Padua(Settlement)English, German, Spanish, Dutch From Italian Padova, Latin Patavium, of unknown meaning. This is the name of a city in northern Italy.
Pangaea(Region)English Created by the German geologist Alfred Wegener in 1915 to refer to a supercontinent that existed over 200 million years ago. He called it in German Pangäa, from Greek πᾶν (pan) meaning "all" and γαῖα (gaia) meaning "earth".
Paraguay(Country, River & Settlement)Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Czech, Guarani The name of a landlocked country in South America. It is derived from a river of the same name, of uncertain meaning. It possibly means "water from the sea" in Guaraní, from para "sea", gua "from" and y "water". In Guaraní Paraguái is the name of the country and the river, with Paraguay the name of the capital city Asunción.
Pavia(Settlement)Italian, English From Late Latin Papia, of unknown meaning. This is the name of a city in northern Italy. In classical Latin it was called Ticinum.
Pays-Bas(Country)French From French pays "country, land" and bas "low". This is the French name for the Netherlands (for which it is also a translation).
Persia(Country)Ancient Roman, English, Spanish, Italian Latin form of Greek Περσίς (Persis), from Old Persian Parsa. This is the name used in the West for a region in western Asia, as well as several empires that were based there, including the Achaemenid Empire, Parthian Empire, and Sasanian Empire. This was also the Western name for the country of Iran until 1935, when the king requested that the native name Iran be used instead.
Pesaro(Settlement)Italian, English From Latin Pisaurum, of uncertain meaning. This is the name of a city in central Italy.
Pest(Settlement)Hungarian Possibly from a Slavic word meaning "cave". This was the name of a city on the east bank of the Danube in Hungary. After a bridge was built across the river in 1849, Pest merged with Buda to form Budapest in 1873.
Petra(Settlement)Ancient Greek, English From Greek πέτρα (petra) meaning "rock". This was the Greek name of the capital city of the Nabataeans, which may have been known as Raqmu to its Semitic inhabitants. Its ruins lie in Jordan.
Pey(Settlement)Dutch Meaning unknown. This is the name of a town in Limburg in the Netherlands.
Peyton(Settlement)English Means "Pæga's town". This is the name of a town in Sussex.
Philadelphia(Settlement)Biblical, English Means "brotherly love" from Greek φιλέω (phileo) meaning "to love" and ἀδελφός (adelphos) meaning "brother". This was the name of a city in Asia Minor mentioned in Revelation in the New Testament. It is now known as Alaşehir (in Turkey). It is also the name of a city in the United States.
Philippines(Country)English, French From Spanish Filipinas, which was derived from the given name Felipe, bestowed in 1543 in honour of the crown prince Philip (later king Philip II) of Spain by the explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, who originally used it only to refer to the islands of Leyte and Samar. It now refers to the entire archipelago and nation of the Philippines in southeastern Asia. In English it is usually referred to using the definite article, the.
Pieńsk(Settlement)Polish Derived from Polish pień meaning "stump, tree trunk". This is the name of a town in Silesia in Poland.
Poix(Settlement)French Possibly from Old French peis meaning "fish". This is the name of a town in Picardy, France.
Poland(Country)English From the name of the Slavic tribe of the Poles, derived from the medieval Slavic word polje meaning "field", combined with land. This is the name of a country in Eastern Europe.
Portus Cale(Settlement)Ancient Roman Means "port of Cale" in Latin. This was the name of the city now known as Porto. The name of the city was later applied to the entire region of Portugal.
Prague(Settlement)English, French From Czech Praha, possibly from the Slavic root práh meaning "ford". This is the name of the capital city of the Czech Republic.
Pretoria(Settlement)Afrikaans, Dutch, English From the surname Pretorius. This is the name of a city in South Africa, named after the 19th-century Boer leader Andries Pretorius.
Priestley(Settlement)English From Old English preost "priest" and leah "woodland, clearing". This is the name of a few small towns in England.
Princeton(Settlement)English The name of a town in New Jersey, originally called Princetown when it was established in the early 18th century. It is said to have been named for William III, the Prince of Orange.
Provence(Region)French, English, German From Latin provincia meaning "province", a Roman territorial division. This is the name a region in southern France, originally acquiring its name because it was the first Roman province beyond the Alps.