Which is an old name of Thailand?

Siam is an old name of Thailand. The word is derived from the word Tai meaning “free” in the Thai language; it is, however, the name of an ethnic group from the central plains (the Thai people). Some people argued that Tai simply means “people” or “human being” since his investigation shows that in some rural areas the word “Tai” was used instead of the usual Thai word “khon” for people. With that in mind the locals seemed to have also accepted the alternative meaning and will verbally state that it means “Land of the free”. This might be due to language barriers and the avoidance of long difficult explanations.