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List of country-name etymologies

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This is a list of English language country names with their etymologies. Some of these are followed by native names and their etymologies. Countries in italics no longer exist as sovereign political entities.


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A

  • Afghanistan: The name means "land of the Afghans", though the meaning of the word "Afghan" is unknown. One explanation is that it derives from Apakan, an 8th or 9th century Iranian ruler. Others point out a 3rd century AD Sasanian (kings of Iran who ruled most of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan during 241–642) reference to "Abgan", the oldest known mention of a word variant of "Afghan". It also appears in the inscriptions of Shahpur I at Naksh-e-Rustam which mentions a certain Goundifer Abgan Rismaund. Another possibility is that Afghanistan comes from the Sanskrit Upa-Ghana-Stan, meaning "land of the allied tribes".
  • Albania: "land of the highlanders". "Alb" from the PIE root meaning "white" or "mountain". Mountain tribes from modern Kosovo are thought to have brought their highland ethnonym to the narrow coastal plain.
    • Shqipërië (Albanian name): means "land of the eagle", the eagle having probably been a tribal totem.
  • Algeria: from the name of the capital city Algiers: French: "Alger", from Arabic "al-Jazā'ir" ("The Island"). Al-Jazā'ir is the local name for Algeria.
  • America: see United States of America below, and under "naming of America"
  • American Samoa (territory of the United States of America): See Samoa and United States of America below.
  • Andorra: Unknown. Pre-Roman, possibly Iberian or Basque.
  • Angola: From ngola, a title used by the monarch of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Ndongo. Portuguese named in honour to a Ngola, friend of the Portuguese.
  • Anguilla (territory of the United Kingdom): When Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1493 he called it "Anguilla" – Spanish for "eel", due to its elongated shape.
  • Antigua and Barbuda: Christopher Columbus named Antigua in honour of the Santa Maria La Antigua cathedral in Seville, Spain when he landed there in 1493. "Barbuda" means "bearded" in Portuguese. The islands gained this name after the appearance of the its fig trees, whose long roots resemble beards. Another possible explanation is that it may be a reference to the indigenous Indian's beards.
  • Argentina: from the Latin "Argentum", meaning "silver". Early Spanish and Portuguese traders used the region's Rio de la Plata or "Silver River" to transport silver and other treasures from upstream Peru. The land around the terminal downstream stations became known as "Argentina" – "Land of Silver".
  • Armenia: believed to be after the ancient semi-legendary figure Aram, famed for his valiant deeds. Neighbouring nations called the people "Armens" or "Armenians".
    • Hayastan (Armenian name): after Hayk, an ancient semi-legendary figure who helped found Armenia. His people called themselves the Hay after him and their country "Hayk" or "Hayastan".
  • Aruba (territory of Netherlands): There are two possible meanings. One is that the island was named by Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. He named it "Oro Hubo", meaning that gold was present ("Oro" is Spanish for "gold"). Another possible meaning is that it derives from the Arawak Indian word "oibubai", which means "guide".
  • Australia: from "unknown southern land" (Latin: terra australis incognita). The territory was named by early European explorers who were conscious of the fact that the Australian landmass was far larger than they had yet investigated. Explorer Matthew Flinders (1774–1814), the first to sail around and chart the Australian coast, used the term "Australia" in his publication.
  • Austria: "eastern kingdom", c.f. modern German Österreich. In the 9th century, the territory formed part of the Frankish empire's eastern limit, and also formed the eastern limit of German settlement against the Slavic area. Charles the Great dubbed the region "Ostmark" "Eastern border territory". In 996 the term Ostarrichi first appeared.
  • Azerbaijan: "land of fire", native spelling Azərbaycan (from surface fires on ancient oil pools; its ancient name, (Media) Atropatene (in Greek and Latin) or Atrpatakan (in Armenian), actually referring to the present-day Azerbaijan region of Iran, became Azerbaijan in Arabic. The territory of the modern republic of Azerbaijan was known to the Persians as "Aran" and in classical times as "(Caucasian) Albania" and, in part, "(Caucasian) Iberia", although this last term corresponds mostly to the present-day republic of Georgia. (See Georgia below.) Media Atropatene was the region further to the south, located south of the River Araxes. "Aran" is thought to derive from the same root as modern "Iran", while "Albania" and "Iberia" are believed to be toponyms of Caucasus mountain derivation. The name "(Media) Atropatene" comes from Atropates ("fire protector" in Middle Persian) who was the independent Iranian satrap at the time of the Seleucids. The modern ethnonym 'Azerbaijani' has often been the subject of sharp differences of opinion between the ethnically Turkic inhabitants of the modern republic of Azerbaijan and the inhabitants of the Persian-dominated neighboring republic of Iran. Iranians consider the names "Azerbaijan" and "Atropatene" as expressions of historically Persian culture, and therefore often refer to the modern republic of Azerbaijan as "Turkish Azerbaijan", and its inhabitants as "Azerbaijani Turks". In contrast, Turkophone Azerbaijanis insist on their own place as an historically continuous presence in Azerbaijani history. Note, however, that the Turkic language Azeri is widely spoken not only in the modern republic of Azerbaijan, but also in Iranian Azerbaijan.

