What's in a name - Arabian or Persian Gulf

I'm sure most of the collectors from the region would have noticed that the covers were initially addressed as:

Qatar, Persian Gulf

Qatar, Arabian Gulf.

Qatar

In my own collection I even have one addressed to Qatar, South East Arabia.

In general, you should find that most of the covers prior to 1956 would be addressed as Qatar, Persian Gulf and after until approximately 1960's as Qatar, Arabian Gulf. A cover from the Department of Post Qatar shows the correct address, by having simply 'Doha, Qatar'. Yet even as late as 1982, there were people addressing their cover with Qatar, Persian Gulf (see image below).

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Yet, having the wrong name could have serious implications as demonstrated in the air letter below.

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Unfortunately the matter is still not exactly clear. While, logically all the GCC countries (and other Arabian countries too) refer to the body of water as the Arabian Gulf, the matter is more complex.

The US Board on Geographical Names through the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency list some 16 names for the same body of water. But the US Military, in particular the Navy has been referring to yet, since 1991, as the Arabian Gulf.

The United Nations remains committed to the 'Persian Gulf'.

National Geographic at one time used 'Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)' but this eventually was changed to 'Persian Gulf - which some nations refer to the Arabian Gulf'.

The changes occurred as mentioned above, in the 1950's when the then President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser changed from referring to it as the Persian Gulf (most importantly during the signing of Egypt's new Constitution when he stated "from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf") to, as he gained influence in the Arab Nationalism, the 'Arabian Gulf'.

So look through your collections and share some of your covers with variations on the format of the address, be them from Qatar, Bahrain, or the UAE, noting the date on them.