Why did Persia, a country thousands of years old, change its name to Iran? That makes as much sense as Ford changing its name to Snooki?

为什么有着数千年历史的波斯，要把名字改成伊朗？这和福特把名字改成斯努基一样吗？

以下是Quora网友的评价：

Nitin Kumar

Persia, a country with a rich history spanning thousands of years, changed its name to Iran in 1935. This change was brought about by the Iranian government to signify the country's independence and to emphasize its unique cultural identity. The word "Iran" is derived from "Aryan," which refers to the ancient Indo-Iranian people who migrated to the region.

The name change was not an arbitrary decision but had political and cultural significance. At the time, Iran was struggling to maintain its independence against foreign powers, and the government wanted to foster a sense of nationalism among its citizens. Thus, changing the name from Persia, which had been associated with the ancient Persian empires, to Iran, which reflected the country's current identity, was a way to achieve this goal.

波斯，一个有着几千年悠久历史的国家，1935年更名为伊朗。更名是伊朗政府推动的，为了证明该国的独立，并强调其独特的文化认同。“伊朗”这个词源于“雅利安人”，是移居到该地区的古印度-伊朗人。

国家更名是非常严肃的事，具有政治和文化意义。当时，伊朗正在努力维护国家独立，抵抗外国势力，政府希望在公民中培养民族主义意识。因此，将与古代波斯帝国联系在一起的名字“波斯”改为反映当前身份的“伊朗”，就成了实现政府目标的方式。

From an SEO perspective, the name change has not affected the ranking of Persian-related content in search results. Search engines still recognize Persian as the language spoken in Iran and generate results accordingly. However, the name change has allowed the country to have a more distinct identity in the digital world and has made it easier for people to search for information related to Iran specifically.

In conclusion, the name change from Persia to Iran makes perfect sense, as it reflects the country's cultural and political identity.

从搜索引擎优化的角度来看，更名并没有影响搜索结果中与波斯语内容的排名。搜索引擎仍然将波斯语视为伊朗的语言，得出相应的搜索结果。但更名让伊朗在数字世界中有了更独特的身份，也让人们更容易搜索到与伊朗有关的信息。

总之，把波斯更名为伊朗是完全合理的，因为这反映了伊朗的文化和政治认同。

Farhad Taghibakhsh

Short answer: Because of this:

简短回答的话，是因为这个：

"This is the figure of Mazdaworshiper, the lord Ardashir, Shahanshah of Iran, whose lineage is from Gods, the son of the lord Papak, the king". BTW, Shahanshah means king of kings, and this rock relief and inscription dates back to 226 AD when Ardeshir I, the founder of Sassanian empire inaugurated … the very name of the country is Iran!

“这是马兹达崇拜者的雕像，阿达希尔勋爵，伊朗的诸王之王，他拥有上帝的血统，是国王帕帕克勋爵的儿子。”顺便说一句，Shahanshah的意思是诸王之王，这个岩石浮雕和铭文可以追溯到公元226年，当时萨珊帝国的开创者阿尔塔薛西斯一世正式上台，当时这个国家的名字就是伊朗！

Long answer: Perhaps because people don’t know that names of counties might be different in different languages, and Persia is what the country used to be called in majority of European languages mainly due to works of Herodotus referring to Perseus & and his son, Perses who was the ancestor of the Persians in Greek mythology.

Fact is, Persians, like Kurds, Turks, Balooches, Arabs and others are just an ethnic group in Iran, a major ethnic group originally living in central, south and south west of today Iran. And calling the entire country by the name of a particular ethnicity is simply wrong! This is what Rezashah understood and fixed in early 20th century. And no, it has nothing to do with Ford or Snooki.

I won’t mind if Japan starts asking all other countries to call their country Nippon … because that’s how they call it.

详细回答的话，也许是因为人们还不知道，在不同的语言中，国家的名字可能是不一样的，在大多数欧洲语言中都是用波斯来称呼这个国家，主要是因为希罗多德的作品提到了珀尔修斯和他的儿子珀尔塞斯，珀尔塞斯就是希腊神话中波斯人的祖先。

事实是波斯人，和库尔德人、土耳其人、俾路支人、阿拉伯人等一样，只是伊朗的一个民族，一个主要的民族，最初生活在今天伊朗的中部、南部和西南部。用一个民族的名字来称呼整个国家是完全错误的！这就是礼萨汗在20世纪早期所想，跟福特或斯努基毫无关系。

如果日本要求所有国家称他们为Nippon，我不会介意，因为他们就是这么叫的。

Mohammad RR

Before Safavids the region was consisted of semi independent regions. Persis or persia with Shiraz as its provential capital was one of those regions.

