exonym

/ˈɛksənɪm/

Etymology

From exo- (“outside”) + -onym (“name”).

Why this word is great

EXONYM — [Noun] An external name for a place, people, or language imposed by outsiders rather than its native speakers. From exo- ("outside") + -onym ("name"). Unlike "endonym" (the name a people call themselves) or "demonym" (a term for inhabitants, neutral in origin), an exonym is a linguistic imposition, a cartographic act of renaming. It is Germany called "Alemania" by Spaniards, the River Thames rendered as "la Tamise" by the French, or Peking becoming "Beijing" only when the world finally listened—each a fossil of foreign tongues, a silent negotiation between how a people see themselves and how others insist on seeing them.

noun

An external name for a place, people or a language used by outgroup members (such as foreigners) instead of ingroup members (such as native-language speakers).“Recognizing that measures such as the categorization of exonym use, the publication of pronunciation guides for endonyms, and the formulation of guidelines ensuring a politically sensitive use of exonyms would help in the reduction of the number of exonyms, […]”