Persia officially became known internationally as Iran in 1935, when Reza Shah Pahlavi asked foreign governments to use the name “Iran” in place of “Persia.”

Key date and decision

  • On 21 March 1935, the Persian New Year (Nowruz), Reza Shah issued a decree requesting that all countries refer to his state as “Iran” in official correspondence.
  • The government’s rationale was that “Iran” was the native name used inside the country for centuries, while “Persia” was mainly a Western exonym based on the ancient province of Pars (Fars).

Why the name changed

  • Reza Shah linked the new name to national identity , emphasizing Iran’s pre‑Islamic and “Aryan” roots and seeking to project a modern, sovereign image rather than a “colonial” or old‑fashioned Persia.
  • The change also aligned with broader 1930s state reforms: centralization, modernization, and a deliberate move away from the Qajar era, which many elites associated with weakness and foreign interference.

Persia vs. Iran today

  • Inside the country, the official name has been some variant of “Iran” for a long time; since 1979 it has been the “Islamic Republic of Iran.”
  • “Persia” is still commonly used in historical and cultural contexts (Persian Empire, Persian literature, Persian carpets), but Iran is the formal political name recognized in diplomacy and international law.

In short: the land didn’t suddenly change in 1935—only the way it asked the world to name it did.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.