The Czech Republic is getting a new name: Czechia

Finding a short-form name for the Czech Republic had proved difficult, however. In the Czech Republic itself, the short name “Cesko” is used. That name is said to date to the 18th century, though it came to official use only in the 20th century. Even today, it isn’t fully accepted: According to the Economist, former Czech president Vaclav Havel once said that the word made his “flesh creep.” Some suggested that the name was a reminder of the country’s split from Slovakia, though others said it just sounds nasty: The word is “short and harsh sounding,” one Czech cartographer told Radio Prague in 2004.

Despite the controversy, Cesko forms the basis of many of the short names for the Czech Republic in foreign languages – Tschechien in German, for example, or Tchéquie in French. Meanwhile, the English-language short name has not stuck. Historically, the country had been referred to as Bohemia in English, which translates as “Cechy” in Czech. This name was commonly used up to the 20th century by English-language newspapers. However, it technically refers only to one region of the modern country, and not the two others, Moravia and Silesia.