Czech Republic poised to change name to "Czechia": BBC

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The country will retain its full name but Czechia will become the official short geographic name, as "France" is to "The French Republic," BBC News reports.

If approved by parliament, the name will be lodged with the United Nations.

Along with Slovakia, the Czech Republic was established when Czechoslovakia broke in two in 1993.

Read alsoCzech MEP, Putin's supporter, arrested in Swiss bank case, dies in PragueSome of the country's best-known exports, including its Pilsner Urquell beer and ice hockey team, currently use the word "Czech."

But "Czech" is an adjective and cannot properly be used as a name for the country.

Some have criticized "Czechia" as ugly, or too similar to "Chechnya," the semi-autonomous Russian republic.