Will the name "Czechia" ever catch on?
The three-word title "the Czech Republic" is an unusually long name for a country, and can prove a bit of a mouthful. There is an alternative, "Czechia". But how do people feel about this shorter, snappier name? And will it ever really catch on?
The three-word title "the Czech Republic" is an unusually long name for a country, and can prove a bit of a mouthful. There is an alternative, "Czechia". But how do people feel about this shorter, snappier name? And will it ever really catch on?
"Each country has got a political and geographical name and usually the geographical name is only one word. Only a small percentage of countries have two words for the geographical name. It's a brand, it's branding and it should be short, it should be very attractive and striking I would say."
So says Iveta Shoppova of the Czech Tourist Authority in London, who - when I visited - had the name "Czechia" on their door and in their literature. But how popular is the name "Czechia" (which, by the way, is rejected by the Microsoft Word spell-check)? I discussed the matter with some Czech politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares.
"What I really like is the possible English equivalent 'the Czech lands'. But as 'Czechia' started to be used quite widely I'm afraid it's what we are going to end with."
But is the country really going to end up with the name "Czechia"? If you enter "Czechia" in a simple Google internet search you'll find almost 70,000 results. Enter "the Czech Republic", though, and you get over 10 million results. However, even those figures may give a distorted picture of how often "Czechia" is used, because it is written far more often than spoken. In fact, I personally have never heard anybody use it. Senator Jaroslava Moserova has rather different experience.
"I did, I did, I heard people using it, but many people say 'Czech', which doesn't make sense. But 'Czechia' sounds OK."
Calling the country "Czech" may not make sense, but it is used by some people who want to avoid the rather long "the Czech Republic". The national ice hockey team, for instance, have just the word "Czech" on their backs. Getting back to "Czechia", former foreign minister Josef Zieleniec says he is for the name.
"I personally would prefer to use the one word 'Czechia' for the informal description of our country. It is sometimes used by the media; some media have a policy to use only 'Czechia'. I think this problem will be solved by practical use and by how others will describe us."
But back at the Czech Tourist Authority in London, Iveta Shoppova said that British people at least had not warmed to the name.
"'Czechia' will be now replaced by 'the Czech Republic' as far as the Czech Tourist Authority is concerned."
So you're going to drop the name?
"Yes, yes."
