What countries call themselves vs. What other countries call them

Finland is actually called Suomi - what's up with that?

Germany is called Deutschland in German, but the Spanish call it 'Alemania'
The Swedes call their own country 'Sverige'
Japan is called Nippon by the locals

what are some other examples?

interestingly, Italians call Germany "Germania," but they call Germans "i tedeschi" -- hence the last name that you sometimes see here in USA

'Germania' sounds like some roman emperor shit, makes sense

Hungarians call their language magyar and themselves magyarok

oh but per the thread title, 'Hungary' in Hungarian is Magyarország

"tedeschi" and "Deutsch" actually share the same root in Old German

'Nueva Zelanda' is spanish for New Zealand, but the Maori people call it Aotearoa

The French names for Scotland, Wales, and England are l'Écosse, le pays de Galles, and l'Angleterre

whoa fancy

The Poles call Germany Niemcy and the Finns call it Saksa

Afrikaners say "Republiek van Suid-Afrika" for their homeland

Finns call it Saksa

interesting, some bastardization of 'saxon' I imagine

Yep

Germany's weird in that all its neighbors have different names for it

the french call the capital city 'Mexico' but the nation is called Mexique

I had an old Australian guy tell me (an American) that we actually call American football 'grid-iron'... a term that no one here uses, but I just nodded along

In Irish, we call Wales An Bhreatain Bheag i.e. "Little Britain"

Wales is Cymru in Welsh.

Scotland is Alba in Scottish Gaelic.

Both of them much better names.

I read a couple of American articles about Cologne recently that referred to it as Köln throughout. Is this a thing now?

yeah, Scotland is Albain in Irish

and England is Sasana of course

Hrvatska (Croatia) is one of my faves

yes, as in "cravat"

re: names for Germany, wiki has this excellent map

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Germany_Name_European_Languages.png

Hungary is a good one, they call it Magyarország, like Magyarland.

England is Sasainn in Scottish Gaelic and Lloegr(!) in Welsh.

and despite a childhood reading Lloyd Alexander I have only just now realised that Prydain is the Welsh word for Britain

In Mandarin Chinese, Japan is called Rìběn 日本. The Cantonese pronunciation is Yahtbún [jɐt˨ pun˧˥], the Shanghainese pronunciation is Zeppen [zəʔpən], the Hokkien pronunciation is Ji̍tpún or Li̍t-pún, the standard Hakka pronunciation is Ngi̍t-pún and the Teochew pronunciation is Ji̍k púng. This has influenced the Malay name for Japan, Jepun, and the Thai word Yipun (ญี่ปุ่น). The terms Jepang and Jipang were previously used in both Malay and Indonesian, but are today confined primarily to the Indonesian language. The Japanese introduced Nippon and Dai Nippon into Indonesia during the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945) but the native Jepang remains more common. In Korean, Japan is called Ilbon (Hangeul: 일본, Hanja: 日本), which is the Korean pronunciation of the Sino-Korean name, and in Sino-Vietnamese, Japan is called Nhật Bản (also rendered as Nhựt Bổn). In Mongolian, Japan is called Yapon (Япон).

Albania is Shqipëri in Albanian.

... confusingly, Albania was also a Latin name for Scotland.

interestingly, Italians call Germany "Germania," but they call Germans "i tedeschi" -- hence the last name that you sometimes see here in USA

― budo jeru, Thursday, December 12, 2024 7:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I didn't know this! Big chain of convenience stores in MA called Tedeschis.

I also love Hrvatska as an example of this and enjoyed reading about the whole cravat thing/history when I was there last year.

... confusingly, Albania was also a Latin name for Scotland

is 'Alban' an old name for the main island of Britain?

watching Korean shows set in the past i get used to hearing JOSEON a lot.

but i think its Hanguk now if you are Korean.

"South Koreans refer to themselves as Hanguk-in or Hanguk-saram, both of which mean "people of three Han"."