Of course Thailand only became Thailand in the middle of the last century, so it is a very new name historically speaking.

The long standing name of the country was Siam.

Forgetting any political implications to naming it Thailand or Siam and forgetting the practical issues of changing it back to Siam, which do you prefer?

I prefer Siam.

Interesting to see which the Thai members prefer. For me its Siam.

Does anyone care ? What's in a name ? Perhaps the people will change if we called the country 'Prats'. I doubt it .

Does anyone care ? What's in a name ? Perhaps the people will change if we called the country 'Prats'. I doubt it .

Well some people cared enough to change the name in the fist place, eh? There is the no opinion, etc. etc. etc. choice which covers don't care if you like.

Prats doesn't do it for me; how about Pratsylvania?

You only want to change the name of something when you have things to hide!

Thailand is a good name,why change it?

The Thai (or Tai) are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the majority of Thai are followers of Theravada Buddhism. The term Thai people may also refer to the population of Thailand in general, and not only to ethnic Thais.

Did the wife take your surname? ^^

Actually, the intention of the thread was not to discuss the politics of the two names. Unrealistic of me to try, but try I did. There is a lot of material on that topic, some on this board and of course widely available. I was just curious, which do you like better from a purely aesthetic angle. For example I know that Burma/Myanmar is a political football, but I really think Burma sounds cooler, and to me Siam sounds MUCH cooler than Thailand. The land part is what gets me, what's an English word land doing in the name of a Thai speaking country?

Maybe just my train of thought but Thailand I associate with beaches,bars and entertainment

Siam somehow sounds more regal.........

Maybe just my train of thought but Thailand I associate with beaches,bars and entertainment

Siam somehow sounds more regal.........

That's interesting. To me Siam sounds more exotic mysteries of the east.

Maybe just my train of thought but Thailand I associate with beaches,bars and entertainment

Siam somehow sounds more regal.........

That's interesting. To me Siam sounds more exotic mysteries of the east.

Well a realm, Kingdom of Siam, sounds more exotic and eastern than a plain old country.....so it is a similar train of thought.....yes?

Yes, but the regal part isn't the first thing that comes to my mind. More like lotus flowers, canal markets, and silky skinned natives. But yes, Siam is less modern.

Have you ever spoken to someone who describes himself as a Siamese rather than Thai? I haven't.

Maybe the older generation 70+ does.

You say Thailand. Thais say Kingdom of Thai. ประเทศไทย

You say Thailand. Thais say Kingdom of Thai. ประเทศไทย

That is interesting.....because that puts a different slant on the whole topic

Kingdom of Thai sounds good

I prefer Siam , much more alluring and exotic , soft and silky when pronounced as Eartha Kit did "seeeeam" , Thailand is more harsh , did you ever watch 'The King and I' , made one want to take the first available plane out , banned in Thailand of course . Do you remember also , the song from Walt Disney(?) "We are Siamese if you ple-ease" , Lots of free , good advertising done to invite the curious .

You say Thailand. Thais say Kingdom of Thai. ประเทศไทย

That is interesting.....because that puts a different slant on the whole topic

Kingdom of Thai sounds good

UK = United Kingdom, formerly, Great Britain.

Thailand = Kingdom of Thai, formerly Siam.

Jingthing, sorry to hi-jack your topic. But where did the popular phrase "Siamese twins" come from?

You say Thailand. Thais say Kingdom of Thai. ประเทศไทย

I read this as Prateth which means country.

I would write it ราชอาณาจักรไทย

Heres the short history of the name change if you didn't know:

Plaek Pibulsonggram, the military dictator of Thailand during WW2 changed the name in an effort to instill more racial pride in the Thai people and suppress minority groups. He discouraged minorities from speaking regional dialects and speak more "thai" and forbid regional dress for more western attire.

This is one of the reasons why many Thais like to poke fun at Issan or Laotian dialects, they think it's backwards and inferior to the Thai language.