B

  • Bahamas: from the Spanish "Baja Mar" meaning "Low (Shallow) Sea". Spanish Conquistadors thus named the islands from the waters around them.
  • Bahrain: from Arabic, meaning "two seas". Exactly which seas are being referred to is debated. Bahrain is located in a bay formed by the Arabian mainland and the peninsula of Qatar, and some believe that the "two seas" are the waters of the bay on either side of the island. Others believe that the reference is to Bahrain's position as an island in the Persian Gulf, separated by "two seas" from the Arabian coast to the south and Iran to the north. Yet another claim is that the first sea is the one around Bahrain and the second sea is the abundant natural spring waters under the island itself.
  • Baker Island (territory of the United States of America): named after Michael Baker, of New Bedford, who claimed to have discovered it in 1832 (it had actually been discovered before then).
  • Bangladesh: from Bengali/Sanskrit, Bangla referring to the Bengali speaking people, and Desh meaning "country", hence "Country of the Bengalis". The country was previously part of India and Bengali culture spans a wider area over India (in the state of West Bengal) and Bangladesh.
    • East Pakistan (former name): the name used when Pakistan comprised both of modern-day Pakistan, or "West Pakistan", and modern-day Bangladesh – "East Pakistan". See Pakistan below. Note: though the name "Pakistan" is an acronym of the various regions/homelands, Bangladesh or its regions are not reflected in the acronym.
  • Barbados: Named by the Portuguese explorer Pedro A. Campos "Os Barbados" ("The Bearded Ones") in 1536 after the appearance of the island's fig trees, whose long roots resemble beards.
  • Bassas da India (territory of France):
  • Belarus: "White Rus'", "White Ruthenia", formerly known as Byelorussia, a literal translation from Russian, "White Russia". (See Russia below.) The name was changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union to emphasize that Belarus and Russia were and would continue to be two separate nations. See Belarus: Name for more. The exact original meaning conveyed by the term "Bela" or 'White' is not certain. It was commonly employed by early cultures as representing the qualities of freedom, purity, or nobility. On the other hand, it may simply have originated as a totem color of convenience. It is interesting to note that part of the western territory of modern Belarus was historically known as "Chernarossija" or 'Black Rus'. The term "Black" was most commonly applied to landscapes bearing especially rich and productive soils. How this may reflect on the origination of the term 'White Rus' has not been explored. Yet another region in present-day western Ukraine was historically known as "Red Russia" or "Red Ruthenia".
  • Belgium: from the name of a Celtic tribe, the Belgae. Possibly further derived from the PIE "Bolg" meaning "bag" or "womb" indicating common descent, and if so, likely following some unknown original adjective.
  • Belize: traditionally said to be from the Spanish pronunciation of Wallace, the name of the pirate who created the first settlement in Belize in 1638. Another possibility is that the name is from the Maya word belix, meaning "muddy water", applied to the Belize River.
    • British Honduras (former name): after the colonial ruler (Britain). For "Honduras" see Honduras below. See also Britain below.
  • Benin: named after an old African Empire named Benin, on whose territory modern Benin does not actually lie.
    • Dahomey (former name): after the principal ethnic group of the country.
  • Bermuda (territory of the United Kingdom): gets its name from the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez who sighted the islands in 1503.
  • Bhutan: land of the Bhotia. Ethnic Tibetans or "Bhotia" migrated from Tibet to Bhutan in the 10th century. The common root is "Bod", an ancient name for Tibet.
    • Druk Yul (Bhutanese name): means "land of the thunder dragon", "land of thunder", or "land of the dragon". The name comes from the violent thunder storms that come from the Himalayas.
  • Bolivia: from Simón Bolívar 1783-1830, an anti-Spanish militant and first president of Bolivia after its independence in 1824.
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina: traditionally, the region consisted of two distinct territories; the larger northern section was named after the Bosna river. The smaller southern territory takes its name from the German noble title Herzog, meaning "Duke". The rank was conferred upon the territory's ruler Grand Waywode in 1448 Stephan Vikcic by Emperor Frederick IV.
  • Botswana: named after the country's largest ethnic group, the Tswana.
    • Bechuanaland (former name): derived from Bechuana, an alternative spelling of "Botswana".
  • Bouvet Island (territory of Norway): named after the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier who discovered the remote island in 1739.
  • Brazil: from the brazilwood tree, which in turn was named because its reddish wood was the color of red-hot embers (brasil in Portuguese).
  • Britain: from Pritani, "painted"; a reference to the original inhabitants of the islands use of body paint and tattoos; may also derive from the Celtic goddess Brigid. See also United Kingdom below.
  • British Virgin Islands (territory of the United Kingdom): Christopher Columbus named the islands in 1493 after St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins as there were a seemingly endless number of islands. See also Britain above.
  • Brunei: in its full name "Negara Brunei Darussalam", "Darussalam" means "Abode of Peace" in Arabic, while "Negara" means "State" in Malay.
  • Bulgaria: "land of the tribe formed of many tribes", "Bulg" from a Turkic root meaning "mixed"
  • Burkina Faso: "land of upright people" or "land of honest men" or "land of the incorruptible".
  • Burma: see Myanmar below.
  • Burundi: land of those speaking the Rundi language.

