IOR/L/PS/12/3488

Correspondence and papers relating to the Persian Government’s decision in 1935 to change the name of the country from Persia to Iran, and of the changes throughout the 1930s to the names of numerous provinces, towns and cities across the country. The papers include: translated copies of memoranda from the Persian Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announcing various name changes (some of which include place names written in Persian); correspondence amongst British officials over the implications of the changes, particularly that of Persia to Iran, for British interests such as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company; British Government instructions to replace Persia for Iran in maps and correspondence; the use of the term ‘Iranian Gulf’ in place of ‘Persian Gulf’ by some organisations, and instruction from British officials that the term ‘Persian Gulf’ should be reinstated; notification of name changes sent by the Foreign Office to the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (care of the Royal Geographical Society).

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.