Tanganyika(Region & Country)Swahili, English From Swahili tanga "sail" and nyika "wilderness". This is the name of a region in East Africa. It was a German then British colony until 1961 when it gained independence. In 1964 it united with the island of Zanzibar to create the new country of Tanzania.
Tarah(Settlement)Biblical A place name (an encampment) used in some versions of the Old Testament. It is identical to the personal name Terah.
Tataouine(Settlement)French, English From Tamazight Tittawin, possibly from tit meaning "eye". This is a city in Tunisia. It is the source of the name of the desert planet Tatooine from the fictional Star Wars universe.
Tatham(Settlement)English From the Old English given name Tata combined with ham meaning "homestead". This is the name of a town in Lancashire.
Tatooine(Other)Popular Culture This is a fictional desert planet, the home of Luke Skywalker, in the Star Wars movie series, starting 1977. The planet is not actually named in the first movie. Star Wars creator George Lucas adapted it from the name of the city of Tataouine in Tunisia, where some scenes of the movie were being filmed.
Tatton(Settlement)English From the Old English given name Tata combined with tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of a town in Cheshire.
Teman(Settlement & Country)Biblical, Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew Means "right hand" or "south" in Hebrew. This is an Edomite town in the Old Testament, supposedly named for a grandson of Esau. In modern Hebrew this name refers to the country of Yemen.
Tennessee(Political Subdivision & River)English From Cherokee ᏔᎾᏏ (Tanasi), the name of a now-abandoned village, of unknown meaning. It has given its name to an American state and a river.
Texas(Political Subdivision)English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese A state of the United States, from Spanish Texas or Tejas, originally an ethnic name used by the Spanish for the Caddo. It was derived from the Caddo word taysha meaning "friends, allies".
Thai(Country)Thai, Khmer Possibly from a Thai root meaning "person". This is the Thai word for Thailand, usually written in the compounds เมืองไทย (Meueng Thaiy) meaning "region of Thailand", ประเทศไทย (Prathet Thaiy) meaning "nation of Thailand" or ราชอาณาจักรไทย (Rachanachakn Thaiy) meaning "kingdom of Thailand".
Thornley(Settlement)English From Old English þorn "thorn" and leah "woodland, clearing". This is the name of several towns in England and Scotland.
Thornton(Settlement)English From Old English þorn "thorn" and tun "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of several English towns.
Timbuktu(Settlement)English, Arabic, Bamileke Meaning uncertain. It could be derived from Songhai meaning "hollow, hole", or from Berber meaning "place of small dunes". This is the name of a city in central Mali. Descriptions of the city's wealth and remoteness first reached Europe from the 16th-century Berber author Leo Africanus. Since then the city has been used in Western Culture as a symbol for a distant, mysterious place.
Trento(Settlement)Italian Derived from Latin Tridentum meaning "three teeth", a reference to three surrounding hills. This is the name of a city in Trentino, Italy.
Trenton(Settlement)English Means "Trent's town". This is the name of a New Jersey city established in the 17th century by William Trent.
Troy(Settlement)Greek Mythology, English From Greek Τροία (Troia), said to derive from its mythical founder Τρώς (Tros), but more likely of Luwian or Hittite origin. In Greek mythology (most notably in Homer's Iliad) this was the name of a city, also called Ilium, that was besieged by the Greeks after Helen was abducted by Paris 1.
Troyes(Settlement)French, English, German, Dutch The name of a city in France, called in Latin (Augustobona) Tricassium, which was named after the Gallic tribe of the Tricasses.
Turan(Region)Persian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Arabic Historical region in central Asia, originally inhabited by nomadic Iranian peoples and traditionally said to mean "land of Tur". It is mentioned frequently in the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh.
Turkey(Country)English From Latin Turcia, derived from the ethnonym Turk, which is from Old Turkic possibly meaning "ancestry". This is the name of a country situated on the Anatolian peninsula.