Use of a

Question

Why the "a" in "se llama a Honduras la Republica" . . . ?

Accepted Answer

Hola G
I can't see where this sentence is coming from as there is nothing tagged, but I can tell you that we also use the verb "llamar" in this way, as in meaning to "refer to something/someone in a way":
llamar algo a algo/a alguien
Here are some examples:

Yo llamo a mi vecina "la cotilla del barrio".
I refer to my neighbour as "the gossip of the neighbourhood"
Yo llamo a este tipo de cuchara grande "cucharón".
I call/I refer to this type of big spoon as "cucharón".

So, both to refer to people and to things, you need "a" in front of them:
Llamo a mi vecina...
Llamo a la cuchara...
In the case of that sentence about Honduras, the same structure is being used, although in that case, we can see a "se passive" form, but the "a" is still there:

Se llama a Honduras la República...
Honduras is referred to as the republic...

As I said, I am not seeing it in context but it looks like it is using that specific structure with llamar.
I hope it helps.
Saludos 
Inma

Answer

This came from a listening exercise titled "Bananas." The complete sentence was "Su economía depende de la banana, y por esta razón, se llama a Honduras la república bananera."

I don't understand why "llamarse" is used. Is it because it's passive? It doesn't seem relexive to me.