Wikipedia:Naming conventions (country names)

This naming convention is still being discussed and is therefore not yet fixed.

Naming conventions (country names)
Convention: In general, there are no special naming conventions for countries. This page merely clarifies the application of existing conventions to countries.

The most common English term is preferred
 * where it is an accepted short form of an official name (such as Poland for Republic of Poland)
 * where it is an English translation or transliteration of a foreign-language original (such as Czech Republic for &#268;eská republika)
 * where it is a colloquial form (such as East Germany for German Democratic Republic and East Timor for Democratic Republic of East Timor)

In some cases (such as historical states whose name would otherwise conflict with an existing one) the most common English term may be avoided, in which case usage should be noted within the article.

Note that it does not affect Wikipedia interpretation of English common usage that
 * it is common for official sources (such as the United States Department of State) and some news sources to use the official name of the country where this differs from common usage
 * many editors of the English Wikipedia do not have English as their first language, and may feel that certain countries' articles should be listed at the official/native-language term

Disputed cases (see their Talk pages)

 * East Germany is preferred to German Democratic Republic
 * Côte d'Ivoire is preferred both to the usual English spelling Cote d'Ivoire and the more common English translation Ivory Coast

The details of what to do in various cases are still being worked out at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (country names). See also List of sovereign states for a list of current states' names in English and original.