C

  • Cambodia: from Cambu Svayambhuva, an ancient sage from whom the original kings of Cambodia claimed descendancy.
  • Cameroon: from Portuguese Rio de Camarões ("River of Shrimps"), the name given to the River Wouri by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century.
  • Canada: from k'anata, meaning "little settlement" or "the village" in an Algonquian language (referring to Stadacona, a settlement near present-day Quebec City)
  • Cape Verde: from the Portuguese Cabo Verde, "green cape", after a cape in Western Africa.
  • Cayman Islands (territory of the United Kingdom): Christopher Columbus discovered the islands in 1503 after being blown of course from Panama to Hispaniola. He called the islands "Las Tortugas", meaning "The Turtles" in Spanish, due to the large numbers of turtles on the islands. Around 1540 the islands gained the name "Caymanas", a Carib word for "marine crocodile", as the animals can be found on the islands.
  • Central African Republic: Gets its name from its geographical position on the continent of Africa. See also Africa on the Placename etymology page.
  • Chad:
  • Chile: the exact meaning is unknown. Possiblities include that it comes from a native Aracaunian term meaning "the depths", a reference to the fact that the Andes mountain chain looms over the narrow coastal flatland. The Quechua or Mapuche Indian word "chili/chilli" or "where the land ends/where the land runs out/limit of the world" is also a possible derivation. Another possible meaning is that it comes from the native word "tchili", meaning "snow".
  • China: after the Qin Dynasty in Sanskrit (see also: China in world languages)
    • Zhong Guo (Chinese name): meaning "center country"
  • Christmas Island (territory of Australia): because the island was discovered by Captain William Mynors on Christmas Day 1643.
  • Clipperton Island (territory of France): named after the English mutineer and pirate John Clipperton, who made it his hideout in 1705.
  • Cocos (Keeling) Islands (territory of Australia): "Keeling" after Captain William Keeling who discovered the islands in 1609.
  • Colombia: named after the explorer Christopher Columbus, despite the fact that he never actually set foot in the country.
  • Comoros: from the Arabic "Djazair al Kamar" – "Island of the moon".
  • Congo:
  • Congo, Democratic Republic of:
  • Cook Islands (territory of New Zealand): named after Captain James Cook who sighted the islands in 1770.
  • Costa Rica: means "rich coast" in Spanish, a name given to it by Spanish explorer Gil Gonzalez Davila.
  • Côte d'Ivoire: means "Ivory Coast" in French. It was named by the French in reference to the ivory that was present in the country.
  • Croatia, Latinization of the Croatian name Hrvatska: origin is unknown, but thought to be Sarmatian in origin, possibly from the Alan tribe, whose primary descendants are the Ossetians in the Caucasus mountain region.
  • Cuba: Taíno Indian, "Cubanacan" – "centre place". In Portugal, many believe that the name's after the Portuguese town of Cuba, believing that Christopher Columbus was related to it.
  • Cyprus: derived from the Greek for "copper" (in Greek "Kypros"), in reference to the copper that was present on the island.
  • Czech Republic: from Čechové (Češi , i.e. Czechs), the name of one of the Slavic tribes on the country's territory, which managed to subdue the other Slavic tribes around 900. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown (according to a legend, it comes from their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia)

D

E

  • East Timor: From the Malay word timur meaning "east". In its official Tetun language East Timor is known as Timor Lorosae or "east Timor". But the official name of the country is "Timor-Leste", Portuguese for East Timor. To neighbouring Indonesia it is known as Timor Timur, etymologically "eastern east". But in Indonesia the name is usually shortened as Tim-Tim.
  • Ecuador: "equator" in Spanish, as the country lies on the Equator.
  • Egypt: from ancient Greek (attested in Mycenean) Αίγυπτος, or Aígyptos, derived from the Egyptian name of Memphis, meaning "temple of the soul of Ptah"
    • Mişr (Arabic name, pronounced Maşr in Egyptian Arabic): a widespread Semitic word, first used to mean "Egypt" in Akkadian, and meaning "city".
    • Kimi (Coptic name): simply means "black" (ancient Egyptian kmt), as opposed to the desert, which was called "red".
    • Kemt (i.e. ancient Egyptian kmt, see above): the land of the "black" (mud of the Nile, or [as some have argued] people).
  • El Salvador: "the saviour" in Spanish, named after Jesus Christ.
  • Equatorial Guinea: "Equatorial" from the word "equator", despite the fact that the country doesn't actually lie on the Equator (though it's very close). "Guinea" perhaps from the Berber term "aguinaoui", which means "black".
    • Spanish Guinea (former name): after the former colonial ruler (Spain). "Guinea" as above. See also Spain below.
  • Eritrea: named by Italian colonizers, from the ancient Greek name for the Red Sea "Erythrea Thalassa".
  • Estonia: from the Germanic "eastern way". In ancient times the Estonians were known, at least to their neighbors, as "Chudi" (and Lake Peipus as Lake "Chud"). The term "Chud", when used to describe modern Estonians, is considered offensive as it retains derogatory connotations when spoken by the people of neighboring Russia, Estonia's most recent colonial rulers. "Chudi" is probably of Finnic derivation. "Estonia" itself is almost invariably wrongly derived from the Aestia of the ancient Greek writings, Aestia actually being modern Masuria, in Poland, and probably derived from a Baltic root meaning "speckled", the land being "speckled" with lakes.
  • Ethiopia: from the Latin "Aethiopia", meaning "land of the blacks" or more specifically "Land of Burned-Faces", its roots being the Greek αἴθειν aíthein "to burn" and ὤψ ṓps "face".
    • Abyssinia (former name): is derived from the Arabic "Habesh" or 'mixed', a reflection of the many ethnic groups inhabiting the country. The term is often incorrectly cited as cognate to the Latinate term "abyss".
  • Europa Island (territory of France):

F

G

H

  • Haiti: Taíno/Arawak Indian, "Hayiti/Hayti" meaning "mountainous land", the island it lies on is "Hispaniola" roughly, "little Spain", but was also originally known also as Hayiti.
  • Honduras: Christopher Columbus named the country "Honduras", Spanish for "depths", a reference to the deep waters off the northern coast.
  • Hong Kong (territory of China): Cantonese "Heung Gong", meaning "fragrant harbour" or "spice harbour", presumably from the fact that Hong Kong was a major trading port for spices.
  • Howland Island (territory of the United States of America): Captain George E. Netcher named the island after the lookout who sighted it from his ship the Isabella on September 9, 1842.
  • Hungary: Turkic on-ogur, "(people of the) ten spears". In other words, "alliance of the ten tribes". Named after the seven Magyar tribes and three Khazar tribes who settled in the region.

