Shmayo I already know the map from John Speed but this far away from being an evidence that the Suryoye Suraye called themselves Assyrians or considered the ancient Assyrians as their ancestors The Deutschen don t call themselves Germans Germanen or Alemanes Alemannen in their native tongue and it s not the first time that the word Suryoye Suraye was mistranslated into Assyrian by outsiders missionaries and colonists Do you have quotes or chronicles from Nestorian Christians BEFORE the 19th century and in their OWN words which shows an ethnic Assyrian continuity The Syriac Orthodox Church has quotes and chronicles which goes hundreds of years back where they equate Suryoyo with Oromoyo in their OWN words Interestingly the Arameans from Maalula who are either Christian Melkites or Muslims call their Aramaic language dialect also Siryon or Loghtha Siryanoytha Aramoytha which is a result of Greek Christian influence on the Arameans The word Suryoyo which literally simply means Syrian in English is rather a religious term similar to Maronites Catholics or Melkites Nevertheless words can change their meanings in course of history Even if the word Suryoyo derives from Assyrian ot doesn t change the fact that the Arameans where also known by this name