Many people might be surprised to find out that Greek people don’t actually call Greece, “Greece.” They use the word Hellas/Hellada. this is the word for Greece, in the native tongue. Greece comes from the Latin word “Graecia” which was first used by the Romans. It then spread all across the world, which is why many different countries called Greece, Greece instead of Hellada.
It is true that, speaking of words, the English Greece comes from the Latin Graecia, but this word is < Gr. Graikia, the land of the Graikoi. In ancient times,
specific ethnic names were used, IN GREEK, for the
generic "/greeks/", namely Akheoi, Iaones, Graikoi, etc., and Aristotle mentions the equivalence of Graikoi and Hellenes. // It is hard to tell when Hellas or Hellespont were coined and when they came in general use in the Greek oikoumene [from Asia Minor to Magna Graecia].