How Kyrgyzstan was called before

In Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", the heroine, distraught that her beloved is a Montague, cries:

      Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
      ... O, be some other name!
      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet; 

What she meant is clear:  "What matters is what something is, not what it is called."

That may well be true, however unfortunately, it is not that simple.  The answer to her question, "What's in a name?", is actually, "quite a lot".  A name is used to identify something, and according to ancient tradition and Platonic philosophy, is supposed to convey something of the essence of what it names.  Unfortunately, it can also conjure up mental images which can cause misunderstanding and confusion.

Take the name of the country, Kyrgyzstan. 

The name itself attracts a lot of comment ... the unusual combination of letters in "Kyrgyzstan" often draws jokes and remarks featuring "Alphabet Soup" and a potential high score in Scrabble, (a basic 30 without any bonus for using a double or triple letter, or word, squares - needing a well placed opening, the only K, the Z and both the Y tiles - not to mention the additional bonus if you happen to be able to use all of your nine tiles in making the word ... but then, you wouldn't be allowed the score because the rules forbid the use of country names).

The country has a number of aliases.  As well as "Kyrgyzstan" it has been, and is, also known as:

• The Kyrgyz Republic, (technically, the official name of the country);
• Kyrgyzstan, (from the German form of Kyrgyzstan);
• Kyrgyzstan, (from the French form of Kyrgyzstan);
• Kyrgyzia, (based on the old Russian name);
• Kirgizskaya Respublika, (the name in Russian - transliterated into the latin alphabet)
• Kyrgyz Respublikasy, (the name in Kyrgyz- transliterated into the latin alphabet), and 
• Khirghizische Republic (from the German for the official name of the country)

... amongst others.  

One of the other names that have been coined recently is "Kyrgyzland".  The Central Asian countries of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, are sometimes known collectively as the "Stans".  The suffix "stan" basically means "The land of ...", so Kyrgyzstan means "The land of the Kyrgyz"; Uzbekistan: "The land of the Uzbeks"; Kazakhstan: "The land of the Kazakhs" and Tajikistan: "The land of the Tajiks".  It is also true for other countries, such as Afghanistan: "The land of the Afghans" ... and so on.  Unfortunately, some of the "stans" have a troubled history and so, to try and offset the association with troubled times and regions, the name "Kyrgyzland" was coined with parallels drawn with names of countries like England, Scotland, Ireland and Deutschland.     

If the abundance of names didn't provide enough source for confusion, many people confess to ignorance - or, at least, to being confused - about what Kyrgyzstan is and exactly where it is located, and the name of the country is often the source of that confusion. 

For example, Ian Claytor, (the General Director of the Celestial Mountains Tour Company), tells how, in 1995, his mother telephoned him after he had told her that he was coming to Kyrgyzstan. 
       "Where did you say you were going?",
       "Bishkek, in Kyrgyzstan",
       "Well, why can't I find it on the map?"
The reason was simple - the fact that she was using an old edition of the Pear's Encyclopaedia which showed the USSR on the map, and the former Soviet names of Khirghiz ASSR, (yet another name!), and Frunze.

One of the most common examples of confusion, however, arises from the fact that Kyrgyzstan sounds similar to Kurdistan - "The land of the Kurds" - a region with a long and troubled history which straddles parts of Turkey, Iraq and Iran.  In fact, quite a few people confess that they don't know where either Kyrgyzstan or Kurdistan are on the map, but because of the troubles in that part of the world, most have at least heard of Kurdistan and so there is some form of "name recognition".  (Perhaps the situation will change now as, since the Tulip Revolution of March 2005, more people will have heard of Kyrgyzstan - albeit in a revolutionary context.)

At least both Kyrgyzstan and Kurdistan are "somewhere in Asia".  Perhaps more difficult to understand, (apart, that is, from the fact that their names both begin with the letter 'K'), is the travel website that managed to confuse Kyrgyzstan with Kenya - honest! - an error that has now been corrected. 

According to Juliet, what matters most is not what something is called, but what it is.  Kyrgyzstan is a country which, according to one travel guide, has breathtaking landscapes of mountains, glaciers and lakes, whose isolation has ensured that "they have been almost ignored by the crowds".  The lakes and mountainous terrain providing excellent opportunities for activities such as trekking, horseriding, skiing, climbing, sailing, swimming and even simply sunbathing.  It's location on the Great Silk Road enables the modern day traveller the possibility of following in the footsteps of traders, explorers, soldiers and pilgrims who plied their way across the mountains between China and Europe.  The preservation of a traditional nomadic lifestyle by a proud people in a remote and isolated region enables the modern day traveller to experience something of a world long since disappeared from other parts of the globe and gain a glimpse of what those earlier intrepid travellers must have experienced.  

Juliet may well have implored - "O, be some other name!", but just as her surname was Capulet, (and Romeo's was Montague), Kyrgyzstan is the name of  country.  It may lead to jokes and confusion.  It may sound like one of the world's trouble spots, but what is really important is not the name itself, but what Kyrgyzstan is and what the country has to offer the visitor.