Was there any alternate names suggested at or around the time of the Declaration of Independence? IMO its probably the most annoying nation name in the world, as it uses the name for the continent, only one close to that is Australia which have the significant saving grace that depending on your schematics its the only nation on the continent, or the region is called Oceania, neatly sidestepping any misunderstanding
Alternate names for USA?
- Thread starter Sian
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During the Revolutionary War, the U.S. was sometimes called the "United States of North America". This survives in a way in Spanish, because Americans are often called "norteamericanos".
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fr-1782.asp
Various titles including "United Provinces" and "Republic" were used by various leaders, armies or colonies - I believe Washington himself used the former at some point - before everyone agreed to use the United States title as standard.
When will people realize the Anglophone world was calling Americans Americans well before the Revolution? That's simply how it is.
Anyway in 1804 Fredon(-ia) was proposed.
Anyway in 1804 Fredon(-ia) was proposed.
which makes sense, since the US declaration of independence was highly inspired by the Dutch declaration of independence of 1581 (some of the text was almost copied).
So maybe they push the analogy even further by calling themselves the United Provinces of North-America?
That's only true if you consider all of the Americas to be one continent, which is illogical, if you don't do the same for Europe/Asia/Africa. In the U.S. we treat North America and South America as separate continents.
Anyway, I can think of plenty of other "annoying" names:
-Republic of China vs. People's Republic of China
-Republic of the Congo vs. Democratic Republic of the Congo
-Republic of Guinea (Conakry) vs. Republic of Guinea (Bissau) vs. Republic of Equatorial Guinea
-Republic of Korea vs. Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea
-Dominican Republic vs. Dominica (Inhabitants of these two are called Dominicans and Dominicans, respectively.)
-United Kingdom (do no other united kingdoms exist?)
-Macedonia (which is forced to call itself "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" because Greece doesn't like the name)
-South Africa (which does not cover all of southern Africa)
Is "United States of America" really worse than all these?
Last edited:
jahenders
Banned
While it could be better, it's really not that bad. At the time it was a union of states of/in America. It just so happened that all were/are in North America. Had the US spread differently and operated differently, we might have made some portions of South America into states. If it were called the US of NA, then you'd have to change the name when you did that or have it be perpetually inaccurate. US of A allows for integration of anything/everything in the Americas. Also, US of NA would seem to suggest that it includes Canada, Mexico etc -- better to be vague.
One key difference for the US was that it wasn't a new state within the boundaries of a previous state (like Republic of France, PRC, etc). So, if you avoid reference to America, you could wind up with something like the United Former English Colonies -- and that's terrible.
So, the best bets might be something like:
- The Republic of Columbia
- North American Union
- Federation of American States
One key difference for the US was that it wasn't a new state within the boundaries of a previous state (like Republic of France, PRC, etc). So, if you avoid reference to America, you could wind up with something like the United Former English Colonies -- and that's terrible.
So, the best bets might be something like:
- The Republic of Columbia
- North American Union
- Federation of American States
I was thinking along the lines of the United States/Federal Republic/Federation of Anglo-America or something like that.
But yeah. The name was evocative of their intent to expand across the American continent as part of Manifest Destiny. All the way back to Hamilton, there was the idea of "liberating" the rest of American colonies held by the Spanish, British, Dutch or French, creating an "Empire of Democracy".
By the time of the Spanish-American Wars of Independence, there was also talks about "extinguishing the Latin Race" and creating a continent-nation of "pure Anglo-Saxons". The Panama Congress was even seen as some US-Americans as a means of expanding their power across the continent. Hell, many wanted to annex all of Mexico, only stopping because they didn't want to give a bunch of, in the words of John C. Calhoun, "savage Indians and mixed tribes" US-American citizenship.
So yeah... that name has reasons it existed.
But yeah. The name was evocative of their intent to expand across the American continent as part of Manifest Destiny. All the way back to Hamilton, there was the idea of "liberating" the rest of American colonies held by the Spanish, British, Dutch or French, creating an "Empire of Democracy".
By the time of the Spanish-American Wars of Independence, there was also talks about "extinguishing the Latin Race" and creating a continent-nation of "pure Anglo-Saxons". The Panama Congress was even seen as some US-Americans as a means of expanding their power across the continent. Hell, many wanted to annex all of Mexico, only stopping because they didn't want to give a bunch of, in the words of John C. Calhoun, "savage Indians and mixed tribes" US-American citizenship.
So yeah... that name has reasons it existed.
Prior to the American Civil War the United States was considered a union of sovereign states; it wasn't until after the war that the union became a singular entity rather than a plural one (as Shelby Foote so succinctly put it, "it made us an is". The founders wanted to emphasize this point (that the new nation was going to be a collection of sovereign states/mini-nations, as opposed to a unified nation), so you're going to need to work the word "states" in there somewhere.
Technically, it was already moving in that direction since Jackson's time. The Civil War basically was the final push.
The History of the USA's political system is an interesting transformation from Continental League to Confederacy to Federation to a more centralized Federal Republic.
I don't have anything against the name "United States of America" because they're states, they're united and they're in (north) America. What annoys me and most Spanish speakers is the use of "Americano" as demonym instead of "Estadounidense". The majority of people here learn that "America" is just one continent with "North America" and "South America" as sub-continents. So, in Spanish, calling the people from the US "Americanos" sounds presumptuous.
Anyway, back in topic, I think that United States of Columbia was a possible name, though I may be wrong. Perhaps a name based around one of the founding fathers? Washingtonia or something... "Federal States", "Republic of America" or "Freedonia" are also options.
Anyway, back in topic, I think that United States of Columbia was a possible name, though I may be wrong. Perhaps a name based around one of the founding fathers? Washingtonia or something... "Federal States", "Republic of America" or "Freedonia" are also options.
Surely that should 'Federal Union of American States/Provinces', a colony is a political entity that by definition is not independent, so if that still applied to them there would be no need to come up with a name for a new country.