What's in a Name?

I've been following the cyclone disaster in Myanmar closely today. It is such a terrible tragedy for a country with so few resources to begin with. The current death toll estimate of 22,000 is the size of the city of Ypsilanti, Michigan or Ithaca, New York. It's so hard to wrap my head around destruction so massive and so sudden.

What I find interesting about the coverage of this event is how the two major newspapers that I read regularly refer to the country. The New York Times calls it Myanmar, the name that the military government declared in 1989, while USA Today uses Burma, the previous name. The United Nations recognizes the name Myanmar, but the United States does not. I understand that the U.S. does not want to officially recognize the name change so as not to legitimize the military regime. However, after almost 20 years, I'm not sure that we're really making a statement with this issue any more.