 The form "Macao" was the original Portuguese spelling, which continues to be used by the governments of some European countries that never made the change to "Macau".In the modern era, both the spellings "Macau" and "Macao" are accepted as correct spelling.Since the transfer of sovereignty over Macau in 1999, the government of Macau considers both "Macau" and "Macao" to be acceptable spellings of the name in English language publications, but the former was more widely used across English-speaking world, especially in the United States and Australia.