Libya (Country & Region) Berber, English, Norwegian, Finnish, Turkish, Hausa, Swahili, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Ancient RomanFrom
Λιβύη (Libye), the Ancient Greek name for North Africa. It was derived from the Berber tribe of the
Libu, attested as
rbw in Ancient Egyptian. This name was revived in 1934 when the Italian colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were merged, carrying forward when the country gained independence in 1951. It is called
ليبيا (Libiya) in Arabic.
Lilliput (Island) LiteratureCreated by the Irish author Jonathan Swift for one of the islands in his novel
Gulliver's Travels (1726). The novel's hero Gulliver is shipwrecked here, a place inhabited by a society of tiny people. Lilliput, a satirical version of Great Britain, is in conflict with the neighbouring island of Blefuscu, a satirical version of France. Though Swift did not explain the source of the name, he may have based it on English
little and the archaic word
put meaning "fool, silly man".
Lincoln (Settlement) EnglishDerived from Brythonic
lindo "lake, pool" and Latin
colonia "colony". This is a city in eastern England, called
Lindum Colonia by the Romans.
Lindsey (Region) EnglishMeans
"Lincoln island" in Old English. This is the name of a region and historical kingdom in Lincolnshire.
Linton (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
lind "linden tree" or
lin "flax" combined with
tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of several towns in the United Kingdom.
Linwood (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
lind "linden tree" and
wudu meaning "wood, forest". This is the name of a few English towns.
Lithuania (Country) EnglishFrom a Latinized form of Lithuanian
Lietuva, possibly derived from the name of the small river Letavka. This is the name of a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.
Litva (Country) Russian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, GeorgianRussian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian and Georgian form of
Lietuva (see
Lithuania).
Livet (Settlement) FrenchPossibly of Gaulish origin. This is the name of several communes in France (especially Normandy).
Lombardy (Political Subdivision) EnglishFrom Italian
Lombardia, from Late Latin
Langobardia, the name of a region in northern Italy, which was named after the Germanic Langobards (or
Lombards as they are more often called), a people who invaded and occupied Italy in the 6th century. The Lombards' name is derived from
lang "long" and
bart "beard". In modern Italy this is now an administrative region, with a capital at
Milan.
London (Settlement) English, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, IndonesianFrom Latin
Londinium, of unknown meaning. This is the capital city of the United Kingdom.
Loreto (Settlement) Italian, SpanishFrom Latin
Lauretum meaning
"laurel grove". This is the name of a town in eastern Italy.
Lorne (Region) EnglishPossibly from the name of the legendary king of Dál Riata, Loarn mac Eirc. This is the name of a region in western Scotland.
Lorraine (Political Subdivision) French, EnglishUltimately from Latin
Lothari regnum meaning
"kingdom of Lothar". Lothar was a Frankish king, the great-grandson of Charlemagne, whose realm was in the part of France now called
Lorraine, or in German
Lothringen.
Lothian (Political Subdivision) EnglishFrom Latin
Leudonia, of uncertain meaning. This is the name of a region in Scotland, around Edinburgh.
Louisiana (Region & Political Subdivision) EnglishFrom French
Louisiane, named after King
Louis XIV of France by the explorer René-Robert Cavelier in 1682. It originally referred to a large territory in the middle of North America. It was sold by France to the United States in 1803, and the southern tip became the American state of Louisiana in 1812.
Loyola (Settlement) SpanishFrom Basque
Loiola, from
loi meaning
"mud". This is the name of a place near the town of Azpeitia in the Basque Country of Spain.
Luxembourg (Country, Settlement & Political Subdivision) English, French, Norwegian, Danish, Hungarian, Croatian, EstonianFrom Old High German
Lucilinburhuc, derived from
luzil "small" and
burg "castle". This was the name of a castle built by Count Siegfried in the 10th century. The city of Luxembourg and the surrounding territory became a duchy in the 14th century, and it is now a small landlocked country between
Germany,
France and
Belgium. This is also the name of a province of southern Belgium.
... [more] Lyndon (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
lind "linden tree" and
dun meaning "hill". This is the name of a few towns in the United Kingdom.
Lyon (Settlement) French, English, GermanFrom Latin
Lugdunum, derived from the name of the Celtic god
Lugus combined with Gaulish
dunon meaning "hill fort, citadel". This is the name of a city in central France.
Macarena (Settlement) SpanishBarrio (district) in Seville, which got its name from a temple that may have been named for a person
Macarius (see
Macario).
