A Nation Renamed: When and Why Persia Became Iran in 1935

The nation known to the Western world as Persia officially requested that it be called by its native name, Iran, on March 21, 1935. This pivotal moment in modern Iranian history was not the invention of a new name, but the formal assertion of an ancient one. For millennia, the people of the Iranian plateau had called their land 'Iran'. The term 'Persia' was an exonym—a name used by outsiders, derived from the ancient Greeks' encounter with one particular region of the vast empire. The 1935 decree, issued by the modernizing autocrat Reza Shah Pahlavi, was a deliberate act of political and cultural rebranding. It aimed to sever ties with a 19th-century past of foreign domination and internal decay, and to anchor the nation's identity in a glorious, pre-Islamic heritage. This article explains when and why Persia became Iran, exploring the historical dichotomy between the two names, the nationalist ambitions that drove the change, and the lasting legacy of this complex decision.

The Historical Dichotomy: 'Iran' the Endonym, 'Persia' the Exonym

To understand the 1935 name change, one must first grasp the dual identity that has characterized the country for over 2,500 years. The name 'Iran' is ancient and indigenous. It derives from the Avestan term 'Airyanem Vaejah,' which translates to 'Expanse of the Aryans,' a concept found in Zoroastrian scripture dating back to the late 2nd millennium BCE. The term signified the homeland of the 'Aryan' (Indo-Iranian) peoples. This identity was explicitly political and geographic by the time of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE). The founder of the dynasty, Ardashir I, claimed the title 'King of Kings of Ērān,' and his inscriptions refer to his domain as 'Ērānshahr'—the 'Empire of the Iranians.' This term, evolving through Middle Persian and into the New Persian 'Iran,' has been in continuous use by the inhabitants of the plateau to describe their land ever since. It appears throughout epic poetry, such as Ferdowsi's Shahnameh ('The Book of Kings'), as the homeland of heroes, in opposition to 'Turan,' the land of their enemies.

In contrast, 'Persia' is an exonym, a name bestowed by foreigners. It entered the Western lexicon through the ancient Greeks. In the 6th century BCE, as the Achaemenid Empire expanded, the Greeks first encountered the imperial power through its ruling heartland, the province of Pārs (Greek: Persis; modern-day Fars). Following a common ancient practice, they extrapolated the name of this single, dominant region to refer to the entire empire. The Romans inherited this nomenclature, calling the land 'Persia,' and it subsequently became the standard term throughout Europe for the next two millennia. This is analogous to how 'Holland,' a single province, is often used colloquially to refer to the entire country of The Netherlands, or how 'England' is sometimes incorrectly used for all of Great Britain. While the inhabitants called their land Iran, the Western world knew it as Persia, creating a persistent divergence between internal and external identity.

The Catalyst for Change: Reza Shah and Pahlavi Nationalism

The early 20th century was a period of profound crisis for the country. The Qajar dynasty (1789–1925) was in terminal decline, its authority eroded by internal corruption, tribal fragmentation, and relentless pressure from imperial powers. Russia and Great Britain had carved the nation into spheres of influence in the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, treating the state as a pawn in their 'Great Game' for control of Central Asia. This national humiliation fueled the rise of constitutionalist and nationalist movements. From this turmoil emerged a Cossack Brigade officer, Reza Khan. He led a successful coup in 1921, became Prime Minister, and by 1925, had deposed the last Qajar shah and crowned himself Reza Shah, founding the Pahlavi dynasty.

Reza Shah embarked on an ambitious and forceful program of modernization and centralization aimed at forging a strong, unified nation-state capable of resisting foreign domination. His reforms were sweeping: he built a modern army and bureaucracy, established new industries, constructed the Trans-Iranian Railway, imposed secular law, reformed the judicial system, and promoted Western-style education. A key pillar of this project was the creation of a singular, patriotic national identity. This involved suppressing tribal and regional loyalties, mandating a national dress code, and establishing a 'Farhangestan' (Language Academy) to purge the Persian language of Arabic and Turkish loanwords and replace them with 'pure' Persian neologisms. The name change from Persia to Iran was the symbolic capstone of this entire nationalist enterprise.

