Leaders of the Czech republic have chosen "Czechia" as the one-word alternative name of their country which will make it easier for companies, politicians and sportsmen to use on products, name tags and jerseys.
The choice was agreed on Thursday evening by the top heads of government which includes the president, prime minister, heads of parliament and foreign and defence
ministers, but they must still win cabinet approval before the foreign ministry can lodge the name with the United Nations and it becomes the country's official short name.
The Czech Republic was carved out along with Slovakia, from the peaceful breakup of the old Czechoslovakia in 1993. But so far there has been major one-word English name for the Czech Republic, unlike, say, Germany the shortened version for the republic of Germany.
However some sections of the public including the Regional Development Minister Karla Slechtova, think the name czechia sounds ugly and is too close to "Chechnya", making it prone to confusion.
Slechtova on Thursday tweeted that the Czech Republic had invested more than $US40 million ($A52.00 million) into a tourism promotion campaign using its full name, and should stick to it.
In German and French languages the Czech Republic is already known by a single name, but in Czech itself the name "Cesko" has only made slow progress since 1993 and "Cechy" - or Bohemia - is still commonly used to mean the whole country.
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