Yangon – Glossary of Terms

It’s easy to get confused about the names of places in Burma. For a start, it’s not called Burma anymore, it’s called Myanmar. “Bamar” is actually the name of the majority ethnic group in the country, which is where the term “Burma” is derived. I have no idea what Myanmar means!


Thank god for wikipedia! Turns out Myanmar comes from an ancient name for the country - "Myanma Naingngandaw", which in itself doesn't mean much. Oh well. One theory, is that it means land of Brahma, the Hindu creation god. I think they're just following a long tradition of changing the name of places to annoy map makers.

The other name change is for the city of Yangon. Under British rule, it was known as Rangoon. Indeed, the international airport code for the city is still RGN. In typical British style, “Rangoon” was actually a misinterpretation of the Bamar word “Yangon”, so it should have been Yangon all alone. All the locals have done is adopted the correct spelling.

This still leaves the question of what to call the locals. Are they still Burmese or are they Myanmarettes? I’ll avoid the confusion and just call then all “dudes”.