Talk:Myanmar

Page transfer

The official name is Myanmar, and not Burma. Therefore, there is no reason why the country be referred to everywhere as Burma and not Myanmar (just because a few countries have refused to use the new name)

Proposing a shift of the article from Burma to Myanmar and replacing Burma by Myanmar as the actual name, wherever appropriate, and necessary. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.194.96.9 (talk) 00:42, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

see "all the above" + all the archives. Fyunck(click) (talk) 02:06, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Since the government of Myanmar really made efforts to make reforms and in near future sanctions will be lifted, there is no longer any reason not to move the page to "Myanmar". 49.145.113.96 (talk) 12:17, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

The article is at Burma because the consensus was that Burma is the English language common name of that country. Politics has nothing to do with naming. --regentspark (comment) 12:47, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Myanmar is the English language common name of the country. Except for a few countries (including US and UK), the country is known as Myanmar, and not Burma. Hence I support the change in naming convention. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheOriginalSoni (talk • contribs) 14:50, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

‘A few countries’. Haha, you mean almost all English-speaking countries, including Britain itself, consider the English name to be ‘Burma’, as it always has been. It’s irrelevant what some fascists in Rangoon think about how we should speak our own language. — Chameleon 14:16, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Mainly soapboxing. Its irrelevant what some guys in Britain think what the country should be called. The name has been Myanmar since 1989, but somehow Wikipedia seems to think its better to call it Burma just because the country was ruled by a military government, and the US calls the country by its former name. The name is Myanmar, and it has been so in all countries except US, UK and Canada TheOriginalSoni (talk) 16:30, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

The name of the country is still Burma for many sources that use the English language and this is the English language wiki which means its the common and right name to use. And its not just British, Canadians and American people that use it. I heard an inspiration woman use the name Burma in a speech just a couple of days ago which was on the tv. BritishWatcher (talk) 16:56, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

In the London 2012 Olympics, during the athletes parade they used the name Myanmar. This may or may not be because they were using the native name for the country.79.67.227.29 (talk) 15:04, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Requested move (June 2012)

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was Procedural close – The original nominator needs to provide a reason for such a proposal, and not just merely slap on the {{requested move}} tag.[1] This is because the title of this article has been heavily disputed, and has been the subject of numerous mediation cases and Request for Comment discussions. More importantly, as a result of these disputes, further discussions of the title need to be kept at Talk:Burma/Myanmar, not here. Thanks. Zzyzx11 (talk) 02:55, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

{{requested move/dated}}

• Assuming that you meant to say "Burma -> Myanmar, and your reason", please refer to Talk:Burma/Myanmar. If you want the page moved, you should give a (good) reason. Tbhotch.^™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it! See terms and conditions. 16:40, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

pronunciation

Although in the US perhaps the "r"s in Burma and Myanmar are pronounced, the "r"s are actually only a lengthening mark, from a transcription system based on British, non-rhotic, English. So the British English pronunciation are [bɜːmɘ] (perhaps [bɜːmɑ] and [mjɑnmɑː]), which approximate the native pronunciation of [mjəmà] and [bəmà] (which shows that natively, only the initial consonant differs). In American English, we may expect a pronunciation of [bɝma] and [mjænmɑɹ]. The "pronunciation" (double quotes since it has // instead of []) given though, is /bɜrmə/ and /mjɑːnmɑr/ which I think is misleading, and not at all what the sound clips (apparently by a British person, even though the filename has "us" in it) sound like. I therefor changed the IPA to something reflecting the sound clips. I also have some doubts to the stressed final syllable of Myanmar, but I'll leave that to someone else. Jalwikip (talk) 07:04, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

That obviously makes sense, but there are too many Americans on Wikipedia for us to do sensible things like that. Even placenames in England have the silent r rudely inserted into the transcription. — Chameleon 14:20, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

"Undo" blatant, uncited propaganda

I undid the extensive edits "documenting" things like "the CIA operative Dali Lama." While I'm no expert on Burmese history, the items added had no citation. Wikipedia is not a place for "original research," and certainly not for things that don't even pass the laff test. Why not document the Dali Lama of being a "Killer Klown," sent on an advance mission to taste-test Muslims?Weyandt (talk) 15:42, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Request for comments

What is the best title for this article? It has already been listed in WP:RM, but due to the potential controversy, it is desirable to gather as many participants as possible to the discussion, to try to get a definitive resolution. — P.T. Aufrette (talk) 23:03, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

The requested move discussion is in the next section below.

Comment - I believe this is a unfair request for comment, simply directing people to a requested move below which has one sides opinion stated at the top giving it priority and preference. Why no discussion or presentation of both sides positions clearly for people to see? BritishWatcher (talk) 23:20, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

The goal is simply to bring greater attention to this requested-move survey, by putting notifications at various Asian WikiProjects, at Village pump (miscellaneous), through the RfC mechanism, and so forth. For particularly notable and controversial requested moves, we should aim for much larger and more diverse participation in the discussion. — P.T. Aufrette (talk) 23:47, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

A RFC is reasonable, my concern is the timing, with many of the points made by those who oppose change not yet being made because this RM is brand new, which means this is rather one sided points being made below so far. Rather than presenting people with the key points from both sides in a fair way. We have had no time to mention the CIA world factbook or US state department or many many others. its entirely one sided. BritishWatcher (talk) 23:55, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

As far as I can see, it is a standard requested-move survey, according to the prescribed format, per WP:RM. The initial proposal, naturally, is made by the side that wishes a change from the existing title. However, the discussion lasts at least one week, so there is plenty of time for everyone to have a say, and to marshal evidence and arguments. — P.T. Aufrette (talk) 00:01, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

You'll notice that I avoided using government publications with the grudging exception of Voice of America. The press is a much better mirror of common use. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 00:16, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

My concern is this request for comment which at present is bias because it is asking people to give comments and opinions on something below which only has one sides viewpoint, without giving people any time or chance to challenge some of the points or to provide additional sources. Its one sided because people have had no time to make the case yet this happening so quickly out of the blue with no prior discussion or warning to it being staged. BritishWatcher (talk) 00:15, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

That's the way debate works. You have the advantage of the status quo and you are free to address my point of view. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 00:20, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

I intend to address some of the points in the morning and im sure others will be over the coming days too. the trouble is this has suddenly sprung up without any prior discussion that a new RM would be taking place. So a RFC directing people to what is one sided sourcing selections below clearly can result in people not getting the full picture. BritishWatcher (talk) 00:29, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Requested move (Burma → Myanmar) August 2012

Burma → Myanmar – Myanmar is the preferred title as shown by Google Trends, Google Insights, Britannica, World Almanac, Google Maps, U.S. Geological Study, NOAA, Bing Maps, MapQuest, Nokia Maps, OpenStreetMap, Yahoo Maps, Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Wunderground, AccuWeather and the London Olympics. I'd put money on it that Apple's iOS 6 Map beta also uses Myanmar.

Weather.com uses Burma. I visited all these mapping Websites and this was the only still using Burma. Clearly Burma is not favored in the mapping industry.

