Quote Originally Posted by Rtyom
It used to be called Moldavia.
Well, the historic region was called Moldavia in English, and Russian and other languages, but Moldova in Romanian.

When it was part of the USSR, in English the Russian name was used (Moldavian SSR). However since independance, the local version of the name, Moldova has been promoted by the country. Since the country and the SSR was not at all. (Compare how since Kiev is well known city in the West and widely written about, the transition to the Ukrainian Kyiv has been very slow).

In Russia they still call it Молдавия. And the capital is Кишинёв. In Romanian (and Moldovan) it is Chisinau (sp?), which is how we tend to spell it in the West now (since it is already in Latin script). Again, the country is not very well known and such so changes in spelling don't really cause problems or confusion.