the official Burmese language usage. The name Myanma/Myanmar was expanded to include all citizens of the country while the name Bama was kept to its original meaning. Both are widespread use in colloquial usage. Most still use Bama/Myanma interchangeably, to refer to the country, depending on the context. Ironically, because of the official renaming of the country, the dominant ethnic group is now known by its colloquial name, Bama, rather than by its literary name, Mranma in official Burmese usage. English names History In English, the official name chosen for the country at the time of independence was "Burma". This was already the name that the British called their colony before 1948. This name most likely comes from Portuguese Birmânia and was adopted by English in the 18th century. The Portuguese name itself, a Latinate back-formation (cp. Germânia vs. Alemanha), came from the Indian name Barma which was borrowed by the Portuguese from any of the Indian languages in the 16th or 17th century. This Indian name Barma may derive from colloquial Burmese Bama, but it may also derive from the Indian name Brahma-desh. Early usage of the English term Burma varies: Bermah (Earliest European maps as old as the 18th century spelled Burma with an 'e'.) Birmah (Charles Thomson map of 1827) Brama (Thomas Kitchin's map of 1787) Burmah (Samuel Dunn's map 1787) Burma (Keith Johnson's map 1803) Burmah (Eugene William's map, 1883) Burma (Common stable spelling used in The Times newspaper.) In 1989, the military regime of Burma set up a commission in charge of reviewing the place names of Burma in the English language. The aim of the commission was to correct the spelling of the place names of Burma in English, to discard spellings chosen by British colonial authorities in the 19th century, and adopt spellings closer to the actual Burmese pronunciation (compare with what happened in India with Calcutta/Kolkata and Calicut/Kozhikode). These renamings took the form of the "Adaptation of Expressions Law", passed on 18 June 1989. Thus, for instance, Rangoon was changed to Yangon to reflect the fact that the "r" sound is no longer used in Standard Burmese and merged with a "y" glide. As for the country's name, the commission decided to replace the English name "Burma" with "Myanmar", for three reasons. First, Myanma is the official name of the country in the Burmese language, and the aim of the commission was