and other international organizations are expected to follow suit ,al-Jazeera reports. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched the campaign to change the country's name last year, urging the public to use Türkiye when referring to his country in any language.

"Türkiye is accepted as an umbrella brand for our country in national and international venues," said Erdogan, who told exporters to start using "Made in Türkiye" labels. When the move was announced, state broadcaster TRT said one reason was the association with the bird, and the English definition of a turkey as a " stupid or silly person," the BBC reports. In Türkiye itself, the bird English-speakers call a turkey is called a "hindi." Some other European languages refer to it as an Indian bird or a "French chicken," while Croation and Portuguese come closest to the bird's origin in the Americas by calling it a "peru," according to Slate. (More Turkey stories.)