Mexico's president tries to change country's name again

Mexico's president is making a final attempt to change the country's name, a battle he has waged for almost a decade in public office.

The country's formal name is "The United States of Mexico," but few people use it.

President Felipe Calderon, who signed a constitutional reform proposal on Thursday at the presidential residence in Mexico City, says the formal name was adopted in 1824 to imitate the country's northern neighbour, The United States of America.

Calderon wants to change the name to simply "Mexico."

"The name of our country doesn't have to emulate the name of other nations anymore, like it did in the 19th century," he said, adding that the country's formal title is "now relegated to some official documents and some formal events through usage and perhaps by popular wisdom."

The constitutional reform would have to be approved by both houses of Congress and a majority of the country's 32 state legislatures.

Calderon however, leaves office on December 1.

Calderon first proposed the name change when he was a congressman in 2003, but the bill did not make it to a vote.