Names of the Islamic State

The name of the Islamic State has been contentious since 2013. In Arabic, the group called itself al-Dawla al-ʾIslāmiyya fī al-ʿIrāq wa al-Shām, which it adopted in April 2013. The literal translation of its previous name resulted in confusion, resulting in both ISIS and ISIL, two acronyms based on different literal translations of the name into English. The acronym for their Arabic name is "Daesh" (Arabic: داعش, romanized: Dāʿish, lit. 'ISIS'), it is the common name for the group that is used by their opponents in the Muslim world. Transliterations of the Arabic acronym are also used in other languages including English and Israeli Hebrew (Hebrew: דאעש). The group's current name caused controversy due to its English translation as Islamic State and as a result, both the previous acronyms are still widely used, or a qualifier is often added to the IS name, such as "Islamic State militant group", "Islamic State extremist group", "Islamic State terrorist group", "self-styled Islamic State" or "so-called Islamic State".

Originating in Iraq, the group underwent various previous name changes, and since 2006 had been known as Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a name which had failed to gain any traction, as the group had failed to gain or hold any significant territory as ISI, and thus widespread confusion over what to call them was largely absent. Confusion began when the group gained further territory and changed its name to ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām in April 2013 as it expanded into Syria. It then changed to ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah in June 2014 as part of a desire to re-establish a caliphate. The rendering of the Arabic name in English varies, due to imprecise translation.

In the Arab world and beyond, the group is referred to by its Arabic-language acronym "Daesh" (alt. Da'esh | Arabic: داعش | pronunc. dah-ESH). The acronym is derived from the group's extended name: "D" / daal(د) = ad-Dawla, "the state [of]", "A" / alif(ا) = al-Islamiyya, "Islam", "E" / 'ayn(ع) = fi'l- 'iraq, "in Iraq", "Sh" / shin(ش) = wa'ash-Sham, "and the Sham (region roughly equivalent to the Levant)".

"Daesh" is a transcription of the pronunciation of the group's acronym in Arabic. Unfortunately, it is not an English-language acronym in its own right, due to discrepancies between English/Arabic alphabets and phonologies. Specifically, the Arabic letter shin ش has no letter equivalent in English, though it can be easily represented by the digraph "sh". Alif ا is usually equated to the letter A, but in fact can represent several different vowel sounds as well as a glottal stop, depending on the context (Daesh vs. al-Islam). Additionally, the pronunciation of the letter 'ayn ع is also variable, and has no equivalent letter or vocalization in English.^{[citation needed]}

The parallel use of both ISIS and ISIL as acronym originated from uncertainty in how to translate the Arabic word "ash-Shām" (or "al-Sham") in the group's April 2013 name, which can be translated variously as "the Levant", "Greater Syria", "Syria" or even "Damascus". This led to the widely used translations of "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant", "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" or "Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham". "The Levant" generally refers to at least part or all of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon, though its definition varies.

According to the BBC, since neither "Levant", nor "Syria", reflect the group's likely meaning of the word al-Sham in Arabic, "various experts have therefore said that the word al-Sham should not be translated" (when rendering the long form name). According to Syrian-American journalist Hassan Hassan, if the term Levant had been the intended meaning, the Arabic word would have been "Bilad al-Sham", whereas the more likely meaning of Greater Syria still leads to the acronym ISIS.

In contrast to the difficulties in translation of the group's former name, according to The Guardian the group's 2014 name "near enough" literally translates to "Islamic State", however there is still a remaining difficulty since this fails to capture the true Arabic connotations, which are closer to a religious concept of a united Islamic community (ummah) under Sharia law, as opposed to western concept of a bureaucratic state apparatus.

Reflecting the desire to build a caliphate, the group also refers to itself as "al-Dawlah", meaning simply "the State". and by "Dawlatul Islam" meaning "state of Islam". Syrians living under the group's control referred to them as "al-tanẓīm", Arabic for "the organization". Reflecting the group's origins as a renegade splinter group, supporters of Al-Qā`idah referred to the group simply as "al-Baġdādī's group".