Laos – Wikipedia

Etymology. The English word Laos was coined by the French, who united the three Lao kingdoms in French Indochina in 1893 and named the country as the plural of the dominant and most common ethnic group, which are the Lao people. [citation needed]In the Lao language, the country’s name is “Muang Lao” (ເມືອງລາວ) or “Pathet Lao” (ປະເທດລາວ), both literally mean “Lao …

: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos