Names

• Professor Eugene Volokh says of Kiev:

• • In Russian, it's pronounced more or less "Kiev" ("Kee-ehv"), and written in a way that would normally be transliterated "Kiev" in English.
  • In Ukrainian, it's pronounced more or less "Kyiv" (with the "y" sounding like the "y" in "crypt," though further back in the mouth), and written in a way that would normally be transliterated "Kyiv" in English.
  • But in English, it has historically been pronounced more or less "Kiev," and written "Kiev," doubtless because it was borrowed into English from Russian.
  • After all, in English we have our own names for many foreign places. We write and say "Moscow" and not "Moskva," "Russia" and not "Rossiya," "Ukraine" and not "Ookraina," "Florence" and not "Firenze," "Spain" and not "España." Indeed, sometimes our names are far indeed from the original: "Germany" and not "Deutschland," "Albania" and not "Shqiperia," "Georgia" and not "Sakartvelo."

I'd say the same about Turkey, which is the English name for the country that calls itself "Türkiye"—just as "İngiltere" is apparently the Turkish name for the country that calls itself "England." I don't think anyone should expect the Turks to change to saying England; why should we expect English speakers to change to saying "Türkiye"? (Greece, by the way, is apparently "Yunanistan" in Turkish, and "Ellada" or "Ellas" in Greek; again, I don't think either Turkish or English or Greek speakers need to change how they pronounce things.)