These are reputable news organizations that use Myanmar: CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post via AP, Reuters, New York Times, NPR and Business Week. Organizations that don't: ABC News (Australia), Voice of America (Note this is a U.S. government publication),Sydney Morning Herald. These lists will be added to later. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 19:58, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

More Burma press usage includes: Time magazine, Toronto Star, The Irrawaddy], The Guardian, Radio Australia, The Telegraph, BBC, Washington Post, USA Today, Mizzima news, Arab English Times, Global Post International (uses both), Huffington Post, Democratic Voice of Burma, The News International, even the good old Western Farm Press. Heck their political leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi calls it Burma. So that doesn't really get us anywhere and it's why we should be waiting till/if more organizations change their tune. Fyunck(click) (talk) 07:10, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

And here are some English speaking governments using Burma.. CIA world Factbook, US State department, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade(note NZ Government actually returned to using Burma in 2010, so its not like the traffic is just all one way in recent years)BritishWatcher (talk) 10:28, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't think there is much point in making these lists. In the English speaking world, British and Australian media use Burma while US and most other countries (Singapore, India but not - oddly - Thailand) use Myanmar. Journal articles use either (jstor is divided on recent titles). Clearly, either is a candidate for common name with Myanmar having a slight edge because it is increasingly in use and because US media is dominant. Though, on the other hand, Burmese is clearly more common than Myanmar (for the people) and so the naturalness of going from Burmese to Burma over Burmese to Myanmar should be a consideration. The question is more what are we going to do about it. What does policy say when you have two good candidate names, one of which is "official" and gaining, the other is historical and declining. --regentspark (comment) 01:33, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

What should be added is that Myanmar probably has the edge in the US and some other English speaking countries, but is almost never used in others, such as the UK. Although we have no specific policy that says so (although maybe we do), the need not to completely alienate a large part of the English speaking world outweighs our need to reflect majority usage in the US. Formerip (talk) 02:01, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

WP:COMMONALITY might be the guideline you're looking for. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 04:02, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

To be honest I was hoping that perhaps later next year when the new gov't has been operating for awhile and we were a little further distant from the last huge debate, plus with possible policy changes at UK, AU, US and Canada... that time span might be just enough to sway towards Myanmar. This just seems like it'll be the same thing over again and waste my time informing all the others about it. I'm not sure the headache has left from last time or even from the recent Taiwan move. Fyunck(click) (talk) 01:55, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Holy Moly...Didn't we just go through this huge ordeal? I hate to have to inform all the last participants once again. My typing fingers still haven't recovered. I think this request should be tabled. Fyunck(click) (talk) 20:36, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

• Strong oppose - Burma is the commonname of this state and almost every country is at its commonname rather than full / official name. I also believe this should be speedy closed due to a debate happening on the renaming not that long ago. BritishWatcher (talk) 21:01, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

• Contradiction is not argument. Also I am making the case that the proper name is the common name. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 21:09, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
• I agree...this should be a speedy close. I can't believe it was opened again so soon. Fyunck(click) (talk) 21:17, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

• There is no such thing as a speedy close for move discussions. You are thinking of procedural close which obviously doesn't apply here. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 21:27, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

There goes our summer holidays then. :\ BritishWatcher (talk) 21:55, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Admins can do quick closures for rm's when we just had one huge one. Probably under disruptions. Fyunck(click) (talk) 22:23, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

If you need evidence of the power the ability of consensus to change see Talk:St. Louis#Requested move. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 22:33, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Wow...13 people voted there. But of course consensus can change. Look at all the foreign diacritic words now in usage as more and more non-English editors join this English wikipedia. But we just had a huge discussion on Burma with no consensus... and to do it again so soon seems like a waste of editor's times. Fyunck(click) (talk) 22:45, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support. Follow the usage of reliable sources. Also, the Trends and Insights data suggest that this authoritative usage has become the most common name, and is only becoming more so. I remember during the last RM, some user said that they would only reconsider their opposition to "Myanmar" if the government becomes a liberal democracy. (This political reasoning appears to lurk behind users' assertions against the evidence that "Myanmar" is the "common name".) However, the politicking about the name by Western governments is rapidly changing in response to the 2011–2012 Burmese political reforms (e.g., Australia[2]). Shrigley (talk) 21:23, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

So one foreign minister uses the term and suddenly its rapidly changing situation. I see they have not changed what they put on their website [3] BritishWatcher (talk) 21:59, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

I actually came here looking to "Burma-ize" some of the articles that still had Myanmar names. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 22:08, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Did no one notice the warning at the top of the edit page: Please note Discussions of the current title should be kept at Talk:Burma/Myanmar. --Education does not equal common sense. 我不在乎 22:50, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Requested moves go on the talk page of the main article that is getting moved. This article has more watchers too. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 23:10, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

A notification was placed at Talk:Burma/Myanmar. In any case, that page is probably not on a lot of watchlists, because Burma/Myanmar itself is just a redirect to Burma. — P.T. Aufrette (talk) 00:05, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Indifferent. Myanmar is now a well used term. Far more than it was last year at the time of the previous move request. But, Burma is also well used. Particularly in academic departments and in British, Australian, and Thai media. Which is the "common name" is probably a toss up. --regentspark (comment) 23:13, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support per everything I've written in past discussions on this. Myanmar is at least as common as Burma if not more so. Timrollpickering (talk) 23:14, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support based on Trends and Insight data. High time to move it. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:38, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
• Comment - It is a shame that we would seek to appease a regime by renaming this article to comply with their demands. Of course if they are successful in their attempts to bully people into not using the name i guess it will no longer be the "commonname" and will have to be changed, but at present they have been unsuccessful. If in the future the situation changes, then so be it. but there are plenty of sources such as the BBC and Guardian for quick examples which use it. Will link more sources in the morning. it is a great shame this new RM has been opened, and it is most unfortunate we have a biased Request for comment which benefits those seeking change, as at present only one side of the argument has been put and its at the very top. BritishWatcher (talk) 23:38, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Country names change all the time and often the regimes are less than perfect. Opinions on the regime are POV and should be irrelevant to the decision. Without looking can you say if perfect regimes came up with the following names: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ghana, Malawi, Mali or Zimbabwe? And that's just a selection of African countries. As for the BBC their usage is more mixed - during the Olympic opening ceremony Myanmar turned up under that name and the commentators stated it's formerly Burma in the same way as they did with several other countries whose names have changed without this sort of dispute, rather than a more nuanced explanation such as with "Chinese Taipai" aka Taiwan. Timrollpickering (talk) 00:38, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Like i said if the regime was successful then it would become the commonname, but that has yet to happen with numerous sources still using Burma making it the commonname in the English language. The BBC always use burma, but the official name is what takes part in the olympics which is why it is used for that.Their country profile article and most news articles say Burma. BritishWatcher (talk) 09:53, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose and move to close. I think there was a consensus that this should be revisited no more than annually. In any event, nothing has changed since last week or whenever it was. Formerip (talk) 00:22, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
• Comment - I am here in response to the request posted at WT:IN for the Indian point of view on this issue. The Indian media (Times of India, Hindustan Times, Zee News, Economic Times), textbooks used in Indian schools and the Indian government (as already mentioned in the article) all use Myanmar rather than Burma. Since common name is determined by its prevalence in reliable English-language sources, the prevalence of Myanmar in Indian sources should be factored into the final consensus. Regards. CorrectKnowledge (talk) 00:42, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• With the largest English speaking population in the world, Indian publications ought to be given due weight. — Nearly Headless Nick {c} 06:43, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose Aung Sang Suu Kyi and her party uses "Burma". -- 70.24.247.242 (talk) 03:51, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support In this case one of the two COMMONNAMEs is simply archaic. The country has been called Myanmar for over thirty years. If Aung Sang Suu Kyi changes it back again, I'll change my mind. Ben MacDui 08:12, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Yet she, her opposition, and many media organisations still use Burma. Yet as the source linked above showed they are threatened not to use the term.BritishWatcher (talk) 09:50, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

In what way is your second sentence relevant to existing policy? Our attitudes to the government and opposition of the country or their methods should not be factors in this discussion at all. Per 76.189.114.163 below (although more politely) it is dispiriting to so much of this discussion apparently dominated by political posturing. Ben MacDui 15:02, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