I

  • Iceland: "land of ice" (Ísland in Icelandic). So named to dissuade outsiders from attempting to settle on what was actually fertile land.
  • India: After the Indus River in modern-day Pakistan, further derived from the earlier Aryan form "Sindh".
    • Bharat (native name): "Bharat" is often said to derive from the name of any of two ancient kings named Bharata.
  • Indonesia: "Indies Islands" from the Greek νῆσος nēsos "island", added to the country name India. (Indonesia was previously known as the "East Indies").
  • Iran: "land of the Aryans" or "land of the free". The term "Arya" derived from the PIE (Proto Indo-European), and generally carrying the meaning of "noble" or "free", cognate with the Greek-derived word "aristocrat".
    • Persia: (former name): from Latin, via Greek "Persais", from Old Persian "Paarsa", a placename of a central district within the region, modern Fars. A common Hellenistic folk-etymology derives "Persia" from "Land of Perseus".
  • Iraq: from the city of Erech/Uruk (also known as "Warka") near the river Euphrates. It is believed to be the first major Sumerian city (and therefore the world's first as well). From the ancient Semitic "Between the Rivers", a reference to the Tigris and Euphrates.
  • Ireland: after Éire from proto-Celtic *Īweriū "the fertile place" or "Place of Éire (Eriu)" a Celtic fertility goddess. Often mistakenly derived as "Land of Iron"
  • Israel: The Bible says that after 40 years in the desert, Moses led his followers to the Land of Israel, land promised by God to the descendants of the patriarchs, Jacob, Abraham and Isaac. Israel was also an alternative name for Jacob, literally meaning "struggled with God/he struggles with God", after the story in Genesis in which Jacob wrestled with God. See also Palestine below
  • Italy: From Greek Italoi ("Italians"), originally a tribal name applicable only to a small region at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula and traditionally assumed to be related to Latin Vitulus, "calf god" i.e. "son of the bull god" (note that Latin vitulus, meaning "calf", survived in the Romance languages and is the source of English veal, a loanword from French). However, the connection between Italoi and Vitulus has been cast into doubt in recent decades. The current consensus is that the two words are unrelated. Thus, the meaning of Italoi remains unexplained. This Italic tribe was related to the Sicels, the Oenotrians, the Opicans, and the Ausonians. See also Italus.
  • Ivory Coast: see Cote d'Ivoire above

J

(Palestine).

K

  • Kazakhstan: means "land of the Kazaks". The meaning of the word "Kazakh" is hard to express exactly, but it means something along the lines of "independent/rebellious/wanderer/brave/free". It is cognate to the Russian word "Cossack".
  • Kenya: after Mount Kenya, from the Kĩkũyũ name "Kere-Nyaga" ("Mountain of Whiteness").
  • Kingman Reef (territory of the United States of America): named after Captain W.E. Kingman, who came across the reef whilst sailing in the boat Shooting Star on November 29, 1853.
  • Kiribati: an adaption of "Gilbert", from the former European name the "Gilbert Islands". Note that the correct pronunciation of "Kiribati" is "keer-ree-bahss".
  • Korea, North/South: after the Koryu Goryeo Dynasty, the first Korean dynasty visited by westerners. The native name is Hangeuk. The ancient Choson meant "land of morning calm".
  • Kuwait: from the Arabic diminutive form of "Kut/Kout" meaning "Fortress built near water".
  • Kyrgyzstan: derives from three words – "kyrg" meaning "forty", "yz" meaning "tribes" and "stan" meaning "land" – "land of forty tribes".

L

  • Laos: from French "Laos", derived from laotian "lao" meaning "a laotian" or "laotian", may have been "lava" (ancient Indian) originally. Lava is the name of one of the twin sons of the god Rama.
  • Latvia: probably derived from the regional name "Latgale", itself possibly an hydronym. See Lithuania.
  • Lebanon: from the Semitic "Laban", "white", referring to the snow on Lebanon's mountains
  • Lesotho: after the Sotho people.
  • Liberia: from the Latin liber, "free", so named because the nation was created as a homeland for freed American slaves.
  • Libya: after an ancient Berber tribe called Libyans by the Greeks and Rbw by the Egyptians. Up to and until the country's independence, the term "Libya" was largely restricted in meaning to the vast desert interposed between Tripolitanian Lowland and Fazzan plateau to the west and Egypt's Nile river valley to the west. With "Tripoli" the name of new country's capital and the old northeastern regional name 'Cyrenaica' having passed into obsolescence, "Libya" became the convenient name for the country, despite the fact that much of of the Libyan desert is actually located in Egypt.
  • Liechtenstein: "light stone" ("light" in weight rather than in brightness). The country was named after the Liechtenstein dynasty purchased and united the counties of Schellenburg and Vaduz and were allowed by the Holy Roman Emperor to rename the new property after its own family.
  • Lithuania (Lietuva): The origin of the term is uncertain. "LIVTVE",a Latin varient of the toponym, appears in a 1009 chronicle describing an archbishop "struck over the head by pagans in Lituae". A 16th-century scholar associated the word with the Latin word "LITVS", or tubes—a possible reference to wooden trumpets played by Lithuanian tribesmen. This explanation however is doubtful. Modern scholars tend to believe the term derives from an hydronym. Still, there is no proof of any regional river once having born a similar name. The county name "Latvia" and its region "Latgalia" may share the etymology of "Lithuania".
  • Luxembourg: from Celtic Lucilem "small" and Germanic burg "castle", thus lucilemburrugh "little castle".