Madrid (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Spanish, Asturian, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, French, Italian, English, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Mongolian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, TagalogFrom Old Spanish
Magerit, itself from Arabic
مجريط (Majrit), of uncertain meaning. It may be derived from Arabic
مجرى (majra) meaning
"watercourse, channel" or from Latin
matrix meaning
"source, origin (of a river)". This is the name of the capital city of Spain as well as an autonomous community surrounding it.
Maghrib (Region & Country) ArabicFrom Arabic
المغرب (al-Maghrib) meaning
"the place of the sunset, the west". This is the Arabic name of
Morocco as well as the entire region of western North Africa (known as
the Maghreb in English). In Arabic the name is usually written with the definite article:
المغرب (al-Maghrib).
Magyarország (Country) HungarianHungarian name for the country of
Hungary, derived from
magyar meaning "Hungarian" and
ország meaning "country".
Magyar itself is derived from a combination of two Uralic roots both meaning "man".
Majarestan (Country) PersianFrom Persian
مجار (majar) meaning "Hungarian" combined with the suffix
ستان (stan) meaning "land of". This is the Persian name for
Hungary.
Makedonien (Region, Political Subdivision & Country) German, Danish, SwedishGerman, Danish and Swedish form of
Macedonia. In German this refers only to the region, while the modern country is called
Mazedonien or
Nordmazedonien.
Malavi (Country) Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene, Albanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Persian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Urdu, HindiForm of
Malawi in several languages.
Malawi (Country) Chewa, English, Swahili, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Turkmen, ArabicPossibly from Chewa
malawi meaning
"flame, fire". This is the name of a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It was renamed from Nyasaland when the country gained independence from Britain in 1964. Hastings Banda, the country's first president and the man who chose the name, claimed to have seen it on an old map in the form
Maravi, referring to a lake.
Malaysia (Country) Malay, English, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, Romanian, Indonesian, TagalogFrom the name of the Malay people, of uncertain origin. It is possibly from the name of a river, itself derived from Malay
melaju or Javanese
mlayu meaning
"to run, to go fast". This is the name of a country in Asia.
Maldwyn (Political Subdivision) WelshFrom Welsh
Trefaldwyn, misinterpreting it as if meaning "town of Maldwyn". In fact it means "town of
Baldwin" (in Welsh both
m and
b mutate to
f). This is another name of the old county of Montgomeryshire.
Mali (Country) Manding, Fula, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian, Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Persian, Urdu, Sinhalese, Hindi, Chinese, Mongolian, Burmese, Thai, Lao, Indonesian, Malay, TagalogA landlocked country in Western Africa, named after an empire that lasted until the 17th century. The empire's name is possibly from a dialectal variant of the name of the Mande peoples. Alternatively, it could be from the name of the empire's capital (which has not been located) or from a Mande word meaning "hippopotamus".
Malleville (Settlement) FrenchMeans
"bad town" in Norman French. This is the name of communes in Normandy, France.
Man (Island) EnglishFrom Old Irish
Mana, possibly from the Celtic root *
moniyo- meaning
"mountain". The Isle of Man is an island between Britain and Ireland. It is a self-governing British dependency.
Manainn (Island) IrishIrish form of
Man (from the Old Irish dative case of
Mana).
Manfredonia (Settlement) ItalianFrom the given name
Manfredi, referring to a 13th-century king of Sicily. This is the name of a town in Apulia, Italy, founded by King Manfred on the site of the Roman city of Sipontum.
Mannin (Island) ManxManx form of
Man (from
Manainn, the Old Irish dative case of
Mana).
Marche (Political Subdivision) Italian, EnglishFrom the plural of Late Latin
marca meaning
"borderland, march", of Germanic origin. This is the name of a region in central Italy, named for the March of Ancona, a frontier region in the Carolingian Empire.
Marlow (Settlement) EnglishMeans
"remnants of a lake" in Old English, from
mere "lake" and
lafe "remnants, remains". This is the name of a town in Buckinghamshire, England.
Marokko (Country) German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, MongolianForm of
Morocco in several languages.
Maroko (Country) Polish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Georgian, IndonesianForm of
Morocco in several languages.
Marrakech (Settlement) French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, CroatianFrench, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Croatian form of Arabic
مرّاكش (see
Marrakesh).
Massy (Settlement) FrenchDerived from
Maccius, a Gallo-Roman name of unknown meaning. This is the name of several communes in France.
Maxwell (Settlement) ScottishMeans
"Mack's stream", from the name
Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name
Magnus, combined with Old English
wille "well, stream". This is the name of a place in Roxburghshire, Scotland.
Maylis (Settlement) FrenchMeaning uncertain, though said to derive from Occitan
mair "mother" and French
lys "lily". This is the name of a commune in southern France.
