There is a current bypass as to what the name of the gulf should
be called. Historically, the English speaking world has called it
the Persian Gulf but it has not been until recently that Arab Gulf
Countries have protested and have requested that the name be
changed.
In the 5th century BC, Darius the Great of the Achaemenid
dynasty called the Persian Gulf "Draya; tya; haca; parsa: Aitiy",
meaning, "The sea which goes from Persian. In this era, some of the
Greek writers also called it "Persikonkaitas", meaning the Persian
Gulf. Claudius Ptolemaues, the celebrated Greco-Egyptian
mathematician/astronomer in the 2nd century called it "Persicus
Sinus" or Persian Gulf. In the 1st century AD, Quintus Curtius
Rufus, the Roman historian, designated it "Aquarius Persico" - the
Persian Sea. Flavius Arrianus, another Greek historian, called it
"Persiconkaitas" (Persian Gulf).
During the Sassanian dynasty and the time of the Islamic Prophet
Muhammad and the 4 caliphs, the name invariably used was the
"Persian Sea."[16] This was continued by the Ummayyads and
Abbassids, while during the time of the Ottoman Empire, both
"Persian Gulf" or "Persian Sea" were used.
Among historians, travellers and geographers of the Islamic era,
many of them writing in Arabic from the 9th to the 17th century,
Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn al-Faqih, Ibn Rustah, Sohrab, Ramhormozi, Abu
Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri, Abu al-Hasan Ali
ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi, Al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir
al-Maqdisi(d. 966), Ibn Hawqal, Al-Muqaddasi, Ibn Khaldun, Mohammad
ibn Najub Bekiran, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Muhammad al-Idrisi, Yaqut
al-Hamawi, Zakariya al-Qazwini, Abu'l-Fida, Al-Dimashqi, Hamdollah
Mostowfi, Ibn al-Wardi, Al-Nuwayri, Ibn Batutta, Katip Çelebi and
other sources have used the terms "Bahr-i-Fars", "Daryaye-i-Fars",
"Khalij al-'Ajami" and "Khalij-i Fars" (all of which translate into
"Persian Gulf" or "Persian Sea").
The United Nations Secretariat on many occasions has requested
that only the term "Persian Gulf" be used as the official and
standard geographical designation for the body of water.
At the Twenty-third session of the United Nations in March-April
2006, the name "Persian Gulf" was confirmed again as the legitimate
and official term to be used by members of the United Nations.