And saying "although more politely" is polite? Makes sense. Well, at least you agree with me. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 04:24, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support I guess the problem came with British not able to pronounce names in their native tongue, making Bharath as India. but as we know ' India ' is the well known name for the country , I support because having a single article including both the names in them will give clear representation of facts rather than having two different articles for same country, closing is not a solution as it will again delete data out. A merger is best solution. but a single persons or parties statement should not be a deciding factor as with time everything fadesShrikanthv (talk) 08:20, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

What? Merger? There aren't two articles and there is no merger required. Did you post in the wrong place? And both names are mentioned right up front and in the names section. But throughout an article only one name can be continuously used. It's looking more and more like nothing is being done about this ridiculous waste of time rm. Fyunck(click) (talk) 08:28, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

The article clearly states the Myanmar is the official name, but explains that many use Burma still making it the commonname because the military dictatorships change is not recognised or endorsed by many. BritishWatcher (talk) 10:14, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support - I dislike having Wikipedia used as a political pawn. The name of the country is Myanmar; I see no valid argument other than a political statement about the current governing regime, which has been there for decades. -11:28, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose, per Suu Kyi, who as of July 3 was still showing grit in the face of the regime's continued thuggery on this issue: "The State Law and Order Restoration Council...didn’t bother to consider what the public opinion about the new name was. They didn’t show any respect to the people.”[4]. Usage in the U.S. is evenly split, according to Insights. I note that the bug above specifies that the article be written in British English. British usage is overwhelmingly "Burma", as you can see here. GBooks is well over 2-1 Burma, according to this ngram. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends the World Factbook for "country names," and this source gives "Burma." Kauffner (talk) 11:54, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• The AP Stylebook, which has recommended using Burma since 2006, is more pertinent to this discussion. Also, the Ngram Viewer is very inaccurate and doesn't show tell us anything about usage after 2008. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 06:05, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

• Who says AP is "more pertinent" than Chicago? WP:MOS recommends Chicago and doesn't even mention AP. The link you give is about OCR problems with pre-1800 works. Kauffner (talk) 09:37, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

• Pre-1800 and even late-1900 articles can be mistaken for 2000 decade works. And what about re-prints? Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 14:45, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

It leaves a rather sour taste in the mouth that wikipedia would capitulate by appeasing a regime that is using clear threats and intimidation to try and prevent the use of the common english language name Burma. This article has been at this location for years and if it is changed will have massive implications for use of the name throughout wikipedia. Im not entirely sure this out of the blue RM to last just 7 days is a reasonable way of determining something with serious implications for 100s of other articles and usage in articles, not to mention the success for a regime intent on wiping out a name they dislike. Despite clearly failing to accomplish their aims as the opposition still call it Burma along with so many media sources and some of the main english speaking governments. BritishWatcher (talk) 12:04, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

The only reason it has been at this location for a few years is a highly contentious RM that took place before there was a proper review process. Just about everything since then has ended in "no consensus" which just builds on the mess. And political opinions about the regime should be irrelevant to determining the best location for the article - the fact that so many of the Oppose !votes raise political matters is telling. Timrollpickering (talk) 12:24, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

We must go by what is the commonname, i believe Burma is still the common English language name despite attempts by a regime to prevent that being the case. Whilst the decision should be based on policy such as going with the commonname rather than the official name, it is impossible to ignore the political dimension to this considering just over a month ago people were being threatened by the regime for using the name Burma. No matter what peoples motives and reasonable positions, there can be no doubt that a name change favours the regime and goes against the opposition and people. BritishWatcher (talk) 12:30, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Timrollpickering is right. "Per Suu Kyi" is not a valid argument. This is not a political forum. Please restrain yourself from ascribing political motives or intentions to fellow editors. That is very unproductive because it detracts from the real encyclopedic issues which we must discuss here. — Nearly Headless Nick {c} 13:03, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

That's perfectly correct, but let's not be naive. What's being discussed is essentially a political question about whether the junta has the right to rename the country. That's true for both sides. Even once everyone has been persuaded to wear a Google n-gram fig-leaf, we will still only be engaged in an exercise of counting fig-leaves. Formerip (talk) 13:12, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

I agree. Both names are equally common (give or take a source or three). The question boils down to what the consensus political belief or personal preference is. No point in pretending otherwise and generating long lists of who uses what name. --regentspark (comment) 13:52, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

I specifically said we must go by policies and follow things like Commonname, something i believe is still Burma. I was not trying to claim anyone had bad motives, its why i said no matter what motives and reasonable positions people have. My point simply was its impossible not to recognise this is a very politically sensitive issue and if the name of the article is changed, it favours the regime over the people and opposition who are threatened by that regime to not use the name burma but still do. BritishWatcher (talk) 13:20, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose. Clearly still known as Burma to most except for the totalitarian regime in charge. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:47, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose news orgs seemed split, but most countries (especially western, English-speaking ones) use Burma. So let's keep it here. Hot Stop 19:22, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose Most of our wikipedia users have heard of Burma but not Myanmar. Burma has wider coverage in books than Myanmar.♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:33, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose Heavens no. If we don't go along with the Ivory Coast government's request to use Côte d'Ivoire, we certainly shouldn't take directions from the Burmese junta. A reading of Names of Burma provides plenty of sources that use either form, so I don't buy an argument based on a list of the sources that use Myanmar. While I agree that discussing the political motives of editors is quite counterproductive here, I would argue that it is impossible to separate politics from this issue: the use of Burma or Myanmar is a political statement, and inasmuch as we must make such a choice, it's a clear one to me. --BDD (talk) 21:31, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

• Maybe we should consider revisiting Ivory Coast, then? In my opinion, WP:COMMONNAME should lean towards the official name when the common name is disputed; other than that, naming should have nothing to do with the politics of the country in question. If the government of Stanistan suddenly decides to call itself "The Most Serene Grand Federal Monarchical Republican Co-Operative Oligarchial States of North Stanleyistan," the article should remain at "Stanistan", as the official name is not commonly used. However, if the government decides to change the name to "Stanleystan", a long-standing historical name for their nation, and the name "Stanleystan" is used in all official English-language government correspondence, increasingly adopted by the international news media, and used in international organization such as the UN, but remains about equally or slightly-less used than "Stanistan", the dispute should be resolved by favoring the official name, and moving the article from "Stanistan" to "Staneleystan." After all, who are we to tell the people of Stan(ley/i)stan what to call their country? Cheers, Zaldax (talk) 17:00, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose. With mixed media usage it is difficult to justify a change to the status quo. It's worth noting that this dispute relates specifically to the English name of the country: the native language's name for the country does not appear to be in dispute. Thus, the usage of English-speaking governments is relevant, although of course it should be just one of many considerations. —WFC— 22:23, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Moved Marcus Qwertyus's comment here: The result of the proposal was This has been withdrawn. Clearly this topic is too political to discuss in any meaningful way. Thanks to all those who didn't let personal convictions get in the way of improving Wikipedia. You know who you are. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 23:17, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

I have reopened the discussion to allow it to continue. Political preferences of Wikipedia's editors should not be allowed to undermine encyclopedic integrity. — Nearly Headless Nick {c} 02:38, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

You've missed the point, political preferences are the only way to choose between the two titles.

