Why didn't Iran retain the more appropriate historical name Persia?

 Persia is not actually our historical name. The last two Shahs of Iran were cultural nationalists who wanted to restore our ancient heritage. The word Persia comes from "Persis" or "Parsa," a Greek word meaning "land of the Persians." Persis was also the name of an ancient province.

Iran is our historical name, derived from the word "Eran" in ancient Parsik, also known as Middle Persian. The earliest use of the word "Iran" is found at Naqsh-e Rostam, an archaeological site in Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Four great kings of the Achaemenid Empire are also buried there. Here we find some of the earliest uses of the words "Iran," "Aryan," and "Iranian."

Now, there are words that were used specifically before "Iran". For example, "Aryanam", whose use is recorded in the "Avesta", a collection of ancient Zoroastrian religious texts in the Avestan language.

The word Persia, however, gradually gained acceptance and was widely used by the international community well into the last century. In 1935, Reza Shah officially changed the name back to "Iran" and asked the world to use "Iran" from then on. Surprisingly, this sparked a fierce controversy, and the law was repealed. But most modern states have called us Iran ever since.

Which iconic Indian film personality changed their name in a way that truly transformed their public persona?

 The Indian iconic film star Madhubala changed her name for her filmy career. Her original name was Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi. As a child artist she worked in some films with the name Baby Mumtaz.

Madhubala as a leading actress for the first time acted in the film Neel Kamal opposite Raj Kapoor, for this film also she was credited with the name Mumtaz. But actress and producer, Devika Rani, the owner of Bombay Talkies had suggested her to keep her stage name as Madhubala by seeing her extraordinary beauty.

For her natural beauty, for her sweet smile, Madhubala received the nickname, Venus of the Indian cinema. She was also compared with the Hollywood actress Marylin Monroe for her stunning looks and was often referred as the Marilyn Monroe of India or Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood.

Madhubala means a sweet girl or a girl sweet as honey. It's a Sanskrit name, Madhu means honey and Bala means a girl.

Madhubala appeared as an appropriate name for her, she really became a sweet girl of the Indian cinema. She attained wider popularity for her beautiful outlooks and she became the iconic beauty of the Indian cinema.

Even Madhuri Dixit is compared with Madhubala.

Madhubala's public image or persona truly transformed with her exquisite beauty, she also got recognised internationally for that. Though she came from a poor family, though she struggled a lot in her childhood for livelihood, she became a big star of the Hindi cinema mainly because of her famous outlooks.

She made a big name and her acting in the role of Anarkali in the film Mughal-e-Azam remained as one of the iconic roles. Unfortunately Madhubala left this earth at a very young age of 36 years as she was suffering from cancer. Madhubala remained as one among the most beautiful actresses of the Indian cinema of all time, ‘The Venus of the Indian cinema'.