Personally I hate both names, I prefer the Kingdom of Ayutthaya or any of the ancient names before the siamese era

Jingthing, sorry to hi-jack your topic. But where did the popular phrase "Siamese twins" come from?

The term Siamese twins originates with Chang and Eng Bunker, the conjoined twins from Siam. In the context of the English language, this word was first used and popularized by H. W. Fowler, a renowned lexicographer.

I prefer Siam , much more alluring and exotic , soft and silky when pronounced as Eartha Kit did "seeeeam" , Thailand is more harsh , did you ever watch 'The King and I' , made one want to take the first available plane out , banned in Thailand of course . Do you remember also , the song from Walt Disney(?) "We are Siamese if you ple-ease" , Lots of free , good advertising done to invite the curious .

We are Siamese if you please

We are Siamese if you don't please

We are from a residence of Siam

There is no finer cat than I am

Do you see that thing swimming round and round

Maybe we can reach on in and make it drown

If we sneaking up upon it carefully

There will be head for you and a tail for me

We are Siamese if you please

We are Siamese if you don't please

Now we're looking over our new domisile

If we like we stay for maybe quite a while

Meow.......here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty

Do you hear what I hear a baby cry

Where we finding baby there's milk near by

And if we look in baby buggy there could be

Plenty of milk for you and also some for me

We are Siamese if you please

We are Siamese if you don't please

Now we're looking over our new domisile

If we like we stay for maybe quite a while

We are Siamese if you please

We are Siamese if you don't please

We are from a residence of Siam

There is no finer cat than I am

There is no finer cat than I am

There are no finer cats than we am

Siam is my preference.

UK = United Kingdom, formerly, Great Britain.

Not a good comparison on this occasion Gary, Great Britain is still part of the U.K.

And now presenting the politically correct Thai version:

We are Thai my oh my

We are Thai if you don't mind

We are from a residence of Thailand

There is no finer cat in any land

Do you see that thing swimming round and round

Maybe we can reach on in and make it drown

If we sneaking up upon it carefully

There will be head for you and a tail for me

We are Thai my oh my

We are Thai if you don't mind

Now we're looking over our new domisile

If we like we stay for maybe quite a while

Meow.......here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty

Do you hear what I hear a baby cry

Where we finding baby there's milk near by

And if we look in baby buggy there could be

Plenty of milk for you and also some for me

We are Thai my oh my

We are Thai if you don't mind

Now we're looking over our new domisile

If we like we stay for maybe quite a while

We are Thai my oh my

We are Thai if you don't mind

We are from a residence of Thailand

There is no finer cat in any land

There is no finer cat in any land

There are no finer cats talk to the hand!

What a pleasant thread so far , enjoyable and informative .

I've always preferred Siam to Thailand. As others have said, it has a more exotic ring to it. Also, when I was a youngster in UK, (50s) it was still commonly referred to as Siam. I like Ayutthaya too, as suggested. My (Thai) wife prefers Siam also. She feels that the name Thailand was sort of imposed on the unwilling Thais! Don't know if the Thai people in general feel the same way. Probably just my wife - she reads a lot of Thai history!

I know where you're coming from OP, but it's hard to see these two names substitutable synonyms... it's tantamount to asking "which sounds better? zimbabwe or brazil?" For me, they both mean something distinct and have practical meaning in the present day. 'Siam' or 'Siamese' refers to the majority Thai group of the Chao Praya river basin... it excludes other "Tai" people such as Lanna and Laotian Isaan... not to mention non-Tai Malay.

Many farangs don't realize this, and think it's just a romantic synonym for Thailand... it's not, and is actually a tool of ethnic pride by the majoirty. My gf is from isaan, and always distinguishes kohn lao from kohn siam when she's talking to me. The real Siam ended a couple hundred years ago when the Chinese became the majority in Bangkok.

The land part is what gets me, what's an English word land doing in the name of a Thai speaking country?

Errrr. It's not in the Thai name of the county, only the English name of it.

UK = United Kingdom, formerly, Great Britain.

Thailand = Kingdom of Thai, formerly Siam.

The United Kingdom comprises of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.