• Oppose (strongly), as per common name. Myanma is the official name since 1948, but in English we always used Burma, even after 1989 (when "R" was adde to the name). On Italian wiki has recently been decided to use the Italian exonym "Birmania" as per WP:commonname and to avoid any political position using a name which a dictatorship tried to impose abroad. --Theirrulez (talk) 03:25, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I am completely neutral on this issue and only want to see the title be whatever is encylopedically correct, with no bias and no political considerations. How or why the country's name was changed from Myanmar, or who changed it, should absolutely not be a factor in this debate. Also, the literal definitions of the two names should not be considered at all; whether they are precisely the same or not should never be a factor in this discussion. The only thing that matters is: What is the current name of this country? Whenever I see disputes about article titles I always like to do both a Google search and a Google News search - particularly with subjects that are in the news alot - so I can see how many results there are for each option. The Google News search is always the most telling. Here's what I found. Google search: Myanmar 319,000,000 and Burma 111,000,000. Google News search: Myanmar 194,000 and Burma 37,100. Clearly, this has been a very contentious issue here, and in the world, for a very long time. Has everyone read Names of Burma? By the way, I noticed that the title at the top of the infobox there is "Burma (Myanmar)". But the reverse is shown in Flag of Burma, which uses "Myanmar (Burma)" in the infobox. So is a compromise possible? Would anyone be satisfied if this article's title were changed to "Myanmar (Burma)" or "Burma (Myanmar)"? Keep in mind, though, if this article's title is changed, then it will also have to be changed in all of the many other Burma articles. If I were allowed to choose any title I wanted, right now I would say "Myanmar (Burma)". If I was forced to choose between Burma and Myanmar, I would choose Myanmar, based on both Google searches. If anyone can convince me in one or two sentences why I should change from "comment" to "support" or "oppose", I will be happy to do so. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 05:20, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

• I am unaware of any articles that use curly brackets to indicate Wikipedia doesn't give preference to either. Maybe it is time to use {{DISPLAYTITLE}} to display the title as Burma/Myanmar without actually moving the page. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 06:34, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

• • Comment - as it has always been on this article and is evidenced by almost every single oppose vote, there is no regard for Wikipedia's policies; this is only a political question for those who oppose the change to the most common name, Myanmar. I despise these type of shenanigans. It uncovers one of most glaring weaknesses of Wikipedia. It is not what is best or in keeping with policies, but it is what the most rabid group screams the loudest. Every two-bit, political agenda rules any discussion and good sense and forum polices are discarded because some group hates the "regime", the "junta", etc. It richly earns Wikipedia's disrespect by academia and will continue to do so until topics are approached from an objective position rather than those pushed by agenda, emotion, and silliness. -^StormRider 07:51, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

What a load of bunk This is completely false and WP:SOAPBOXING to boot. Fyunck(click) (talk) 08:13, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

While I agree with you on the naming issue, please remember your wikiquette. --BDD (talk) 16:35, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I was very close to simply removing SR comments as soapboxing and mean. These types of comments are routinely removed as not being constructive. Instead I left it but made sure to note it's falsehood and policy skirting. I nonetheless changed the wording. Fyunck(click) (talk) 18:11, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose per English-speaking countries Google Insights and Google Trends data and the uptick for Burma in the most recent data. Mark Hurd (talk) 18:51, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Comment. Regarding the use of various Google searches etc. There is a basic problem here that you can get different results depending on what exact search you run (itself a sure sign that majority usage is unclear. So, for example, as user above point to Google Search and Google News results in support of Myanmar. This is fair enough for starters, but if Google Scholar or Google Books had been used, the result would have come down in favour of Burma.

What's more there are general reliability problems with any of these methods. There is no easy way to filter out non-English sources, sources about unrelated subjects written by Mrs Burma or Mr Myanmar, sources that discuss at length why the use of "Burma" is wrong, sources that are discussion forums, blogs etc.

A good tool to use is Google Insights. This allows you to choose a time-frame, so you can filter out sources that are too old to be reliable as to usage right here and now. Better still, it allows you to filter according to the country from which the source originates, so you can cut out all the noise of sources from non-English speaking countries.

Here are the results for the last twelve months for the main countries where English is widely spoken (BTW, you have to login to Google to see numbers):

Australia

Canada

India

Ireland

New Zealand

South Africa

United Kingdom

United States

I don't know if I need to say much more, but I think these results suggest quite strongly that Myanmar is not more commonly used that Burma, at least in sources within the English-speaking world. You can also tweak the results yourself if you like, in order to specify a different timeframe or restrict results to news sources. Formerip (talk) 22:16, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, but even your own sources show that, at most, Burma is about even in usage compared to Myanmar. The Google News results tell the story... 200,000 results for Myanmar, 40,000 for Burma. That covers all the recent news coverage, which is exactly what tells us what the common usage is. So a quarter million results by news sources, with 200,000 for Myanmar. That gives a very clear indication of what the preference is. And that's what this discussion is all about... common usage. And of course a general Google search doesn't tell which sources are reliable and which aren't, but the key point is that it's an apples-to-apples comparison. 300,000,000 results for Myanmar and 100,000,000 for Burma. So even if you wipe out 75% of the results for Myanmar, you also have to wipe out 75% of the results for Burma. It's seems to be extremely clear evidence as to where the common usage is. and if you research the topic of the name usage controversy... there's little disagreement that Myanmar is overwhelmingly the preferred usage among the media worldwide, even if there are certain areas of the world that still choose to use Burma. But they are the minority. So your argument not only didn't push me towards Burma, it actually pushed me towards being confident that Myanmar is the way to go with this article's title. Sorry. In any case, I think the best title for this article would be "Myanmar (Burma)". Otherwise, just Myanmar. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 23:43, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't understand the part about wiping out 75%, and your first sentence misses that I haven't actually claimed COMMONNAME for either Burma or Myanmar. What I am saying is that there is no clear winner.

What you are missing is that a regular Google search returns a lot of unhelpful results - perhaps most significantly sources that are not in English. There's no reason to suppose that this is "apples to apples", if I am understanding that right. Insight helps to deal with this by allowing you to focus on recent results from particular countries. Formerip (talk) 23:51, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Regarding the 75%, you claimed that just because there's a certain amount of results for a particular search it doesn't tell which are reliable in terms of determining common usage. And my point is that that flaw applies to both names being searched... Burma and Myanmar. So, yes, of course a Google search returns a lot of unhelpful results. But it returns a lot of unhelpful results for both names. ;) So it's an irrelevant consideration, especially when Myanmar has 300,000,000 results and Burma has only 100,000,000. If it were even somewhat close then there's no case to be made for either. But Myanmar clearly is the common English usage. And the only thing that's important in this discussion are the English results because we are talking about the article title for the English Wikipedia. Article titles here are based on the most common English usage. Period. Myanmar is the English name for the country now (whether we like how it got the name or not) and common usage has now clearly shifted to Myanmar. But, again, I think the article title should be "Myanmar (Burma)" because Burma still has significant usage even if it's in the minority now. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 00:05, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Myanmar (Burma) is not going to work. Neither is Burma (Myanmar) so it is a waste of time proposing them. The reality is that both statements "Myanmar is more common than Burma" as well as "Burma is more common than Myanmar" are equally wrong. Both titles are legitimate and arguing that one is more common than the other is mere useless pedantry. Apparently we're not ready to change the title as yet (though that time will come soon methinks) and Marcus had the right idea when he closed the discussion. Sometimes it is just better to leave well alone. --regentspark (comment) 02:35, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

I find the title Burma (Myanmar) to be an acceptable compromise for the time being, given that the discussion above has not yielded consensus in favour of either titles. The discussion appears to have devolved into whether the current government in the SE Asian country has political legitimacy or not – which should be a non-issue around deciding a title for an encyclopedia article. — Nearly Headless Nick {c} 03:31, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