Mehika (Country) SloveneSlovene form of
Mexico (referring only to the country, not the capital city).
Meirionnydd (Political Subdivision) WelshProbably from the Roman name
Marianus. This is the name of a Welsh county (Anglicized as
Merioneth).
Meißen (Settlement) GermanProbably of Slavic origin. This is the name of a town in eastern Germany.
Meizhou (Region) ChineseFrom Chinese
美 (měi), referring to America, and
洲 (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the Chinese name for the continents of North and South
America.
Meksiko (Country & Settlement) Finnish, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Afrikaans, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, IndonesianFinnish, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Afrikaans, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali and Indonesian form of
Mexico. In Finnish it refers only to the country, not the capital city.
Memphis (Settlement) English, Ancient Egyptian (Hellenized)Greek form of Egyptian
mn-nfr meaning
"enduring beauty". This was the name of an important city in Lower
Egypt, serving as the capital during the Old Kingdom period. It acquired its current name in the New Kingdom period from a nearby pyramid of Pepi I. This is also the name of a city in Tennessee.
Mendoza (Settlement) BasqueFrom Basque
mendi "mountain" and
hotz "cold". This is the name of a town in Álava, Spain.
Mérida (Settlement) SpanishFrom Latin
Emerita Augusta meaning "veterans of
Augustus". This was a colony founded by the emperor Augustus for his veterans, and it is now a city in Extremadura, Spain. There are other cities named after it in Mexico and Venezuela.
Messene (Settlement) Ancient GreekMeaning unknown. This was the name of an ancient Greek city on the Peloponnese.
Messina (Settlement) Italian, EnglishLater form of
Messana, the Latin form of
Messene. This is the name of a city on Sicily. Founded by Greek settlers as
Zankle, it was renamed in honour of the Greek city of
Messene in the 5th century BC.
México (Country & Settlement) Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Estonian, SloveneSpanish (and Portuguese) form of
Mexico. This native spelling is also used in several other languages to refer to the capital city, while the name of the country has other forms.
Mexico (Country & Settlement) English, French, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, DutchFrom Spanish
México, itself derived from Nahuatl
Mehxico. There are many theories regarding the ultimate origin, including Nahuatl
metztli meaning "moon" combined with
xictli meaning "navel". This is the name of a country in North America, as well as its capital city (the country is named after the city). In French and Swedish
Mexico is the name of the capital city, while the country is called
Mexique in French and
Mexiko in Swedish.
Mexique (Country) FrenchFrench form of
Mexico (referring only to the country, not the capital city).
Midgard (Region) Norse MythologyFrom Old Norse
Miðgarðr meaning
"middle enclosure". In Norse mythology this is the name of the realm where humans live.
Milan (Settlement) English, FrenchFrom Latin
Mediolanum, perhaps derived from Celtic elements meaning
"middle of the plain". This is the name of a major city in Italy.
Miranda (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Spanish, PortuguesePossibly a derivative of Latin
mirandus "admirable, wonderful". This is the name of several towns in Spain, Portugal and the Americas. It is also the name of a Venezuelan state.
Misr (Country) Arabic, Pashto, UrduFrom a Semitic root possibly meaning
"border". This is the Arabic, Pashto and Urdu name for the country of
Egypt.
Mongolia (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) English, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Romanian, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Indonesian, MalayFrom Mongolian
монгол (mongol), the name for the Mongolian people, possibly from
монг (mong) meaning "brave". This the name of a region in eastern Asia, now divided between the country of Mongolia (historically called Outer Mongolia) and the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
Mongolija (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) Latvian, Lithuanian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, SloveneLatvian, Lithuanian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian and Slovene form of
Mongolia.
Montana (Political Subdivision) EnglishDerived from Latin
montanus "mountainous". This is the name of an American state.
Montgomery (Settlement) FrenchMeans
"Gumarich's mountain" in Norman French. This is the name of communes in Calvados, France.
Moray (Region & Political Subdivision) ScottishFrom Scottish Gaelic
Moireabh, possibly of Pictish origin, meaning
"seashore, coast". This is the name of a historical region in Scotland, as well as a modern council area.
Mordor (Region) LiteratureMeans
"black land" in Sindarin, from
mor "black" and
dor "land". In
The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Mordor is the desolate realm ruled by the evil lord Sauron.
Morocco (Country) EnglishThe name of a country in North Africa, named after the city
Marrakesh. In Arabic the country is named
al-Maghrib (see
Maghrib).
Moscou (Settlement & River) French, Portuguese (Brazilian), CatalanFrench, Brazilian Portuguese and Catalan form of
Moscow. In Portuguese it refers to both the city and the river, while in French and Catalan it only refers to the city.
