I recently read an article that mentioned that Westerners still referred to what is now Iran as Persia for quite some time after Iranians had abandoned the term.
When did the change take place and why? I realize this question assumes that a nation or people would want to keep a name associated with historical power, but I believe that is probably a common trend.
If Iranians, or the leadership of Iran, changed the name because they wanted to distance themselves from Persia, what was the reasoning behind such a desire?
Was the article incorrect, i.e. did the ancestors of modern day Iranians never refer to the region/nation as Persia? In other words, was the term "Persia" a western construct, and if so where did it come from? I realize this is also a difficult question due to the difference in language and alphabet between Westerners and Iranians, but I find it interesting that the wikipedia entry for "Persia" simply redirects to "Iran."
Any thoughts or comments on the issue are welcome.
The name "Iran" and its earlier forms (Aryana, Iranshahr) has been used by Iranians for over 2000 years. The Persians are just one group amongst many different Iranian groups. The Ancient Greeks called the Iranian Empire Persis and Romans called it Persa, and it stuck with Europe until the 20th century. From Iran's perspective, they were calling themselves one thing and the West was calling them another. Think of it like how we call a country Germany and they call themselves Deutschland. Everyone started calling it Iran after they formally requested it after the Nazi government encouraged them to do so. (Edit: disagreements in the thread as to whether the Nazis did influence the name change)
"Persian" was a European pronunciation of the word Parsi, which was the name of one particular Iranian people and the most broadly spoken Iranian language. After the Arabs conquered Iran, "Parsi" changed to "Farsi" as that's what the Arabs called them. Today Iranians still call their language Farsi, though there are over a dozen other Iranian languages, such as Kurdish, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Talysh, Lurs, etc. The descendants of the Persians that migrated to India following the Arab conquests 1400 years ago still call themselves Parsis.
The origins of the word "Iran" go as far back as the Achaemenid Empire, with the word "Arya". At the time, it was used to ethnically categorize the empire's people as Aryans. We find usage of the word "Arya" surface again with the rise of the Sassanid Empire. Ardashir I, the first ruler of the Sassanid Empire, used the word "Eran" in reference to "Iranian/Aryan people", while the empire itself was known as "Eranshahr" (which roughly translates to "land / nation of the Iranians/Aryans"). Over time, the empire was referred to by its own people simply as "Eran". This abbreviation of "Eransahr" was later institutionalized and used in, among other things, the naming of cities and titles for administrative and military officials (i.e. Chief Secretary of Eran). Essentially, recorded instances of a Persian empire referring to itself as Iran start with the Sassanids.
In 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi asked that Persia internationally be recognized as Iran. As was the case during the end of the Qajar dynasty, Reza Shah's Iran lacked a coherent national identity. The region has an incredible amount of racial diversity that is often overlooked by casual observers. Alongside Persians, they have Kurds, Azeris, Arabs, Balochs, and Lurs, among others. Thus, Reza Shah pushed for a unified ethnic and cultural Iranian identity. Requesting that the international community refer to the country as "Iran" was a symbolic push towards that idea.
The change is often cited online as a means of building an ethnic bridge with Germany; a country that would, until the Allied invasion of Iran, become their largest trading partner. However, I cannot find the source material that these articles almost universally cite (Lenczowski. 1944, p. 161). The reasoning is plausible, given their incredibly strong relationship with Germany at the time, but I am hard pressed to say it is factually true. That said, Lenczowski is a generally good source for Iranian-Western relations during the 20th century.
Sources:
Origins of Eran/Iran: Encyclopedia Iranica and Iranian Languages and Texts from Iran and Turan
Shift from Persia to Iran: The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran by Homa Katouzian