@RegentsPark... People stating their good faith opinions on a contentious issue are never "a waste of time." So only opinions that agree with yours should be allowed? Please just state your opinion relating to the issue and leave out the insults. And it's interesting that you say using both names in the title is a waste, when a number of the articles relating to this country do in fact use both names in their infobox titles, such as Flag of Burma, Politics of Burma, Constitution of Burma and others. Obviously, if there's a huge debate among two names, and both sides have good arguments, suggesting that both be used is not an illogical suggestion. So, all you did was put down some suggestions and gave no reasons why the current title should remain, other than "it is just better to leave well alone." First, it's not "well," which is obvious by the big debate. Second, we don't just leave things the way the are simply because that's how it is. It's not how this project's community works. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 05:14, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

I agree that the question of legitamicy of the current government has nothing to do with how we title the article, in fact our policies forbid us to do so. Our only concern is international usage. Agathoclea (talk) 05:54, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

• Strongly oppose and speedy close – the name change was already debated less than a year ago. This is English WP, and all western, English-speaking countries refer to it as Burma. There's no reason why the country should be referred to by a name instituted by a totalitarian dictatorship with no legitimacy in the eyes of the English-speaking Western world. This is evident as it was Aung San Suu Kyi and her party that told other countries to call it Burma, not Myanmar. —Bloom6132 (talk) 06:12, 11 August 2012. (UTC)

I'm sorry, but the contention that "all western, English-speaking countries refer to it as Burma" is simply untrue. Even the United Nations now officially uses the name Myanmar. Many may be angered by the way the name came about, but as encylopedia editors we cannot, and must not, take personal feelings into consideration when deciding the article's title. So subjective comments such as, "There's no reason why the country should be referred to by a name instituted by a totalitarian dictatorship with no legitimacy in the eyes of the English-speaking Western world" have no place in this discussion (as much as the point may be true to many people). Just because something is "evident" to one person, doesn't mean it's evident to everyone else. But it's a moot point anyway, because our personal feelings are irrelevant. As Agathoclea appropriately stated above, Wikipedia's "policies forbid us to do so." The only issue at hand is common usage. As far as media usage, 84% of the current English results on Google News are for Myanmar: 212,000 for Myanmar and 39,300 for Burma. Clearly, this a huge debate both here and worldwide. Therefore, I cannot understand how anyone can reasonably say they are a "strong" support or oppose, or especially how they can recommend a speedy end to this meaningful and important discussion. I really think everyone should seriously consider simply using both names in the article title; either "Burma (Myanmar)", "Myanmar (Burma)", "Burma/Myanmar" or "Myanmar/Burma". --76.189.114.163 (talk) 18:24, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Our guidelines do not recommend Google News since it includes numerous non-English sources. For the last two years, Highbeam has 13,243 news stories for Myanmar, 8,727 for Burma. There is no basis to prefer media sources to GBooks, which shows a strong preference for "Burma". Kauffner (talk) 04:28, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

First, please cite the guidelines that you claim do not recommend Google News. Second, the search was limited to English-only sources. Third, media sources do indeed establish common usage. Fourth, by your own admission, Myanmar is more commonly used than Burma via Highbeam: 60% for Myanmar, 40% for Burma. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 21:46, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support as Myanmar is the modern name, the official name, and is the more common, as seen by it having triple the Google hits from Burma. Also, I dislike that the numerous people stating that the reason, the only reason they give, that we should call it Burma is because the opposition (in other words, minority) leader calls it that. Thunderstone99 (talk) 20:18, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

The reason why the opposition leader is mentioned is because this is a regime that threatens people not to using the name Burma. I dont think such behaviour should be rewarded, and the fact that despite such threats the name Burma is still heavily used including by the opposition is significant. We have to go by what is the most common name in English speaking world, and the fact that the main English speaking governments listed above all use Burma, the fact sources such as the BBC, use burma justifies it remaining at the status quo which has lasted for many years, especially as a change will have implications for 100s of other articles. BritishWatcher (talk) 09:21, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support as WP:COMMONNAME based on current usage in English language sources. Agathoclea (talk) 01:50, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support based on WP:COMMONNAME and all my comments above. However, I'd prefer "Myanmar (Burma)" or "Myanmar/Burma." The bottom line is that although Burma still has a lot of usage in certain parts of the world, the more common English usage between the two names is now clearly Myanmar. And the United Nations officially uses Myanmar. --76.189.114.163 (talk) 03:47, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose Strongly - 1) this shouldn't even be listed again as we just went through this... it should be rapidly closed, and 2) the sources do not support a move based on common English usage and US, UK, Aussie and Canadian gov't usage. Fyunck(click) (talk) 05:19, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose - "Burma" is still the common name. mgeo talk 05:49, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support. Burma and Myanmar are both common names, so WP:COMMONNAME is not part of the equation. "Common name" does not mean "most common name." --Jiang (talk) 21:42, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

If they are both commonnames and this is not about which is the most common, why change this article title which has been at the status quo for years, with all the massive implications it will have for 100s of other articles titles aswell as text. BritishWatcher (talk) 09:13, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

The current article title at "Burma" came after a move in October 2007, which was based on politics that lacked consensus. Go up to the archives and look at it. The closing remarks were: "The result of the proposal was Move to Burma. There are equally valid arguments on both sides of the debate: a significant majority of editors prefer Burma though, according to the "principle of least astonishment". I suppose that there's an emotional level of revolt towards the junta involved, and that "Myanmar" would likely be accepted per similar precedents if there's a democratic government. Oh well." It was changed based on majority vote that was based on politics. Look at the archives since then. Since then, a proposed change back to Myanmar has been proposed periodically for years. Backlash was so high that a separate talkpage was created to hold it all. But the move requests and arbitrations have never moved the article back because the result has always been "no consensus"---and even though the article was moved without consensus before, Wikipedia isn't likely to allow such a thing again, anytime soon. I guess what I'm saying is, you may not want to bring up the topic of status quo. It's sort of been a source of instability, a wound that's been festering since 2007. ;) -BaronGrackle (talk) 14:43, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

For the record, this is a complete misreading of WP:COMMONNAME ("The most common name for a subject, as determined by its prevalence in reliable English-language sources, is often used as a title because it is recognizable and natural." [emphasis mine]). --BDD (talk) 15:16, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose; setting aside (with great difficulty) my personal distaste for using the name a few lunatics foisted on us, there's also the fact that Burma is still the most common and easily recognizable name. Books I've read on the subject almost always refer to it as Burma (I can give specific titles if requested), and the BBC and the NYT still use Burma (demonstrative, not exhaustive, examples). And as a small bit here that's worth noting; Burma is the English version of Bamar, which is how the people currently living in Burma referred to their country until the government started their little crusade. That the change is almost entirely unnatural and forced doesn't lend it any credence. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 14:17, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support: Both are common names, but "Myanmar" is the official name of the country as decided by the ruling government. This should not turn into a debate about the political of the "naming" dispute. In any case, the word "Burmese" refers to one particular ethnicity while the word "Myanmar" is generally applicable to all citizens. -- ♪Karthik♫ ♪Nadar♫ 16:14, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Not a comment on your !vote but Burmese and Myanmar refer to exactly the same set of people. Both are derived from the dominant Myanma or Bamar ethnic group and both are used for all Burmese people. --regentspark (comment) 16:20, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

To expand a bit on what Regentspark is saying, Myanmar is derived from Myanmasa, which is an invented formal term for the informal (and in Burmese, vernacular) name Bamar. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 17:02, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Karthikndr, do you recognise the tension between the first two sentences of your vote? Formerip (talk) 16:17, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support as always, in consideration of the various sources listed in the request, with admitted bias for the global media which has leaned toward "Myanmar" for years, and especially now that apparently the recent Olympics also used the name Myanmar. -BaronGrackle (talk) 14:10, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose—WP:COMMONALITY and WP:RETAIN seem to indicate that we should leave it here. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 16:39, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

