Southern African Place Names

Southern African names include those from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. See also about African names.

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the letters in the pattern are compared to the letters in the name * is a wildcard that matches zero or more letters example: oo matches names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that matches exactly one letter example: __z matches names which have two letters and then z

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the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive matches Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* excludes peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree are included

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Athene (Settlement) Dutch, Southern African, Afrikaans
Dutch and Afrikaans form of Athens.

Bolivië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Bolivia.

Botswana (Country) Southern African, Tswana, English, Shona, German, French, Italian, Catalan, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian
Means "place of the Tswana people" in the Tswana language, from the locative prefix bo- combined with the name of Tswana people, itself of uncertain origin, possibly from tswa "to go out" or tshwana "to resemble". This is the name of a country in southern Africa. During the British colonial period the region was called Bechuanaland, which was more accurately rendered as Botswana when the country achieved independence in 1966.

Brasilië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Brazil.

Bulgarye (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Bulgaria.

Chili (Country) French, Dutch, Southern African, Afrikaans, Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Mongolian, Indonesian, Thai
Form of Chile in several languages.

Denemarke (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Denmark.

Egipte (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans, Catalan
Afrikaans and Catalan form of Egypte or Aegyptus (see Egypt).

Frankryk (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Frankrijk.

Gaboen (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Gabon.

Hongarye (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Hungary.

Jemen (Country) German, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Dutch, Southern African, Afrikaans, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian
Form of Yemen in several languages.

Jerusalem (Settlement) English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Luxembourgish, Southern African, Afrikaans, Catalan, Bosnian, Biblical
From Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim), from an earlier Canaanite form like Urushalim, probably meaning "established by (the god) Shalim". This is the name of a city in Israel and Palestine. Originally a Canaanite city, it was conquered by the Israelites under King David at the beginning of the 10th century BC. It is now regarded as a holy city by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Kroasië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Croatia.

Malawi (Country) Southern African, Chewa, Eastern African, English, Swahili, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Turkmen, Arabic
Possibly 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.

Maleisië (Country) Dutch, Southern African, Afrikaans
Dutch and Afrikaans form of Malaysia.

Meksiko (Country & Settlement) Finnish, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Southern African, Indian, Afrikaans, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Indonesian
Finnish, 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.

Namib (Region) Southern African, Khoekhoe, English
Means "desert, vast place" in Khoekhoe. This is the name of a desert in southwestern Africa, mainly in the country of Namibia.

Namibië (Country) Dutch, Southern African, Afrikaans
Dutch and Afrikaans form of Namibia.

Noorweë (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Norway.

Oekraïne (Country) Dutch, Southern African, Afrikaans
Dutch and Afrikaans form of Ukraine.

Oesbekistan (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Uzbekistan.

Oostenryk (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Austria.

Persië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Persia.

Pretoria (Settlement) Southern African, 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.

Serwië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Serbia.

Sirië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Syria.

Slowakye (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Slovakia.

Slowenië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Slovenia.

Tsjeggië (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Tsjechië.

Turkye (Country) Southern African, Afrikaans
Afrikaans form of Turkey.

Zambezi (River) Southern African, Chewa, Bemba, Tonga, Shona, English
The name of a river in southern Africa, of uncertain meaning. It could possibly be from the name of the Bisa people of Zambia. According to the explorer David Livingstone it meant "great river".

Zambia (Country) Southern African, Chewa, Bemba, Tonga, English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian
From the name of the Zambezi River. It was adopted as the name of the African country of Zambia, formerly called Northern Rhodesia, when it became independent of the United Kingdom in 1964.

Zimbabwe (Country & Settlement) Southern African, Shona, Ndebele, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian
From the Shona language, possibly from dzimba "houses" and ibwe "stone". Great Zimbabwe was an ancient city, falling into ruin in the 15th century. It was located in the country of Zimbabwe, which was named after the ancient city in 1980 when it gained independence from the United Kingdom. It was formerly called Southern Rhodesia by the British.

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