"The" Philippines

[Barbara Need]

>The Bronx is supposedly a way to refer to the family whose farm was north of
>Manhattan--the Bronck's farm.  Barry, is it a myth?
>
>After independence, Ukraine dropped the "the"

After independence they told English speakers to drop the "the". As
far as I know, there is no definite article in Russian.

I still use the phrase, "the Ukraine"--I also still refer to the
African country as the Ivory Coast, despite the government's
declaration that it is to be called nothing but Cote d'Ivoire.

I have long be fascinated by the notion that countries feel that they
can tell speakers of other languages how to speak those languages.

Barbara