Names of Myanmar

The country known in English as Burma, or Myanmar, has undergone changes in both its official and popular names worldwide. The choice of names stems from the existence of two different names for the country in Burmese, which are used in different contexts.

The official English name Burma (Burmese: မြန်မာ) was changed by the country's government from the "Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989, while official Burmese language name remained unchanged (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်‌). Since then, those name changes have been the subject of controversies and mixed incidences of adoption. In spoken Burmese, "Bamar" and "Myanmar" remain interchangeable, especially with respect to referencing the language and country.

In the Burmese language, Burma is officially known as Myanmar Pyi (Burmese: မြန်မာပြည်), but also interchangeably used with Bamar Pyi (ဗမာပြည်). Myanmar is the written, literary name of the country, while Bama is the spoken name of the country. Burmese, like Javanese and other languages of Southeast Asia, has different linguistic registers, with sharp differences between literary and colloquial registers. Both names derive ultimately from the endonym of the country's largest ethnic group, the Burmans (also known as the Bamars), also known as Bama or Mranma in the spoken and literary registers, respectively. As such, some groups—particularly non-Burmans minorities—consider these names to be exclusionary.

The etymology of Mranma remains debated. The British colonial scholar, Arthur Purves Phayre, traced the etymology of this term to Pali word Brahmā, the name of a celestial being in Buddhist cosmology, in his 1866 "On the History of the Burmah Race." Subsequent scholars, including Taw Sein Ko, Kyaw Dun, and Khin Aye, re-affirmed Phayre's view. However, some scholars dispute this etymology, believing the term to be of indigenous provenance.

The "Burmans" who entered the central Irrawaddy River valley in the 9th century founded the Pagan Kingdom in 849, and called themselves Mranma. The earliest discovered record of the word was in a Mon inscription dated 1083, inside which the name was spelled Mirma. The first record of the name in a Burmese inscription is dated 1194, in which inscription the name was spelled Mranma. From there on, the term became a fixed label in reference to Burmese kingdoms and peoples.

Ma Thanegi records that the first use of the name 'Mranma' for the country is to be found on a 3 feet (91 cm) high stone inscription, known as the 'Yadana Kon Htan Inscription,' dated 597 ME (Traditional Burmese calendar) or 1235 CE. The stone is from the reign of Kyaswa, (1234-1250) son of King Htilominlo (Nadaungmya), Bagan. It is written in early Burmese script. Although the middle of the front side of this stone is damaged, the first line of the better-protected reverse side clearly shows မြန်မာပြည် ("Mranma kingdom"). At present it is in Bagan recorded as stone number 43 in the Archaeological Department's collection.

Today in Burmese the name is still spelled Mranma, but over time the "r" sound disappeared in most dialects of the Burmese language and was replaced by a "y" glide, so although the name is spelled "Mranma", it is actually pronounced Myanma today.

In the decades preceding independence, independence parties were in search of a name for the new country to be born, which would be made up not only of Burmese-speaking people, but also of many minorities. In the 1920s, some favoured the name Mranma, which had been the name applied to the old Burmese kingdom conquered by the British Empire in the 19th century. In the 1930s, the left-wing independence parties favoured the name Bama, as they thought this name was more inclusive of minorities than Mranma.^{[citation needed]}