Ancient Greek 

geographers called it Taprobanā (Ancient Greek: Ταπροβανᾶ)

or Taprobanē (Ταπροβανῆ)[29] from the word Tambapanni. The Persians and Arabs referred to it
as Sarandīb (the origin of the word "serendipity") from Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ.[30][31] Ceilão, the name
given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese Empire when it arrived in 1505, [32] was transliterated into
English as Ceylon.[33] As a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved
independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948.
The country is now known in Sinhala as Śrī Laṅkā (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා) and in Tamil
as Ilaṅkai (Tamil: இலங்கை, IPA: [iˈlaŋɡaɪ]). In 1972, its formal name was changed to "Free, Sovereign
and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later, on 7 September 1978, it was changed to the
"Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". [34][35] As the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a
number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those
over which it has authority.[36]