M

  • Macedonia,(Former Yugoslav Republic of) : After the ancient Hellenic people named Macedonians whose territory the modern republic adjoins. Hesiod, offering what is likely folk-etymology attributed the name to Makedon, royal founder, " son of Zeus" and "a grandson of Deukalion,...", "first cousin [to] Aeolus, Dorus, and Xuthus". The territory of the modern republic of Macedonia was known to the Greeks as "Paeonia" after an early Thracian group. Later the region was known to the Romans as "Macedonia Secunda" or 'Second Macedonia', a reference to the fact that Roman access to the region was largely dependent on movement through coastal Hellenic Macedonia. The legal name of the country is currently a matter of dispute between the inhabitants of Greece who claim the name "Macedonia" as their own cultural patrimony and the Slavophone inhabitants of the "Macedonian" republic who claim the name as their own rightful national name, this claim made largely through denials of the Hellenic nature of early Macedonia-proper. As a matter of trivia, at the height of the name-crisis, British officials once pondered recognizing the new Republic as "Ocean Maid" after cleverly rearranging the english letters contained in "MACEDONIA".
  • Madagascar: from the name of the island in Malagasy language: Madagasikara, itself derived from the proto-Malay "End of the Earth", a reference to the island's long distance by sea from an earlier (South Asian) homeland.
  • Malawi: from the native word meaning "Flaming Water", believed to have derived from the sun's dazzling reflections on Lake Malawi.
    • Nyasaland (former name): "Nyasa" literally means "lake" in the the local indigenous languages. The name applied to Lake Malawi (formerly Lake Nyasa, or "Niassa").
  • Malaysia: land of the Malay people. The country was known "Malaya" until the accessession of Singapore (now seceeded) with Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, whence it changed its name. The change reflected the expansion of the state's boundaries beyond peninsular Malacca.
  • Maldives: From the Sanskrit mahal, "palace", diva, "island", thus "palace island". The main island, Male, held the palace of the islands' Sultan.
    • Dhivehi Raajje (Maldivian name):
  • Mali: after the ancient West African kingdom of the same name, upon which a large part of the modern state lies. The word "Mali" came in turn from the Malinke people.
  • Malta: from the Phoenician MLT meaning "refuge". The term may have been kept long in currency by the existence of the Greek and Latin word melitta or "honey", the name of the island in classical times, and also the major export from the island during those centuries. The modern name comes from Maltese, previously from Arabic ملطة Malṭah, previously of the same Phoenician origin.
  • Marshall Islands named after British Captain John Marshall, who was the first to document the existence of the islands in 1788.
  • Martinique (territory of France): When Christopher Columbus landed on the island in 1502 (he had sailed past it in 1493 but neglected to land) he named it in honour of St. Martin.
  • Mauritania: misnamed after the classical Mauretania in northern Morocco, itself named after the Berber Mauri tribe.
  • Mauritius: named after Dutch Staatholder, Prince Maurice of Orange.
  • Mayotte (territory of France):
  • Mexico: after the Mexica branch of the Aztecs. The origin of the term "Mexxica" is of uncertain origin. Some say it was the old Nahuatl word for the sun. Others say it was derived from the name of their leader Mexitli. Yet others say it is just a type of weed that grows in Lake Texcoco. Leon Portilla suggests that it means "navel of the moon" from Nahuatl metztli (moon) and xictli (navel). Alternatively, it could mean navel of the maguey (Nahuatl metl).
  • Micronesia: from the Greek words "mikros" (small) and "nesos" (islands) – "small islands".
  • Midway Islands territory of the United States of America):
  • Moldova: from the river "Moldova" in Romania, itself named from the open pit mining its waters assisted. Molde is the German term for such a mine.
  • Monaco: "himself alone", a reference to the Greek demigod Hercules, who once was worshipped at a shrine on the territory.
  • Mongolia: from mongol, which probably means "brave" or "fearless".
  • Montserrat (territory of the United Kingdom: Christopher Columbus named the island "Santa Maria de Montserrate" while sailing past it in 1493 because it reminded him of the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrate in Spain.
  • Morocco from the city "Marrakesh", believed to derive from the Berber roots tamart "land" + akush "God".
    • Al Maghrib (Moroccan name):means "the Farthest West".
  • Mozambique: from Moçambique Island (Portuguese: ilha de Moçambique), that in turns, probably is from the name of a previous Arab ruler, the sheik Mussa Ben Mbiki, that in spoken Portuguese sounds like Moçambique, when the word is used frequently.
  • Myanmar (formerly Burma). The name is sometimes given as a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw, or that "Myan" means quick/fast and "mar" means hard/tough/strong. The renaming of the country has been subject to political controversy; as certain minority groups and activist communities charge the symbolism of the move was intended to strengthen the position of hard-line political elements inside the country. Correspondingly, such groups continue to refer to Myanmar as "Burma".

N

  • Namibia: from the coastal Namib Desert. "Namib" means "area where there is nothing" in the Nama language.
  • Nauru:
  • Navassa Island (territory of the United States of America):
  • Nepal: "wool market"
  • Netherlands: Germanic "low lands"
    • Holland (part of the Netherlands; the term is often used to refer to the country as a whole): Germanic "holt (i.e. wooded) land" (often incorrectly regarded as meaning "hollow [i.e. marsh] land")
    • Batavia (Germanic): "arable land" (derived from the regional name "Betuwe", as opposed to the other regional name "Veluwe" meaning "fallow" or "waste" land)
  • Netherlands Antilles: (territory of Netherlands):
  • New Caledonia (territory of France): Captain James Cook named the islands in 1774 in reference to Scotland. The mountains he saw reminded him of those in Scotland ("Caledonia" being Latin for "Scotland").
  • New Zealand: after the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands, which means "Sealand" in reference to the large number of islands it contains. New Zealand was originally named "Nieuw-Zeeland" by the Dutch, meaning "New Sealand". It is believed that the "Z" was retained to preserve the original Dutch pronunciation. For many centuries before the arrival of Europeans, the land was called Aotearoa by the indigenous Maori, meaning Land Of The Long White Cloud.
  • Nicaragua: named after Nicarao, a leader of an indigenous community inhabiting the shores of Lake Nicaragua, subsequently the ethnonym of that native community.
  • Niger: named after the Niger River, from a native term "Ni Gir" or 'River Gir'. The term is inevitably wrongly described as deriving from the Latin niger meaning 'black', a reference to the dark complexions of the country's inhabitants.
  • Nigeria: after the Niger river that flows through the western areas of the country and out into the ocean. See above "Niger".
  • Niue (territory of New Zealand):
  • Norfolk Island (territory of Australia): named by Captain James Cook in 1774, who was so struck by its beauty that he named it in honour of the ninth Duchess of Norfolk, wife of a noble peer and benefactor.
  • Northern Mariana Islands (territory of the United States of America):
  • North Korea: see Korea above.
  • Norway: from the old Norse norðr and veg "northern way". The Norwegian name Norge is from the roots norðr and rike, "Northern Kingdom". 'Norðrveg' is a reference to long coastal passage from the western tip of Norway to its northernmost lands in the Arctic.

