President of Mexico Proposes Changing Country's Name

Felipe Calderon, the President of Mexico, called for his country to change its name Thursday.

Likely most people in America aren't aware that the official name of our southern neighbor is Estados Unidos Mexicanos - United Mexican States.

This is what the new nation adopted as its name in 1824 after it liberated itself from Spain. At the time, this was an obvious imitation of America.

Now, Calderon wants the country's name to simply be Mexico.

As the Associated Press reported Thursday, Calderon first proposed this when he was a congressman in 2003. The measure never came up for a vote.

But with his term ending on December 1, the Mexican President appears to want to make one last stab at it.

To pass, it would have to clear both chambers of Congress and a majority of Mexico's 31 state legislatures.

In his press conference Thursday, Calderon said, "Mexico doesn't need a name that emulates another country and that no one uses on a daily basis."

At the current time, Estados Unidos Mexicanos is rarely used except on official documents and currency.

"It's time for Mexicans to return to the beauty and simplicity of the name of our country, Mexico," Calderon said. "A name that we chant, that we sing, that makes us happy, that we identify with, that fills us with pride."