The official and primary reason for the change, Mr. Motadel says, was that Persia is too specific. The name is derived from Fars, a southern province that was the heart of Cyrus the Great’s ancient Persian Empire.

But a Foreign Ministry memorandum acknowledged that the idea for the change came from the Persian Legation in Nazi Berlin. The imperial court was reportedly swayed by claims that Iran was the ancient homeland of an Aryan race — an idea historians have since dismantled.

Years later, the Iranian historian Ehsan Yarshater called the name change “a grievous error based on a misdirected sense of nationalism.”

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Andrea and Chris

Thank you

To Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford and Kenneth R. Rosen for the break from the news. Jake Lucas wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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