Did you know that the official name of Mxico is not that?
Nope, my country is actually named officially "Estados Unidos Mexicanos."
So I could actually say not only that I'm an American, I could say that I'm from "the States," the United Mexican States, that is.

The seal in the image above is used in many official documents.
There's a bill in our legislative bodies to recognize in the Constitution that the de facto name is Mxico and make it official. Here's a report on that from the New York Times
Trying to Put Mexico First, With No U.S. in the Way
By TIM WEINER
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 24 ? U.S. out of Mexico!
This is, in so many words, the cry rising in this country's Congress, where some are trying to change the nation's official name. That name is the United Mexican States. They prefer plain old Mexico.
The implications, it should immediately be clear, are large.
"The official name is a fawning imitation," said Ignacio Burgoa Orihuela, the nation's premier constitutional scholar. "It is wrong."
If so, it has been wrong since 1824.
When the United Mexican States came into being, its ministers had just won liberation from Spain. They took the name because, in part, they liked they way the white-wigged Americans had made a federal republic out of states. The Mexicans did things a little differently: they created their own states out of provinces, and a nation out of the states.
"The only model they had was the United States," said Lorenzo Meyer, a leading historian and social critic. "They wanted the past to disappear. The idea was to erase it."
But the admiration that created the United States of Mexico definitely diminished after the Americans took half of the country during the war in the 1840's. It is arguably still dwindling.
Few in Mexico support a war with Iraq. Once friendly relations between President Vicente Fox and President Bush have cooled. In fact, it was the leaders of Mr. Fox's own party who moved the name change forward in Congress this week.
The tension between the word Mexico and the other official names that have appeared on maps and pesos has a long history.
Mexico is a Nahuatl word, from the people who were here before the Spaniards came in 1519. Its origins are misty. It means "navel of the moon," and may derive from the reflection of the full moon in the great lake that once surrounded this capital.
The Spanish sacked the city, drained the lake and changed the name to New Spain. The name stuck for three centuries, until the United Mexican States was coined.
The tension persists. "Maybe we should just erase `Mexico' and keep `United States,' " Mr. Meyer said. "That's the sad truth: we are an extension of that country."
A decidedly unscientific sampling of public opinion found some recognition of Mr. Meyer's "sad truth."
"In some ways we are almost part of the United States already," said Regina Sols, 34, a chemist in the city of Guaymas with two teenagers working as farmhands in the United States. "They invade us more and more, not with weapons, but in our daily lives. Soon we'll be using dollars instead of pesos.
"The government, instead of inventing idiocies like this, should be working to save our culture, our customs, our identity," she said.
But Congressman Felipe Caldern Hinojosa, the man behind the name- change movement, passionately believes that preservation is precisely what he is doing.
"For me, the name of our land is Mexico," Mr. Caldern, the leader of the National Action Party in the lower house of Congress, told a radio audience on Thursday. "People tend to forget that the official name is the United Mexican States. And when they remember, a great sinking feeling, a great restlessness, washes over them."
Mr. Burgoa, the constitutional scholar, said the idea's time had come.
"We are subordinated economically, politically and socially to the gringos," he said. "Nevertheless, the name must change. Legally, by definition, it is the wrong name."
I just thought I'd mention this.
Nope, my country is actually named officially "Estados Unidos Mexicanos."
So I could actually say not only that I'm an American, I could say that I'm from "the States," the United Mexican States, that is.

The seal in the image above is used in many official documents.
There's a bill in our legislative bodies to recognize in the Constitution that the de facto name is Mxico and make it official. Here's a report on that from the New York Times
Trying to Put Mexico First, With No U.S. in the Way
By TIM WEINER
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 24 ? U.S. out of Mexico!
This is, in so many words, the cry rising in this country's Congress, where some are trying to change the nation's official name. That name is the United Mexican States. They prefer plain old Mexico.
The implications, it should immediately be clear, are large.
"The official name is a fawning imitation," said Ignacio Burgoa Orihuela, the nation's premier constitutional scholar. "It is wrong."
If so, it has been wrong since 1824.
When the United Mexican States came into being, its ministers had just won liberation from Spain. They took the name because, in part, they liked they way the white-wigged Americans had made a federal republic out of states. The Mexicans did things a little differently: they created their own states out of provinces, and a nation out of the states.
"The only model they had was the United States," said Lorenzo Meyer, a leading historian and social critic. "They wanted the past to disappear. The idea was to erase it."
But the admiration that created the United States of Mexico definitely diminished after the Americans took half of the country during the war in the 1840's. It is arguably still dwindling.
Few in Mexico support a war with Iraq. Once friendly relations between President Vicente Fox and President Bush have cooled. In fact, it was the leaders of Mr. Fox's own party who moved the name change forward in Congress this week.
The tension between the word Mexico and the other official names that have appeared on maps and pesos has a long history.
Mexico is a Nahuatl word, from the people who were here before the Spaniards came in 1519. Its origins are misty. It means "navel of the moon," and may derive from the reflection of the full moon in the great lake that once surrounded this capital.
The Spanish sacked the city, drained the lake and changed the name to New Spain. The name stuck for three centuries, until the United Mexican States was coined.
The tension persists. "Maybe we should just erase `Mexico' and keep `United States,' " Mr. Meyer said. "That's the sad truth: we are an extension of that country."
A decidedly unscientific sampling of public opinion found some recognition of Mr. Meyer's "sad truth."
"In some ways we are almost part of the United States already," said Regina Sols, 34, a chemist in the city of Guaymas with two teenagers working as farmhands in the United States. "They invade us more and more, not with weapons, but in our daily lives. Soon we'll be using dollars instead of pesos.
"The government, instead of inventing idiocies like this, should be working to save our culture, our customs, our identity," she said.
But Congressman Felipe Caldern Hinojosa, the man behind the name- change movement, passionately believes that preservation is precisely what he is doing.
"For me, the name of our land is Mexico," Mr. Caldern, the leader of the National Action Party in the lower house of Congress, told a radio audience on Thursday. "People tend to forget that the official name is the United Mexican States. And when they remember, a great sinking feeling, a great restlessness, washes over them."
Mr. Burgoa, the constitutional scholar, said the idea's time had come.
"We are subordinated economically, politically and socially to the gringos," he said. "Nevertheless, the name must change. Legally, by definition, it is the wrong name."
I just thought I'd mention this.