O

P

  • Pakistan: The name was coined by Cambridge student and Muslim nationalist Choudhary Rahmat Ali. He devised the word and first published it on 28th January 1933 in the pamphlet "Now or Never". He made the name an acronym of the different states/homelands/regions, which broke down into: P=Punjab, A=Afghania (Ali's preferred name for the North West Frontier Province), K=Kashmir, S=Sindh and TAN=BalochisTAN, thus forming "Pakstan". An "i" was later added to ease pronunciation, producing "Pakistan". Rahmat Ali later expanded upon this in his 1947 book "Pakistan: the Fatherland of the Pak Nation". In that book he says that the acronym is as follows: P=Punjab, A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, I=Iran, S=Sindh, T=Turkharistan (roughly the modern central Asian states), A=Afghanistan and N=BalochistaN. Another shade of meaning is added with the Urdu word "Pak", which means "pure", with the full name therefore meaning "land of the Paks". use of the name gradually became widespread during the campaign for the creation of a Muslim state in what was then British India.
  • Palau:
  • Palestine (occupied by Israel): from the Roman name for the country, literally "land of the Philistines". The term "Philistine" itself is first attested in ancient Egyptian, in the form "P-r-s-t", as a name for one of the Sea Peoples. See also Israel above
  • Palmyra Atoll (territory of the United States of America): named after the boat Palmyra, which belonged to the American Captain Sawle. He sought shelter on the atoll on November 7, 1802, and became the first person to land on it.
  • Panama: after a former village near the modern capital. From the Cueva Indian language meaning "place of abundance of fish/place of many fish", possibly from the Caribe "abundance of butterflies", or possibly from another native term referring to the Panama tree.
  • Papua New Guinea: "Papua" meaning "Land of the people with the frizzy hair", named by the neighbouring Malays (who generally have straight hair), or possibly the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Meneses. "New Guinea" comes from the Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes, who thought that the people looked similar to those of Guinea in Africa.
  • Paraguay: the exact meaning of the word "Paraguay" is unknown, though it seems to derive from the river of the same name. One of the most common meanings attributed to it is that it means "water of the Payagua", the Payagua being a native tribe. Another meaning is that it comes from the native words "paragua" and "i" meaning "crowned river".
  • Peru: the exact meaning behind thw word "Peru" isn't known, the most popular theory being that it derives from the native word "biru" meaning "river" (ie. the River Biru in modern Ecuador). Other explantions are that it comes from the name of an Indian Chieftan, Beru, who, due to his not understanding Spanish, told explorers his name when they actally asked what the land was called. Another possibility is that it derives from "pelu", which is believed to be an old native region.
  • Philippines: "lands of King Philip" (the 16th century Spanish Monarch).
  • Pitcairn Islands (overseas territory of the United Kingdom): the remote islands were discovered by a member of the English Captain Philip Carteret's crew in his boat HMS Swallow in July 1767. The man who discovered it was son to Major Pitcairn of the marines, and the main island was called Pitcairn's Island in his honour.
  • Poland: (Polska) From the Polish pole, "field" in meaning "country of fields". One of the theories assume, that Poland is translation of latin "Campania" into Polish. Campania used to be respectable province and new Polish king Boleslaus I of Poland wanted to be king of respectable kingdom. Other theory introduce the tribe Polanie, "field people", and Poland is the country created by Polanie. The root is ubiquitous among tribal names for early west and eastern Slavic groups, appearing in the differing forms Polia, Poli, and Podli. There are some nationalistically driven differences-of-opinion as to further derivations of the Poli phonemic, concerning whether the root emerged first as a Germanic or first as Slavic term.
  • Portugal: From the Latin portus, "port" and the name of the Roman port of Cale, on the earlier Greek colony of Calle (beautiful in Greek). The junction name cames after the name of the Portus Cale (adding Portus to the old name), modern Porto. Thus, Portugal is a joint Greek and Latin word that means "Beautiful Port"
  • Puerto Rico (territory of the United States of America): Christopher Columbus named the island "San Juan" in honour of Saint John in 1493. A capital city was set up called "Puerto Rico", meaning "rich port". For still unknown reasons the island and capital city changed names in the early 1500s.

Q

  • Qatar: derives from "Qatara", believed to refer to the Qatari town of Zubara, an important trading port and town in the region in ancient times. The word "Qatara" first appeared on Ptolemy's map of the Arab world. In the early 2000s the English pronunciation of the term has often been "Kutter",which is truer to the native pronunciation. However, more often than not, the traditional English pronunciation "Kuh-tahr" has prevailed.

R

  • Réunion (territory of France):
  • Romania: "Roman Realm": as the local Romanized population designate themselves as Rumâni or Români. The ethnomyn reflects the common theme of descent from the ancient Roman legions installed in Dacia.
  • Russia: from a Varangian (Viking) group known as the Rus', and from the state of Kievan Rus' they founded. Soviet scholars were averse to attribute the foundation of Russia to Scandinavians rather than to Slavic cultural groups and therefore often insisted that the term "Rossija" was derived from the ethnonym of the ancient Roxolani. In fact however, the Roxolani are now understood to have been of Sarmatian (Iranian) origin. (See also Etymology of Rus and derivatives and Rus' (people).)
  • Rwanda: from the name of the people Vanyaruanda, a word of unknown origin. The name is obviously cognate to that of the neighboring state of Burundi.