I didn't know we had that guideline. But, yes, COMMONALITY should be a chief consideration here. Formerip (talk) 14:10, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

• Comment This issue is appears to be rather contentious, and as such I would avoid any sort of speedy close before the discussion has fully run its course. With regards to the name, this is yet another example of the many debates caused by WP:COMMONNAME, which might be lessened or avoided altogether if guidelines were changed to favor the country-in-question's official English name when the article name is disputed. That being said, in my experience the two names are used about equally in global English-language media; Myanmar tends to be more common in official usage (itself a fairly recent trend, if I'm not mistaken), but Burma largely remains the most common in day-to-day conversation. That being said, while the latter is easier to understand for the reader (familiarity is likely greater, as well as no confusion going from Burma -> Burmese), the former is increasingly gaining prominence in international usage; as several readers have noted. Therefore, I am presently neutral, but am leaning towards a weak keep. Cheers, Zaldax (talk) 16:49, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support—Myanmar is the official name decided upon their government, even on most recently printed maps the name is Myanmar. --Farah Desai Khan** (talk) 14:00, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support, Myanmar does seem to have greater usage than Burma, although this is tricky to evaluate because of regional differences (e.g., the UK seems to use "Burma", India seems to use "Myanmar", etc). It is a bit dismaying that some users here seem to be arguing from moral grounds or personal distaste, as if it is our job to teach dictators a lesson. Having said that, however, the political reform process in the country is evolving, which means that anything decided here may end up being overtaken by events. Given the political component to the Burma/Myanmar naming dispute, a political reconciliation may end up resolving the naming dispute as a side effect. So it would not be too terrible if there was a "no consensus" retention of the status quo with a "wait and see" outlook towards the future, as long as it is without prejudice to specialized contexts such as sports where the "Myanmar" usage is firmly established (e.g., Myanmar at the Olympics), and without closing off the possibility of revisiting the issue soon if the political situation evolves. This should have been moved to Myanmar already some years ago, and should still be, but under the current circumstances there is less urgency. — P.T. Aufrette (talk) 14:38, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Considering those regional variations you mention, it is rather unfortunate that you chose to advertise this requested move on certain pages such as the notice board for Indian related topics, and other such locations from the region. Clearly helping to stack this vote one way from that regional prospective rather than from overall English language usage around the world. Clearly disproportionatly benefiting one point of view. BritishWatcher (talk) 18:53, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Wait a minute... that's not true is it? I assume if PTA put it on any Asian nation pages, that he also put it on the British, Canadian and Aussie wiki pages as well? Considering that it's the English source views that matter that certainly wouldn't be kosher. Fyunck(click) (talk) 19:22, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

They posted on the politics, geography, and central locations like village pump. But it was only locations in the region like India/China etc that were also advertised too. Clearly something that would favour the commonname in Asia rather than Europe, North America etc. Heres one. [5]. Im not suggesting any intentional foul play, i just feel its sadly helped assist one side when clearly there are such regional differences. BritishWatcher (talk) 19:57, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Holy moly... I checked it out and you're correct. Looks like intentional manipulation to me. possible ignorance from a long-time editor but he'd have to explain the rational. Either way it has skewed the results (which as expected weren't really going anywhere). Maybe that's even more impetus to close this thing today or tomorrow as no consensus. Fyunck(click) (talk) 20:38, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Hey guys, how about a little WP:AGF? I specifically chose the WikiProject talk pages of those countries which border Burma/Myanmar, namely India, China, Thailand and Laos (I forgot Bangladesh), along with Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Burma (Myanmar) itself and some WikiProjects related to broad regions of Asia. It did not occur to me that Indian usage favored Myanmar, nor that Thai usage favored Burma; I learned that from reading the comments here. For the last Perth RM a couple of months ago, I did post to various WikiProjects of Europe, Asia and the Americas in order to gather as broad and diverse participation as possible, but got some feedback that it was too off-topic. — P.T. Aufrette (talk) 21:30, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Fair enough with the explanation... it should be chalked up to ignorance of the situation as opposed to a conscious effort. It still skews things a heap, but we are caught in a loop anyway here in the 8th day of an odd rm. Fyunck(click) (talk) 22:25, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

(EC) Im not questioning anyones motives, i simply believe it is notable and could have had an impact on this RM, that it was advertised to one region of the world, whilst other regions wikiprojects where Burma is even more common, were not notified. I did not mention it at the time when i saw those posts, but it was just the reference to the regional differences that tied in with the point. Clearly with the Indian noticeboard being notified but not the UK one, that could inadvertently benefit the "support" side, as Burma is overwhelmingly the name used in the UK. BritishWatcher (talk) 22:11, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support because I feel, based on all the information that has been cited in this RM and the previous two, that Myanmar is the common name for the country. I'd also add that Singapore virtually never uses Burma, whether colloquially or in the media. And if someone claims again that Singapore is not a 'western' English-speaking country and so should not count (as I believe was brought up in the last RM) then someone can point me to the policy that supports that statement. -ryand 02:24, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

You mean like this story in the biggest English publisher in Singapore? And remember that the media is Singapore has to be careful in what words they choose. There is a lot of pressure put on editors to ensure that published articles follow the government's way of thinking. Fyunck(click) (talk) 04:10, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Fyunck, I have been observing your conduct on this page and I believe it is high time that you limited your political commentary on this project. Your comments alluding to the incompetence or corruption in parts of the world which you don't belong to are not only condescending but disruptive given your habit of commenting under as many threads as possible. Please consider this as a warning. — Nearly Headless Nick {c} 04:38, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

If this is a warning then you need to please take it to my talk page and explain it to me in detail about all my disruptive political statements and my bad habit of commenting under as many threads as possible. Fyunck(click) (talk) 05:59, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Support Myanmar (Burma) is okay as well. It's time for a change, ignoring a name that is used just as much if not more is a hinderance to wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JoshMartini007 (talk • contribs) 19:03, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

• Good news, everyone! I can finally put the issue to rest by sharing what librarians think.

• Library of Congress Subject Headings use Burma and derived forms exclusively.
• WorldCat, the world's largest library catalog, gives 94,513 results for Burma and 18,739 for Myanmar. Comparing works from 1989 onward (the year the regime declared the name change), it's 44,923 to 15,971 in favor of Burma. Now we can finally move on! --BDD (talk) 19:43, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

The figures from the worlds largest library catalog of "72,000 libraries in 170 countries" seems significant. BritishWatcher (talk) 09:30, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Not really. Nearly every search engine gives wildly imprecise estimates of the number of search returns. See: WP:SET#What a search test can do, and what it can't. In addition, the name we choose should reflect current English usage trends and not just those used in the years 1989-2012. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 19:05, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support under the principle that since both names in contention are common (neither one is overwhelmingly more common than the other) then we should fall back to using the official English name of the entity, which happens to be "Myanmar". --Polaron | Talk 20:24, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

If neither is overwhelmingly more common than the other... why change a title that has been in place 5 years with MASSIVE implications for dozens of other articles and content changes for 1000s of articles? People seem to be ignoring the major implications of if this name is changed despite some of those who support change conceding that there is no clear evidence that Myanmar is the far more common name. BritishWatcher (talk) 08:15, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support - It's the legal name and I prefer the law to jungle rules. 88.81.100.235 (talk) 10:38, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Jungle rules? Since when is going with what people believe is the common english language name "jungle rules". some of the practices that have taken place with the 1 sided canvassing which has favoured the "support" side perhaps might be viewed more in that way. BritishWatcher (talk) 10:50, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Canvassing issue - Whilst i do not claim any intentional foul play, as i mentioned above i am concerned that certain wikiprojects were advertised to which will have clearly favoured the move side in this Requested Move. The main Burma talkpages were rightly notified as were Village pump, Wikiproject Geography and Wikiproject Politics.

