Latvia as its currency since 1 January 2014, replacing the Latvian lats. The name "Latvija" is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes (along with Couronians, Selonians and Semigallians), which formed the ethnic core of modern Latvians together with the Finnic Livonians. Henry of Latvia coined the latinisations of the country's name, "Lettigallia" and "Lethia", both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the country's name in Romance languages from "Letonia" and in several Germanic languages from "Lettland". Around 3000 BC, the proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the
Phoenix (currency) Phoenix (currency) The phoenix (, "foinix") was the first currency of the modern Greek state. It was introduced in 1828 by Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias and was subdivided into 100 "lepta". The name was that of the mythical phoenix bird and was meant to symbolize the rebirth of Greece during the still ongoing Greek War of Independence. The "phoenix" replaced the Ottoman "kuruş" (called "grosi" γρόσι, plural γρόσια "grosia" by the Greeks) at a rate of 6 phoenixes = 1 "kuruş". The creation of a national currency was one of the most pressing issues for the newborn Greek state, so that