在萨非王朝之前，该地区由半独立的地区组成。以设拉子为首府的波斯就是其中之一。

The term Persia, was used by Britain to address the territory of Qajar dynasty. According to some Iranian Historians, Iran was introduced by Sassanids in one of their inscriptions. But the term, was popularized by famous poet Fardaowsi and his book Shahname to refer to the states of Great Khorasan (Tokharistan and Kabulistan), Persis, Azerbaijan and kurdisitan, Tabaristan, and Balochistan and zabulistan with the its core in the state of Khorasan and city of Balkh. After Ferdowsi, tow short lived empires of Ghorids and Khwarazmians ruled over the region untill Mongols and later on Timurids ruled the region. Safavids took control in 15th century but After their fall, the short lived Hotaks were dethroned by Afsharids from Khorasan. They named their territory, The Protected states of Iran (inspired by Shahname) which was a different political entity than nowadays Islamic Republic of Iran. Later on with the rise of Qajars in Persia, the officials accepted the term Persia due to the huge influence of Britain on international politics. In all treaties between Qajar dynasty and other states such as Mac mahun award or Turckmenchay treaty, the country is referred to as Persia.

波斯一词被英国人用来称呼卡扎尔王朝的领土。根据一些伊朗历史学家的说法，伊朗这个词是萨珊人在铭文中使用过的。但这个词是因为著名诗人费尔多西和他的书《Shahname》而流传开来的，指的是以呼罗珊州和巴尔赫市为核心的大呼罗珊州、波斯、阿塞拜疆和库尔德斯坦、塔巴里斯坦、俾路支斯坦和扎布利斯坦。在费尔多西之后，两个短命的古尔和霍拉桑帝国统治了该地区，随后蒙古人和后来的帖木儿人统治了该地区。萨非王朝在15世纪取得了统治权，但在他们灭亡后，短命的霍塔克王朝被霍拉桑的阿夫沙里德人废黜。他们将自己的领土命名为伊朗保护国(受沙纳姆的启发)，这是一个不同于今天伊朗ysl共和国的政权。后来，随着卡扎尔王朝在波斯的兴起，因为英国在国际政治上的巨大影响，官员们接受了“波斯”一词。在卡扎尔王朝与其他国家签订的所有条约中，如《麦克马洪条约》或《图尔克门察条约》，这个国家还使用波斯这个名字。

But everything changed with fall of last Qajar ruler and begining of the reign of this man…

Reza shah Pahlavi, changed the name of the country to Iran.

但随着最后一位卡扎尔统治者的倒台和这个人统治的开始，一切都改变了……

礼萨国王巴列维把国家的名字改成了伊朗。

Reza Shah aquired the throne of a fundamentalist religious country which was under huge economic crisses. Hearing the improvements with in the neighboring Turkey, he decided to travel and meet Ataturk. In his first days he was so inspired by Ataturk's nationalist and secular reforms that decided to do the same thing in Iran. He even introduced a similar style of men and women’s dressing. Reza shah implemented a series of nationalist and secular reforms. He ordered scholars to write books about ancient history of Persia and even introduced Cyrus the great as the founder of his state. He popularized the Aryan migration theory and introduced the concept of Aryans as a race (which was popularized by Europeans) to his people. He also ordered the Persian embassies to request other states to call his country Iran. The shah improved relations with Nazi Germany as the Barbarossa operation (German invasion was Soviet Union) was imminent, ho that Germany would not attack his fellow Aryan brothers after it conquered Soviet Union.

礼萨汗继承了原教旨主义宗教国家的王位，当时这个国家处于巨大的经济危机之中。眼见邻国土耳其的进步，他决定去见阿塔图尔克。在他上任的头几天，他受到了阿塔图尔克的民族主义和世俗改革的鼓舞，决定也开始在伊朗进行推广。他甚至还推出了类似的男女着装风格。礼萨汗实施了一系列民族主义和世俗改革。他命令学者们撰写有关波斯古代历史的书籍，甚至将居鲁士大帝做为国家的缔造者。他推广了雅利安移民理论，并向他的人民介绍了雅利安人作为一个民族的概念。他还命令波斯大使馆要求其他国家将波斯改称为伊朗。随着巴巴罗萨行动(德国入侵苏联)的迫近，伊朗国王改善了与纳粹德国的关系，希望德国在征服苏联后不要攻打他的雅利安兄弟。

His son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ordered a series of extravagant ceremonies to be held every year to introduce his father's reforms to other states. These reforms paved the way for 1978 revolution.

2500 years annual celebration of Persian Empire (the ceremonies were criticized by elites of Iranian society as it costed almost $120 million every year while the country was not in a good position in terms of welfare and domestic industry).

他的儿子穆罕默德·礼萨·巴列维下令每年举行一系列隆重的仪式，向其他国家介绍他父亲的改革。这些改革为1978年的革命铺平了道路。

2500年波斯帝国的年度庆典(仪式遭到伊朗社会精英的批评，因为每年花费近1.2亿美元，而该国的社会福利和国内工业尚不发达)。

The term was never meant to address a special race or state. It means the land of Aryans. Aryans were a series of people who migrated from northern Transoxana and Tarim Basin into the plato, it compromised a huge variety of people from Medeans, Persians, Parthians to Turckic tribes. Since nowadays Iran is compromised of those tribes, it was a wise move to change the name of country from Persia to Iran as it no longer addressed a special ethnicity.