However the following locations were also canvassed - Wikiproject Asia, Wikiproject Thailand, Wikiproject Laos, Wikiproject China, Noticeboard for Indian related topics, WikiProject East Asia, Wikiproject Southeast Asia

Whilst it was unintentionally, this clearly favours one side in this RM over the other, considering the most widespread use of Burma is countries such as USA, Australia, Canada, NZ and the UK. In particular in the United Kingdom, the overwhelming majority of usage is Burma not Myanmar, but clearly English language users from other parts of the world than Asia have been disadvantaged by the canvassing highlighted. I believe this is potentially significant considering how close the present vote is which shows there is a clear lack of consensus for a move even with the one sided canvassing. BritishWatcher (talk) 11:58, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Comment - It may be valid to exclude all those opposing votes that are based strictly on political reasons. Wikipedia does not care about politics and should never be used to suport private political agendas. Those who seek to abuse Wikipedia's strict commitment to objectivity should be invited to use their personal blogs rather than allowed to vote and blatantly declare their personal agenda. -^StormRider 15:13, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

But the issue of the opposition using Burma which may be deemed a "political reason" along with countries governments such as USA, UK, Canada, NZ and Australia, is in fact about demonstrating the commonname, just as when those who mention it being the "official name" are infact talking about a political issue too. BritishWatcher (talk) 15:36, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Right. There's no such thing as an apolitical choice in this discussion. Suppressing one side because of politics would be rather abhorrent on the part of the closing administrator. --BDD (talk) 15:52, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

You may want to remove Canada as a "Burma supporter" it is very rare that we hear Burma both on the news and colloquially. JoshMartini007 (talk) 17:57, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Well the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada use it. BritishWatcher (talk) 18:44, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Also.. Canadian Friends of Burma and the The Prime Minister of Canada saying Burma in the Canadian Parliament earlier this year. The Canadian open parliament website finds 607 results for burma and 85 results for Myanmar. I find 721 results for Burma on the Globe and Mail, that is less than the usage of Myanmar with 1,870 results However I also saw a couple of article by the Globe and Mail (could be a lot more if i looked longer) which use Burma in the title, and say it is better known as Burma in the text [6][7] despite using Myanmar throughout the rest of the article which sort of demonstrates its more about policy of the org, rather than commonname Burma which they put in the title on some articles. I think that shows Burma is not as rare in Canada as you seem to think. BritishWatcher (talk) 19:23, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

My assumption was correct - all of the following additional Globe and Mail articles specifically say "better known as Burma" in the article..[8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19]. BritishWatcher (talk) 19:42, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

No, it is not correct to assume every vote is political in nature. That has more to do with your perception than reality. I do not have a dog in this race; however, it find it silly that a name so common as Myanmar is also the real name of a country and has been for decades Wikipedia's article on the country has been run roughshod by individuals who ONLY have a political agenda for retaining an incorrectd name. I don't know Myanmar, don't have relatives, don't know too much of the history, and I don't care. What I care about is Wikipedia, its reputation, and doing things properly. This has been a farce for too long and it needs to stop. The name of the country is Myanmar; case closed. There is no argument greater than that, none! Arguing about what is more common when it is blatantly evident that everyone knows what Myanmar is senseless. -^StormRider 06:01, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

If numerous sources from throughout the English speaking world did not continue to call it Burma, then of course there would be no case. If tomorrow the Burmese opposition (who represent the majority of the people, remember this is a dictatorship at present), the foreign offices of the UK, Canada, Australia, NZ and state department of the USA.. along with the BBC, Guardian, and numerous other organisations listed above from around the English speaking world that provide huge amounts of reliable sources for wikipedia stopped calling it Burma.. then so should we and id support a move to Myanmar. But they dont. Rightly or wrongly.. a huge number of sources that are deemed reliable call it Burma. And as my example about the Globe and Mail above showed, even ones that use "Myanmar" more of the time, can concede on a dozen occasions, Burma is the better known/commonname. And wikipedias policy is clear, Commonname is more important than official names. Its why almost no country in the world on wikipedia is at its official name, instead we go by common names. BritishWatcher (talk) 09:58, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

These are great POLITICAL reasons and have nothing to do with Wikipedia. We do NOT take sides and we could care less what the US Department of State chooses to do. The name is Myanmar and it is still just as common, if not more common, than Burma. Burma does NOT exist. We don't call the US the Colonies regardless of how much the British would like to still use the term. Again, politics mean nothing to Wikipedia or at least it is not supposed to direct our actions and our reasoning.-^StormRider 18:16, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

How do expect "We do NOT take sides...Burma does NOT exist" to be taken seriously? Formerip (talk) 22:31, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

That would be incorrect. We go by what English sources are calling the country, and sources like the UK, US, Canadian, and Australian gov't are extremely significant at the English wikipedia. They are certainly not the only sources we look at but we do not ignore them by any stretch of the imagination. Fyunck(click) (talk) 18:48, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Although i should add, i would fully support the introduction to this article saying "Burma officially Myanmar..." rather than just saying also Myanmar. Whilst i believe the article title should be the common english language name which is Burma still, the introduction should be very clear like other country articles opening sentences, what the official name of the country is. BritishWatcher (talk) 10:05, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

"Republic of the Union of Myanmar, commonly known as Myanmar and Burma," would be better since by some convention or agreement, most some place articles go by official name at first mention. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 16:30, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Strong oppose reasons already given by everyone else so I won't rehash them76.226.205.159 (talk) 22:06, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Support for following reasons:

• (1)Official Name: With effect from 1989, the official name of the country has been "Union of Myanmar", and with effect from May 10, 2008, it has been "Republic of the Union of Myanmar". Sure, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and other groups may prefer "Burma", but they are not in power currently and they do not have the authority to revert the name nor have they even claimed to do so.
• (2) Not Wikipedia's business: I dont think its Wikipedia's business to sit in judgement of the legitimacy of the Junta's decision to rename the country. The fact remains that there is a government in charge of running the country, and regardless of how badly or brutally they are doing it, that is the government and they make the rules of how their country is called. Wikipedia's purpose is not to propagate what its users perceive as democratic ideals however benevolent they may seem. The POV is oozing from many of the Oppose votes above where dislike for the Junta (and its actions) translates to rejection of the name Myanmar. Feel free to dislike the Junta for their brutal rule, but that does not change the official name of the country.
• (3)International Acceptance: The United Nations has accepted the name Mayanmar. All countries in the neighbourhood (China, India, Bangladesh and all countries in the ASEAN) have accepted it. Other Asian countries like Japan, Pakistan, etc have accepted it. European nations like Germany and Norway have accepted it. However, the US, UK and Canada have not. That IMO should not be reason enough unless we are now suggesting that the views of these countries count more than that of the government of country in question, the UN and other countries in the region.
• (4)Current usage: Despite the huge systemic bias arising from the fact that most English language publications come from the US and UK who prefer the name Burma, I'm getting "About 44,900 results" for Burma in Google News, while Myanmar fetches about "About 166,000 results". Chocolate Horlicks (talk) 16:41, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Very well stated. Agreed. --76.189.110.167 (talk) 18:45, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Support Since Myanmar is in common use in English sources (more than half of the modern ones seem to use it, including most major news outlets), the fact that it's also the official name of the country for the last 20 years should make all the difference. We're not calling Zimbabwe Rhodesia - it really should make zero difference that we've got a bunch of British guys saying they've "always" been calling it Burma. --Helixdq (talk) 18:54, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

I would remind editors in this discussion to keep in mind two points:

1. The “Closing discussions” guidelines clearly explain that consensus-building discussions must discard “irrelevant arguments: those that flatly contradict established policy”. All comments injecting politics as a rationale for the poster’s views should be eliminated from consideration. They clearly violate WP policy.

