Moldovan
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Moldovan was the official name for the Romanian language during the Soviet period in Moldova, reflecting the region's distinct political status at that time. Today, the language is recognized as Romanian, though the historical designation "Moldovan" remains significant for understanding Moldova's complex linguistic and cultural identity.
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Moldovan or Moldavian (Latin alphabet: limba moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet: лимба молдовеняскэ) is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994, while the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian. In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian. On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.
The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldovan" as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian. Ukraine also recognized "Moldovan" as a minority language in the country until 3 December 2025, when the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, approved a bill excluding Moldovan from its list of languages protected in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.