Swaziland

What actually happened

Eswatini means "land of the Swazis" in siSwati and was already the name used locally. The king's stated reason for the change was that Swaziland was a colonial hybrid and that visitors abroad kept confusing it with Switzerland, an explanation he gave publicly and which appears to have been sincere.

The change was announced by royal proclamation rather than legislated, which drew domestic criticism given that Eswatini is Africa's last absolute monarchy and the king's power to rename a country by decree is itself the point of contention. The UN and international bodies adopted the new name promptly. It is one of only a handful of countries to change its formal name in the twenty-first century, alongside Türkiye, North Macedonia, Czechia, and the Netherlands' branding shift.