2. To any editors who have posted an abundance of separate comments in this thread, please read WP:MULTI. It states that editors must “Avoid repeating your own lengthy posts: Readers can read your prior posts, and repeating them, especially lengthy posts, should be strongly discouraged. In some cases, it may be interpreted as an unwillingness to let discussion progress in an orderly manner.” There is one editor who has posted his/her comments 30 times in this thread already. Trying to hammer other editors over the head non-stop with the same comments can be looked upon as being very disruptive. --76.189.110.167 (talk) 19:32, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

1 - So every mention of the fact Myanmar is the official name of the state should rightly be ignored, as WP goes by WP:COMMONNAME. Its also the English language wikipedia, so clearly usage in majority English speaking nations is important along with the numerous English language news sources which have been mentioned. .

2 - I have not repeated large amounts of text over and over again.. I have responded to some specificpoints with sources, sometimes a couple of sentences at a time and talked about WP:COMMONNAME.And several of my posts have been highlighting biased canvassing impacting on this discussion. BritishWatcher (talk) 19:50, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support. Myanmar is the internationally recognised name for the country, including by the United Nations. - ☣Tourbillon ^A ? 20:15, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support - I agree with others that it should be Burma (Myanmar). United States Man (talk) 20:57, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

• Comment: What would hypothetically have to happen for a consensus to occur? I know it's not a majority vote. Regardless of how the remaining votes go, it seems that there is too much support for both sides for the "c" word to ever happen. -BaronGrackle (talk) 21:01, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
  • This should be treated as a RFC, rather than a requested move. see Talk:Taiwan/Archive_21#Further_more_discussions_related_to_Requested_Move_.28February_2012.29 on how an even more controversial renaming was handled.--Jiang (talk) 21:07, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Well it has basically been like one with the RFC template added right from the start and it being advertised in a number of places, along with the RM actually being withdrawn by the person that opened it days ago, although the discussion was reopened by someone else without the RM template which might explain why the debate is ongoing as a RFC, rather than being closed almost a week ago as no consensus had it been a standard Requested Move. Id rather see the compromise some have supported of Burma (Myanmar) or Myanmar (Burma) then merely go to Myanmar considering Burma is still in use in many place as the debate has shown. The country is clearly heading down a path that will determine what is is known as over the coming months as political reforms continue. Just today the news has been reporting about the fact censorship of all media inside the country has been ended [20].So unlike the situation with Taiwan and China a real political solution maybe coming in time that heavily swings the situation, either with Burma becoming more used as the censorship ends and the country continues its path towards democracy, or as the opposition, media and certain English speaking governments change to using Myanmar no longer questioning its legitimacy. BritishWatcher (talk) 21:51, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support A country, like any reasonably-minded person, has the right to choose an own name, should it elect so for any reason. If Burma-name supporters manage to reverse that government stance, it will become Burma again. But for now they style themselves Myanmar. Remember why Belgium, the previous colonial power, accepted the name Zaire without any official fuss. Wakari07 (talk) 00:48, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support proposed compromises I would equally be in favor of either "Burma (Myanmar)" or "Myanmar (Burma)". Zaldax (talk) 15:36, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support - At this point, hanging on to Burma is pure revisionism. Myanmar is, for better or worse, the name of the country, and even the WP:COMMONNAME is all but historical contexts. Recognizing this is not an act of supporting a repressive government, it's simply realizing that the facts on the ground have passed Burma by. If, in the future, the government is overthrown, and the people of the country decide to return to Burma, then we can too, but for now, this country is "Myanmar", and we show ourselves to be unprofessional and do no service to our readers by sticking with a name that is now only of historical value. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:08, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
• Support per reasons given by poster Chocolate Horlicks. Would also support, but do not prefer, 'Myanmar (Burma)' as an alternative.--Wolbo (talk) 21:27, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

• Support. Per arguments I have cited in past discussions, the country is called Myanmar in much the way Republic of Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso. Indeed many sources continue to use Burma and they do so incorrectly. More precisely, you'll be hard pushed to find any source referring to Burma which is also favourable to the administration - in other words, proponents of Burma call it that as a protest to voice their opposition to the country's politics. Of course, it would have been a totally different story if most world states continued to recognise an ousted regime in operating in exile, but the entire world recognised the governance of the country's junta at every diplomatic level, therefore the "Myanmar vs Burma" debate is anything but linguistic. I agree with one of the remarks listed above that this is merely a name "foisted on us by a few lunatics" but this is the case with all countries past and present, along with their flags, anthems, mottos and other properties. Evlekis (Евлекис) (argue) 21:43, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. I direct you to the only authority on the English language worth listening to, Alfred Pennyworth. More seriously, it's the speakers of English who decide what the name of a country in English is, not a government or group of governments. It's not "incorrect" to call a country by the name people know it by, it's communication. People call it Burma ("incorrectly" or not) the article should be titled Burma. In past votes I've said this may change over time as more people get exposed to the name etc, but I didn't mean we should have to have a vote on it every month or two. -- 22:06, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
• Sluggish close. I just found out about this latest round of "discussion" via User:Fyunck(click). Now this talk page has garnered over 200 edits contributing over 80 KB by over 50 users, and I submit that none of it has made the slightest bit of progress towards the goals of this RM/RFC. None of it contains even a hint of a new argument. Not one argument has not been presented in exactly the same way in one of the ten pages of archived discussion and there is no sign of any original approach to any of the responses to these arguments that might give them some relevance to the progress of the debate.

It may be too late for a "speedy" close, but I propose that this farce be put to bed and those involved spared the further tedium it will otherwise surely bring, and I strongly oppose the reopening of this discussion prior to at least 200 edits or 50 users having made edits to Names of Burma, an article which actually contributes a useful public application of knowledge about the details of this naming dispute, yet has had fewer than 40 edits in the ten months since the last Requested Move. What if significant events change the facts of the debate before that milestone? Then there will be plenty to write about on that article. Bigbluefish (talk) 22:18, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

3rd alternative?

I am wondering if the discussion of the actual official name in scholarly circles has any strong suggestions (from outside the country and its ethnicities) that might yield a more appropriate name. While I understand that it is against normal wikipedia policy to drive events, being a neutral information source; it is also true that if improving things generally is everybody's overall goal, then an exception might be considered if something like East-Central South Asia (I am sure this in particular is not going to win much support) already has been suggested and supported by some number of scholars. A renaming of the country to encourage and cause the minorities to feel given de facto equal citizenship status--as one step--might be expected to help the country's people to more easily solve some of their long-standing problems. If the wikipedia community can find cause to encourage such a change, I think it is an alternative worthy of consideration. Considering that the reasons different countries cannot agree on the two choices presented are clear--and that this is causing the debate/dispute here, it also seems to give wikipedians an opening for such a deviation from editorial policy (assuming such a 3rd alternative is already floating around).173.15.152.77 (talk) 02:16, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

This assumes that the naming of an article has the purpose of asserting or implying a preference for a name. It does not, and it should only seek to label the article the way that most people would expect to find it. The fact that there are two names under which significant numbers of people expect to find the article doesn't make it any more sensible to name it under a third. Bigbluefish (talk) 20:32, 21 August 2012 (UTC)