Why do so many Iranians identify themselves as "Persian"?

[J Bananas]

No hate or anything. There's a huge Iranian/"persian" community in the Bay Area and I've known some hella cool people since I was little, but I never bothered to ask why they don't just say "I'm Iranian"? Or is Persian a different lineage of people from Iran..As of late I've been talking to an apartment broker from the san fernando valley and who is a family friend, and she's been telling me there's a lot of Iranians or "Persians" that settled there. some of you gotta know about their culture so llemme know what the deal is with that..Peace

[K.Dub]

I don't really have a clue, but I guess it goes back to the ancient mighty Persian kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persia

[Furor Teutonicus]

Perhaps because Persia sounds cooler than "Land of the Aryans"

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

"Iranian" means you're actually from Iran and "Persian" is simply the whole culture...this is like asking why black people don't identify themselves as "African".

[Primo]

Perhaps because Persia sounds cooler than "Land of the Aryans"

lol true

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Iran is a country. Persian is an ethnicity.

[big mat]

i dont know why but this puta is holding it down when it comes to persion/iranian porn:

http://www.tube8.com/teen/persia-teen-squirter/29994/

[Dubbz]

Iran is Persia

[Ali Tha Great]

thats what i've been saying dawg...I can't stand it when i ask an iranian person where they're from and they say"I'm persian"...which isn't answering the question...I said...where r u FROM...the answer should be a location...not an ethnicity muhfuckazzz...most IRANIANS say that they're persian because it sounds better and less threatening than iranian...like iran is a"TERRORIST" country or some shit...pfffwww...

[King Tech Quadafi]

This is a very tricky situation

Iran refers to a country, and every citizen of Iran is called an Iranian

Iranians however refer to themselves as Persian which is the name of the ancient empire. But its actually a mistake, an attempt to monopolize the use of that term

If we use the Persian empire as a barometer of what is considered a Persian, then Azeris, Armenians (who actually speak an ancient Persian language), Kurds, Iranians, Tajiks and Pashtuns are considered Persians because these peoples lands made up the Persian empire. Plus the intermingling of Parthian, Scythian and Medes genes plus to some extent semetic on the western part and dravidian on the eastern part.

If we use the Indo Iranian linguistic group as the barometer for Persians, then we include Pakistanis and Balotch

Technically the most correct interpretation would be that all Persian speakers can be considered Persian. But Farsi is the official language in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Tajiks infact means eastern Iranians, usually Sunni Muslim.

But when an Afghan Farsi speaker (not Pashtun cuz we would never claim persian) claims to be Persian, he is made fun of for being a wannabe. But then an Azeri or Turkic descended Iranian can claim Persian? Makes no sense.

Many of the Persian empires notables, warriors and poets came from modern day Afghanistan like Balkhi, Rumi and Jalaludin Afghani.

[King Tech Quadafi]

Not to mention that the term "Persian" is non existent in Farsi.

The language is Farsi, the land Pars, the people Aryan.

[Ali Tha Great]

Not to mention that the term "Persian" is non existent in Farsi.

The language is Farsi, the land Pars, the people Aryan.

word son...

[Don Jacob]

i dont know why but this puta is holding it down when it comes to persion/iranian porn:

http://www.tube8.com/teen/persia-teen-squirter/29994/

damn, that's one hot piece of pussy right there.

[Ali Tha Great]

Not to mention that the term "Persian" is non existent in Farsi.

The language is Farsi, the land Pars, the people Aryan.

word son...

well its actually parsi...with a p...not farsi...

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

thats what i've been saying dawg...I can't stand it when i ask an iranian person where they're from and they say"I'm persian"...which isn't answering the question...I said...where r u FROM...the answer should be a location...not an ethnicity muhfuckazzz...most IRANIANS say that they're persian because it sounds better and less threatening than iranian...like iran is a"TERRORIST" country or some shit...pfffwww...

Word!

That's kind of how I see it.  They shouldn't be ashamed to be from Iran though.  A lot of people are really interested to meet, get to know, and be friends with an Iranian.  They shouldn't assume everyone just thinks they are a terrorist or something.  It's usually the opposite that people are curious and would like to know more about them.  So it's better to open up. 

And Iranians should be proud that their country hasn't bent over and taken it in the ass from America like some other countries have.