S

  • Saint Helena (territory of the United Kingdom: The Portuguese navigator Juan da Nova discovered the island on 21st May 1502, and as that was Saint Helena's Day (mother of the Roman emperor Constantine) he named the island Saint Helena.
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis: St. Kitts was named in honour of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelling. Christopher Columbus probably gave it this name, though this is not certain. British sailors later shortened the name to St. Kitts. "Nevis" derives from the Spanish phrase "Nuestro Senora del las Nieves", which means "Our Lady of the Snows", after the permanent halo of white clouds that surrounded mountains on the island.
  • Saint Lucia: according to tradition it was named after Saint Lucy by French sailors who were shipwrecked on the island on 13th December 1502 – the feast day of Saint Lucy.
  • Saint Pierre and Miquelon (territory of France):
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: named after the Spanish Saint Vincent by Christopher Columbus on 22 January 1498, the day of the Feast of Saint Vincent.
  • Samoa:
  • San Marino: takes its name from Marinus, a (possibly legendary) Christian Stonemason who fled the island of Arbe (in modern day Croatia) to escape the anti-Christian Romans. He made his refuge on Mount Titano with his Christian followers in AD 301/AD 305 in the area that would be named San – Italian for "Saint" – Marino.
  • São Tomé and Príncipe: Portuguese: Saint Thomas and Prince (Islands).
  • Saudi Arabia: "Saudi" after the al-Saud family, who founded the country and who still rule it. The dynasty is named after its ancestor, "Sa`ûd", whose name means "very happy".
  • Senegal: after a Portuguese spelling of the Zenaga (Arabic Senhaja) tribe which dominated much of the area.
  • Serbia and Montenegro
    • Serbia: unknown, possibly Sarmatian in origin; name of Sorbs in present day Germany is of same origin, the Serbs having migrated into the Balkan area from the region in Germany known as Lusatia, where the Sorbs are currently found. As a matter of trivia, it is considered likely that a former sovereign State, the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, in deriving its name from the German town of Zerbst also carried the Serbian ethnonym.
    • Montenegro: Named by Venetian conquerors montenegro, "black mountain", after the appearance of Mount Lovćen or most likely its dark coniferous forests. Crna Gora, the modern native name for the country, is a literal translation of "Montenegro". The country had previously been known as Zeta, Dioclea and Doclea (Duklja). "Doclea" the name of the region during the early period of the Roman Empire, was termed for an early Illyrian tribe. In later centuries, Romans "hyper-corrected" to "Dioclea" wrongly guessing that an I had been lost due to vulgar speech patterns. The earliest Slavic name "Zeta" derives from the name of a river in Montenegro which itself derives from an early root meaning "harvest" or "grain". (Contrary to popular belief, "Montenegro" is not Italian, as "black mountain" in Italian is monte nero without the g.)
  • Seychelles: named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Finance Minister to King Louis XV of France.
  • Sierra Leone: adapted from the Spanish version: Sierra León -- of the Portuguese Serra-Leõa ("lion mountains"). Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra named the country after the striking mountains that he saw in 1462 while sailing the West African coast. It is not known exactly what it was about the mountains that made them like lions. There are three main explanations: the mountains resembled the teeth of a lion, the mountains looked like sleeping lions or thunder that broke out around the mountains sounded like a lion's roar.
  • Singapore: the city was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 who adapted the name Singapore from the Malay Singapura, the earlier name of the island. Singapura in turn derives from the Sanskrit Simhapura (or Singhapura), which means the "Lion City". Another name of the island was Tumasik from the Malay or Javanese root tasik meaning sea.
  • Slovakia: from the Slavic "Slavs", which in turn is probably derived from the Slavic "glory" or "the word" or "people from the water" (disputed)
  • Slovenia: from the Slavic "Slavs", which in turn is probably derived from the Slavic "glory" or "the word" or "people from the water" (disputed).
  • Solomon Islands: the islands were named by the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendaña y Neyra in 1567/8. He thought that there would be a lot of gold there, so he named them after the Biblical King Solomon of Israel, who was famous for the large amount of gold he had.
  • Somalia:
  • South Africa: takes its name from its geographical position on the continent of Africa. See also Africa on the Placename etymology page.
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (territory of the United Kingdom: On 17th January 1755 the British Captain James Cook landed on the main island and named it the Isle of Georgia in honour of King George III. He named the South Sandwich Islands after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time and who had helped fund Cook's explorations.
  • South Korea: see Korea above.
  • Spain: Phoenician/Punic אי שפנים ʾÎ-šəpānîm "isle of hyraxes". The Phoenician settlers found hares in abundance, and mistook them for hyraxes of Africa; thus they named the land in their Canaanite dialect. The Latin-speaking Romans adapted the name as Hispania. The Latin name mutated among the Romance languages, and entered English from Norman French Spagne.
  • Sri Lanka: "Resplendent Land" in Sanskrit.
    • Serendip: ancient name derived from the Sanskrit "Sinhala-dweepa", meaning either "land of lions" or "land of the Sinhala people"; sinha being lion in Sanskrit, and the Sinhalas being the early Aryan inhabitants of the region.
    • Ceylon (English), Ceilão (Portuguese), Seilan: former names of the country from the Pali Sinhalana meaning "land of the lions".
  • Sudan: from the Arabic Bilad as-Sudan, "Land of the blacks".
  • Suriname: after the Surinen people, the earliest known native American inhabitants of the region.
  • Svalbard (territory of Norway:
  • Swaziland: named after the Swazi people, who are the dominant ethnic group in the country. The word "Swazi" derives from Mswati I, a former king of Swaziland.
  • Sweden: an old English plural form of Swede. The exact development of the ethnonym is uncertain, but is at least known to derive from the Old Norse Sviþjoð. The etymology of the first element, Svi, is unknown. The last element, þjoð, means "people" and is the same as Deut in Deutsch and Teut in Teutons. The term Sviþjoð the Great was used to denote the Varangian rule in Eastern Europe. The modern Swedish name of Sweden is Sverige, which is derived from a Svia Rike meaning the realm of the Swedes (probably through Danish, even though the same evolution is known to have happened within Swedish: mik->mig).
  • Switzerland: from the canton of Schwyz, possibly derived further from the OMH German "Schweitz", meaning Swamp.
  • Syria: from the ancient Greek name for the ancient state of Assyria, or from as-Sūr, the Arabic name for the city of Tyre. The heart of the ancient Assyrian territory is actually located in modern Iraq, while the modern state of Syria lies on land known historically as Arram, Arram the territory associated with the ancient biblical language, Aramaic.

