indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Type Settlement
Usage Indonesian, Javanese
Scripts ꦯꦸꦫꦧꦪ(Javanese)
Other Forms FormsSurabaja, Soerbaja, Shurabaya
Meaning & History
From Javanese ꦯꦸꦫꦧꦪ (shurabaya), itself derived from ꦯꦸꦫ (shura) meaning "white shark" and ꦧꦪ (baya) meaning "crocodile". The name refers to 12th-century Javanese monarch Jayabaya, who supposedly saw a vision of a fight between a white shark and crocodile (which may have been a prediction of the Mongol invasion of Java in the late 13th century). This is the name of a city in East Java province, Indonesia.