On Thursday the United States gave the government a boost when it announced it would henceforth recognise the country as Macedonia, rather than the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) which it has been known as for more than a decade.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Poll fears divide Macedonians

And as a consequence of Greek opposition to recognition of Macedonia by its own constitutional name as the Republic of Macedonia, when the representatives of the Skopje government took their seats at the United Nations after some delay in 1993, they sat behind a name plate referring to the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, or Fyrom for short.

BBC: Macedonia's name saga