T

  • Taiwan (de facto independent; claimed by China): the Han characters used today mean "Terraced Bay" in Chinese. (Terraced rice fields are typical of Taiwanese landscape.) However, older characters (e.g. 台員) have entirely different meanings. Moreover, some scholars believe the characters are merely convenient phonetic vehicles for writing down an older Austronesian name.
    • Formosa (former name): Portuguese for beautiful, supposedly because of the beauty of the island.
  • Tajikistan or "Tajikstan": the name means "land of the Tajiks", though the meaning of the word "Tajik" is not clear. There are three main explanations given. A popular one is that it derives from the Persian words "taj" meaning "crown" and "ik" meaning "head" i.e. "person wearing (or 'with') a crown on their head". This theory is supported by the fact that the Tajik flag features a crown symbol on it. Another possible meaning is that "Tajik" derives from a Turkic root "tasi" meaning "Muslim". The third possible meaning is that the word derives from the Sanskrit word "tajika" meaning "Persian" (the Tajiks are closely related to the Iranians (Persians). The Tibetans call Persia "sTag.Dzig" (Pronounced "Tajik") but in Tibetan this means "tiger-leopard". This could explain why so many Tibetan legends about their western neighbours feature tiger/leopard combinations.
  • Tanzania: a combination of the names of two states that merged to form this country, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar.
  • Thailand: from the native Thai "Land of the free".
    • Siam (former name): The name was given to the ancient Thai people by their neighbours the Burmese, and probably derives from the Pali toponym Suvarnabhuma "Land of Gold", the ultimate root the Pali root "sama", which variously denoted different shades of color, most often brown or yellow, but sometimes green or black.
  • Togo: from the settlement Togo, currently Togoville. In Ewe, to is "water" and go "shore".
  • Tokelau (territory of New Zealand):
  • Tonga: from the native "South" or "southern".
  • Trinidad and Tobago: "Trinidad" was named by Christopher Columbus in 1498, so called because of the Trinity Hills/Three Sisters mountains on the island and the Christian trinity (trinidad is Spanish for trinity or trio). "Tobago" is a corruption of "tobacco" (in Spanish: "Tobaco"), which was grown and smoked by the natives.
  • Tromelin Island (territory of France):
  • Tunisia: after its capital Tunis, whose name possibly derives from a Berber word signifying a small capemaghreb/substratberbere.htm.
  • Turkey: Türkiye can be divided into two words "Türk" which refers to "strong" in Turkish and usually signifies the habitants of Turkey or a member of Turkish nation; and "iye" which means "owner" or "one who possesses". The root is commonly cited among early Altaic tribal ethnonyms, and is shared by the modern inhabitants of Turkmenistan.
  • Turkmenistan: see Turkey, above. "land of the Turkmen people.
  • Turks and Caicos Islands (territory of the United Kingdom: "Turks" after the indigenous Turk's Head "fez" cactus and "Caicos" from the indigenous Lucayan term "caya hico", meaning "string of islands".
  • Tuvalu: from the native "eight islands" or "eight standing with each other". An earlier name, Niulakita, was suppressed; it was the name of the first atoll settled in 1949.

U

  • Uganda: from the earlier "Buganda", "land of men", the ethnomym of the region's dominant group.
  • Ukraine: from the Slavic "border territory" etymologically identical to the word "krajina"
  • United Arab Emirates: self-explanatory; an emirate is a territory ruled by an emir.
  • United Kingdom: self-explanatory; "Kingdom" in reference to the monarchy. see also "Britain" above and List of subnational name etymologies.
  • United States of America: The origin of the word "America" is in some doubt, but one popular theory is that it is derived from the name of explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (see the article on the naming of America.) "United States" comes from the end of the Declaration of Independence, "WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled..." and was reiterated in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, "We the People of the United States..." (The phrase "united states" was probably used in place of a list of colonies/states because the authors of the documents couldn't be certain which colonies/states would sign off on the sentiments therein.)
  • Uruguay: the name comes from the River Uruguay, (indeed its official name Republica Oriental del Uruguay – "oriental" meaning "east" – references its position east of the river). The word "Uruguay" itself is thought to have derived from the Guaraní Indian word "urugua" which means "river of shellfish". Another possible meaning is that "Uruguay" is made up of three component Guaraní words: uru (a kind of bird that lived near the river); gua ("to proceed from"); and y ("water").
  • U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the United States of America): Christopher Columbus named the islands in 1493 after St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins as there were a seemingly endless number of islands. See also United States of America above.
  • Uzbekistan: means "land of the Uzbeks". The word "Uzbek" was adopted as a tribal name around the mid-1400s and means "master/lord of oneself".

V

W

X

There are no countries that begin with this letter.

Y

  • Yemen: from the Arabic root ymn, whose basic meaning is "right"; however, its exact meaning is disputed. Some sources claim it is from the form yamîn, meaning "right-hand side" and by extension "south" (many Semitic languages, including Arabic and Hebrew, show traces of a system in which south = right while north = left), while other sources claim that it is from the form yumn, meaning "happiness" or "blessings" (arising from the widespread idea that right = good.) The name (to the classical world "Arabia Felix") originally referred to the entire southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
  • Yugoslavia (former name): from "Jugoslavija" that means "Land of the South Slavs" (South Slavic jug = English south).

Z

See also

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