Czechia is the official name of the Czech Republic.
Czechia is the official name of the Czech Republic, and it’s been used by locals for some time now. However, it wasn’t officially recognized by other countries until 2017, when Slovakia changed its name to Slovak Republic. The country was previously referred to as the Czechoslovak Republic, but that ended in 1993 after a vote by Parliament. That same year, Slovakia became an independent state and in 2017 it officially changed its name to Slovak Republic.
In April 2018, Czech President Milos Zeman asked Prime Minister Andrej Babis if he would support a change in legislation that would recognize Czechia as the official name of his country. Although Babis didn’t give an answer at the time (he said he wanted to consult with other members of his cabinet first), he eventually came out in favor of adopting Czechia as the country’s new name. In May 2018, members of Parliament voted on whether or not they agreed with Babis and adopted a bill that allowed them to use “Czechia” on all government communications.
The new legislation went into effect on September 1st 2018 and since then many companies have begun using Czechia instead of Czech Republic on their products. Some notable examples include First Capital Connect trains running between London and Luton Airport Parkway (which now display “To Prague/Prag/Praha”) and airline Ryanair which has begun using “Prague (Czechia)” instead of “Prague (Czech Rep.)”
