in 1989, the military junta officially changed the english version of its name from "burma" to "myanmar". it also made a new name in english for places in the country, such as its former capital city, from "rangoon" to yangon. the official name of the country in the burmese language, "myanmar" did not change, however. the renaming was controversial, seen by some as linguistically bad. accepting the name change in the english-speaking world has been slow, with many people still using the name "burma" to refer to the country. major news organizations like the bbc still call it burma. some question the military junta's authority to "officially" change the name in english in the first place. aung san suu kyi, however, calls the country myanmar now.