The Official Decree of 1935 and its Ideological Underpinnings

On Nowruz (the Iranian New Year), March 21, 1935, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a circular to all foreign diplomatic missions in Tehran. It formally requested that from that day forward, the country be referred to as 'Iran' instead of 'Persia' in all official correspondence. The timing was highly symbolic, linking the 'rebirth' of the nation's name to the traditional festival of spring and renewal.

The official rationale was straightforward: the country should be called by its own name. However, deeper ideological currents were at play. The decision was influenced by reports from Iranian diplomats abroad, particularly from Germany, who pointed out that 'Iran' affirmed the nation's 'Aryan' heritage. In the intellectual climate of the 1930s, concepts of Aryan identity were prominent, and for Iranian nationalists, this was a way to distinguish their heritage from the Arab and Turkic cultures surrounding them, linking Iran instead to a broader Indo-European family of nations. It is crucial to note that this was an assertion of national and linguistic identity, distinct from the racial supremacist ideology developing in Europe at the time, but it used the same fashionable vocabulary of the era. By choosing 'Iran,' Reza Shah was strategically positioning his nation as an ancient, proud civilization on par with those of Europe, while simultaneously rejecting the Orientalist lens through which 'Persia' was often viewed.

1. c. 550 BCE
   Achaemenid Empire Founded

   Cyrus the Great establishes the first Persian Empire, originating from the region of Pārs (Persis).

2. c. 224 CE
   Sasanian Empire Proclaims 'Ērānshahr'
3. 1789
   Qajar Dynasty Begins
4. 1925
   Pahlavi Dynasty Founded
5. 1935
   Name Change to Iran
6. 1959
   Clarification Issued

Global Reaction and the Problem of a Lost Brand

The international reaction to the name change was one of confusion and, in some quarters, resistance. 'Persia' was a name with immense historical and cultural weight in the West. It conjured images of mighty emperors like Cyrus and Darius, the poetry of Hafez and Rumi, exquisite carpets, and delicate miniatures. The name 'Iran,' while ancient, had little to no resonance in the popular Western imagination. It sounded new, unfamiliar, and for some, starkly political. Many scholars and diplomats felt that the change needlessly severed a link to a rich, universally recognized heritage. The British statesman Winston Churchill famously grumbled about the change, and for years, institutions like the British Foreign Office would use formulations like 'Iran (formerly Persia)' in their documents.

This cultural disconnect proved to be a significant challenge. By insisting on 'Iran,' the government had effectively erased a powerful global 'brand.' The romance and allure associated with 'Persia' did not automatically transfer to the new name. This led to a gradual realization within the Iranian government that something valuable had been lost in translation. Acknowledging this, in 1959, Reza Shah's son and successor, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced that while 'Iran' remained the official name, the term 'Persia' could be used interchangeably in foreign languages to refer to the country. This was a pragmatic move to reclaim the cultural capital associated with 'Persia' while retaining the official, nationalist preference for 'Iran.'

Legacy and Modern Usage: Navigating 'Iranian' and 'Persian' Today

Today, nearly a century after the official change, a nuanced understanding of the two terms prevails. 'Iran' is unequivocally the official name of the sovereign state. Its citizens are 'Iranians.' This is a broad, inclusive term of nationality, encompassing the rich tapestry of ethnic and linguistic groups that constitute the country: Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Lurs, Baluchis, Arabs, and others. 'Iranian' is the correct political and civic demonym.

'Persian,' on the other hand, has settled into a more specific cultural and ethnic role. It correctly refers to the Persian people, who form the majority ethnic group. Crucially, it is the proper adjective for the language—Farsi is more accurately called the Persian language. It is also the standard term for the historical civilization and its cultural artifacts: Persian literature, Persian carpets, Persian gardens, Persian cuisine, and the Persian cat. In this sense, 'Persian' functions much like 'Roman' in relation to Italy, or 'Hellenic' in relation to Greece—a marker of a grand historical culture that forms the foundation of, but is not identical to, the modern nation-state.

The decision in 1935 was therefore a momentous one. It was an assertion of self-determination, an attempt to redefine the nation on its own terms and for a domestic audience. While it created lasting confusion abroad and necessitated a later compromise, it successfully shifted the global lexicon. It forced the world to see the country not just as the relic of an ancient empire known as Persia, but as the modern, sovereign nation of Iran, a name that carries thousands of years of history for its own people.