这个词从来就不是用来指代某个种族或国家的。它的意思只是雅利安人的土地。雅利安人是从北河中地区和塔里木盆地迁移到柏拉图的一系列人，它融合了从米底亚人、波斯人、帕提亚人到突厥部落的各色人等。由于现在伊朗是这些部落的融合体，将国家的名称从波斯改为伊朗是一个明智的举动，因为它不再指代一个特定民族了。

Khosro Sh

it been Iran never Called Persia

Iran is shorthand for Irânshahr, the Middle Persian form of Aryânâ Khashatrâ or“ Aryan Imperium. ” Persians never referredto Iran as“ Persia ” or the“ Persian Empire

它一直就叫伊朗，从来都不是波斯。

伊朗是irnshahr的简写，是Aryânâ Khashatrâ或Aryan Imperium的中古波斯语词汇。波斯人从未没有把伊朗成为“波斯”或“波斯帝国”。

Adam Khorrami

Persia did not become Iran.

Iran has always been Persia. Persia has always been Iran.

Iran and Persia are the exact same thing.

Iran is the endonym for Persia.

Persia is the exonym for Iran.

波斯并没有变成伊朗。

伊朗一直都是波斯。波斯也一直都是伊朗。

伊朗和波斯是完全一样的。

伊朗就是波斯的同义词。

波斯也是伊朗的代名词。

However, it is true that Iranians since antiquity have never referred to their native homeland as Persia.

We have always referred to our land as Iran. Iran is an ancient designation meaning “Land of Aryans”. It is the name our ancestors have referred to their homeland for over 3000 years.

The name Persia is derived from Pārs, which is a historical region in southwestern Iran and one of many regions of ancient Iran.

但确实，伊朗人自古以来从未把他们的祖国称为波斯。

我们一直称我们的土地为伊朗。伊朗是一个古老的名称，意思是“雅利安人的土地”。这是我们的祖先3000多年来对家园的称呼。

波斯这个名字来源于Pārs，是伊朗西南部的一个历史地区，也是古伊朗许多地区之一。

Pārs is the region where the Persian ethnicity and the Persian language originated. It is the region where the Persians spread their influence politically, culturally and linguistically. It is the region that saw the emergence of the mighty Achaemenid and Sassanian dynasties.

Pārs is the location where the ancient Greeks most memorably interacted with the ancient Persians. Consequently, the rest of Western civilisation followed the Greeks and continued to call Iran “Persia”, and all inhabitants were consequently referred to as Persian.

Pārs是波斯民族和波斯语的发源地。这是波斯人在政治、文化和语言上传播其影响力的地区。强大的阿契美尼德和萨珊王朝就是在这个地区出现的。

Pārs是古希腊人与古代波斯人最知名的交流场所。因此，西方文明的其余国家都跟着希腊人称伊朗为“波斯”，称这里的居民为波斯人。

However, the issue with the name Persia is that it wasn’t seen as an inclusive name to all of the inhabitants of the land. Persian is an ethnicity. And whilst Persians made up the majority of the population, the remainder of the population consisted of Azaris, Kurds, Mazandaranis & Gilakis (Caspians), Armenians, Georgians, Baloch etc.

Consequently, in 1935, when Reza Shah Pahlavi came into power, he formally asked foreign governments and countries to use the endonym Iran when referring to Persia. His reasoning was based on what I’ve outlined above. That Persia was not a name used by Iranians themselves historically, and not all inhabitants of Iran are Persian.

但波斯这个名字的问题在于，它并没有被视为一个涵盖所有居民的名字。波斯人只是一个民族。虽然波斯人占人口的绝大多数，但还有阿扎里人、库尔德人、马赞达拉尼人和吉拉基斯人(里海人)、亚美尼亚人、格鲁吉亚人、俾路支人等。

因此，在1935年礼萨·巴列维上台时，他正式要求外国政府和国家使用伊朗这一名称。他的理由正是基于我上述的内容。波斯在历史上并非伊朗人自称的名字，也并非所有伊朗居民都是波斯人。

Pasha Damirchi

Short answer for those who don't have the patience or eagerness to read my long and detailed answer:

Because of the excessive pedantry of Persians.

Thanks to that “pedantry” nowadays wherever Iranians go, such as myself, have to explain that they're Persians and speak Persian.

对于那些没有耐心或不想阅读冗长答案的人而言，简短的答案就是：

因为波斯人太卖弄玄虚了。

正因如此，现在无论伊朗人走到哪里，比如我自己，都必须解释他们是波斯人，说的是波斯语。

What significance the name change had?

“It turned a known into an unknown.”

Yes, Persians always called their country as Iran not Persia but so what? Many countries have exonyms and endonym.

那么改名有什么意义？

“只是把一个已知变成一个未知。”

是的，波斯人总是称他们的国家为伊朗，而非波斯，但那又怎样？很多国家都有外来名和内部名。