A little more than a week before leaving office, President Felipe Calderon has a beef and he appeared before the media to get it off his chest.

“Pardon the expression, but the name of Mexico is Mexico,” he said.

It’s not the United States of Mexico, as the nation’s constitution says. Indeed, before the nation’s delegates at the United Nations, the plaque says simply “Mexico.” Same goes at the Organization of American States.

“When we Mexicans are asked abroad where we are from, we say Mexico. We don’t say the United States of Mexico,” Calderon said.

Calderon referred to history, noting that names bandied about once the country became independent from Spain included: North America Morelos, Mexican America, Mexican Empire, the United Republic of Anahuac, Republic of Mexico, and the United States of Mexico. The last name was chosen in emulation of the neighbor to the north.

Calderon asked Congress to change the country’s name simply to Mexico.

“It is time that we return to the beauty and simplicity of the Mexican name of our country: Mexico. A name that we chant, we sing, that we identify with and that fill us with pride,” he said.