Why was Benin known as Dahomey before 1975?

The country was known as Dahomey because it was named after the Kingdom of Dahomey, a powerful state that dominated the region during the 18th and 19th centuries.123

Following the French conquest of the kingdom in the 1890s, the colonial administration incorporated the territory and officially renamed it Dahomey in 1894. This name persisted through the colonial period and remained in use after the country achieved independence in 1960.1456

The name was officially changed to the People’s Republic of Benin in 1975, following a 1972 military coup led by Mathieu Kérékou, who subsequently adopted a Marxist-Leninist policy for the nation. The new name was chosen in reference to the Bight of Benin, rather than the precolonial kingdom of Benin located in modern-day Nigeria.561