Moscow (Settlement) EnglishFrom the name of the Moskva River, in Russian
Москва (Moskva), from Old East Slavic
Москꙑ (Mosky). It is of uncertain origin, but it may be from a Slavic root meaning
"damp, wet". This is the name of the capital city of
Russia.
Moskva (Settlement & River) Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Azerbaijani, EnglishRussian form of
Moscow. In most languages this name refers to both the city and the river, while in English it only refers to the river.
Moskwa (Settlement & River) Polish, GermanPolish and German form of
Moskva. In Polish it refers to both the city and the river, while in German it only refers to the river.
Mouko (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) JapaneseAlternate transcription of Japanese Kanji
蒙古 (see
Mōko).
Mozambique (Island & Country) English, French, Spanish, Dutch, DanishFrom the name of an island off the southeastern coast of Africa, named
Moçambique by the Portuguese after the 15th-century local sultan
موسى بن بيك (Musa bin Bik). This island became the region's Portuguese colonial capital in the 16th century, and the name was eventually applied to a large area of mainland Africa. Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
Mumbai (Settlement) Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu, English, German, RussianFrom Marathi
मुंबा (Mumba), the name of an incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess
Devi, combined with
आई (ai) meaning "mother". This is the name of a city in Maharashtra, India, formerly called
Bombay.
Mumhain (Region & Political Subdivision) IrishFrom Old Irish
Mumu, possibly from the name of a goddess Mór Muman. This is the name of one of the four Irish provinces, formerly a kingdom. It is Anglicized as
Munster.
Myanmar (Country) English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, French, Czech, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Turkish, HindiFrom Burmese
မြန်မာ (Myanma), the name of the main Burmese ethnic group (also called the Bamar), which is of unknown origin. This is the name of a country in southeastern Asia. It was formerly called
Burma, derived from a variant of this term.
Naggio (Settlement) ItalianMeaning uncertain, the name of a small town in Lombardy.
Nairobi (Settlement) English, Swahili, Kikuyu, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Turkish, Japanese, KoreanFrom Maasai
enkare nyrobi meaning
"cold water", referencing a nearby river. This is the name of the capital city of
Kenya. It was founded in 1899 by the British colonial authorities.
Namib (Region) Khoekhoe, EnglishMeans
"desert, vast place" in Khoekhoe. This is the name of a desert in southwestern Africa, mainly in the country of
Namibia.
Namibia (Country) English, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Albanian, Georgian, Armenian, Swahili, Indonesian, Malay, Japanese, KoreanFrom the name of the Namib Desert, meaning
"desert, vast place" in Khoekhoe. This is a country in southwestern Africa.
Namibiya (Country) Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani, Hindi, BengaliForm of
Namibia used in various languages.
Naples (Settlement) EnglishFrom Latin
Neapolis, from Greek
Νεάπολις (Neapolis) meaning
"new city". This is the name of a city in southern Italy, originally founded as a Greek colony.
Narnia (Country) LiteratureThe name of a fictional country in C. S. Lewis's
Chronicles of Narnia series of fantasy novels (first released 1950). It was inspired by the Latin name of Narni, an Italian town in the region of Umbria.
Nazaret (Settlement) Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Czech, Greek, Armenian, Croatian, Serbian, Ancient Greek, Biblical GreekForm of
Nazareth in various languages.
Nepal (Country) Nepali, Hindi, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Greek, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Indonesian, Malay, SanskritFrom Sanskrit
नेपाल (Nepal), of unknown meaning. This is the name of a landlocked country in south Asia.
Netherlands (Country) EnglishFrom English
nether meaning "lower" and
land, referring to the low-lying position of the country. This is the name of a country in northwestern Europe. It is sometimes called
Holland in English, though this is properly one of its subregions. In English it is usually referred to using the definite article,
the.
Neuville (Settlement) FrenchMeans
"new town" in French. This is the name of various towns in France.
Niemcy (Country) PolishFrom Slavic
němĭcĭ meaning
"foreigner, German", derived from
němŭ meaning "mute, incomprehensible". This is the Polish name of
Germany.
Niftrik (Settlement) DutchMeaning unknown. This is the name of a town in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.
Niger (River & Country) English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Croatian, Serbian, Late RomanMeaning unknown, possibly of Berber origin, though influenced by Latin
niger "black". This is the name of a river in Western Africa (and a country that is named after it).
Nigeria (Country) English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, GeorgianFrom the name of the
Niger River, applied in the 19th century to the British colonial territory in Western Africa. It continued to be used after the territory became an independent country in 1960.