Germany (Country) EnglishFrom Latin
Germania, first attested in the writings of Julius Caesar, used to refer to the areas east of the
Rhine and north of the
Danube. The origin of the term is uncertain. This is an English exonym corresponding to German
Deutschland.
Gethsemane (Region) BiblicalFrom
Γεθσημανί (Gethsemani), the Greek form of an Aramaic place name meaning
"oil press". In the New Testament this is the name of the garden where
Jesus was arrested, located on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem.
Ghana (Country) English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Arabic, Indonesian, MalayFrom the name of the Ghana Empire, which was located in the southwestern Sahara and existed up to the 13th century.
Ghana, meaning
"warrior" in Mande, was actually the title of the rulers, while the empire itself was more properly known as
Awkar. In 1957 this was adopted as the name of the newly independent country of Ghana, formerly the British colony Gold Coast, despite the fact that the country lies outside the empire's territory.
Gihon (River) BiblicalFrom Hebrew
גִּיחוֹן (Giḥon), derived from
גִּיחַ (giyaḥ) meaning
"to burst forth". According to the Old Testament, this was the name of a river that originated in the Garden of Eden.
Gilead (Region) BiblicalMeans
"heap of witness" in Hebrew. This is the name of a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, as mentioned in the Old Testament.
Glyme (River) EnglishMeans
"bright stream" in Brythonic. This is the name of a river in Oxfordshire,
England.
Glympton (Settlement) EnglishDerived from the name of the river
Glyme and Old English
tun "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of small town in Oxfordshire,
England.
Gorjestan (Country) PersianFrom Persian
گرج (Gorj) meaning "Georgia (country)" combined with the suffix
ستان (stān) meaning "land of". This is the modern Persian name for the country of
Georgia.
Górka (Settlement) PolishFrom Polish
góra meaning
"mountain". This is the name of various towns in
Poland.
Goryeo (Region) KoreanPossibly means
"walled city" or
"center" in Korean. This was the name of a kingdom that ruled most of the Korean Peninsula. The name
Korea is based on it.
Gotham (Settlement) English, Popular CultureFrom Old English
gat "goat" and
ham "home". This is the name of a town in Nottinghamshire, famous for folk tales about its inhabitants pretending to be imbeciles in order to avoid a visit from the king. Based on this tale, writer Washington Irving applied the name to New York City in his satirical periodical
Salmagundi (1807). Subsequently, Gotham or Gotham City was used as the setting of the
Batman comics, starting 1940.
Grainville (Settlement) FrenchMeans
"Guarin's town" in Old French. This is the name of various towns in Normandy.
Grantham (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
grand meaning "gravel" and
ham meaning "home, estate, settlement". This is the name of a town in Lincolnshire.
Greece (Country) EnglishEnglish form of Latin
Graecia, the name used by the Romans for the land of the Greeks, derived from Greek
Γραικός (Graikos), which is of uncertain origin. It is possibly derived from the city of Graia in Boeotia.
Guatemala (Country) Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Catalan, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, TurkishFrom Nahuatl
Cuauhtemallan meaning
"place of the woodpile". This is the name of a country in Central
America.
Guinea (Region, Country & Island) English, Italian, Spanish, GermanFrom Portuguese
Guiné, which is of unknown meaning, possibly of Berber origin. This name was used by the Portuguese to refer to a portion of West
Africa. It was also applied by westerners to the island of New Guinea starting in the 16th century. It is now the name or part of the full name of the countries of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Papua New Guinea.
Gvatemala (Country) Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Slovene, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Georgian, HindiForm of
Guatemala in several languages.
Haanrade (Settlement) DutchFrom Dutch
haan "rooster" and
raad "advice". This is the name of a small village in the south of the province of Limburg in the
Netherlands.
Hailey (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
heg "hay" and
leah "woodland, clearing". This is the name of a town in Oxfordshire,
England.
Halych (Settlement) UkrainianFrom Old East Slavic
Галичь (Galičĭ), possibly from a Slavic root meaning
"jackdaw". This is the name of a town in western Ukraine.
Hamilton (Settlement) EnglishMeans
"crooked hill" from Old English
hamel "crooked, mutilated" and
dun "hill". This was the name of a town in Leicestershire,
England (which no longer exists). After the town name became a surname, it was used for several other cities, including ones in
Scotland,
Canada,
Australia and the
United States.
Hanguk (Region) KoreanFrom Sino-Korean
韓 (han) meaning "Korea" and
國 (guk) meaning "country, land". This is the term used in South Korea to refer to South
Korea or the entire Korean Peninsula.
Harden (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
hara "hare" and
denu "valley". This is the name of a town in West Yorkshire.
Har'el (Other) Biblical HebrewMeans
"altar, mountain of God" in Hebrew. In the Hebrew Old Testament this name is applied to the altar in the temple in Jerusalem (
Ezekiel 43:15).
Hase (Settlement) JapaneseEtymologically from Japanese
泊 (hatsu) meaning "anchorage" and
瀬 (se) meaning "shallows". The spelling of
長谷 is from a shortening of
長谷 の 泊瀬 (nagatani no hatsuse) meaning "long valley of Hatsuse". This is the name of a place in Sakurai,
Japan.
Hayastan (Country) ArmenianFrom the Armenian word
հայ (hay) meaning "Armenian" combined with the Persian suffix
ستان (stān) meaning "land of". This is the Armenian name for
Armenia.
Hayk (Country) Armenian (Archaic)From the Armenian word
հայ (hay) meaning
"Armenian", of uncertain ultimate origin. Some theories claim it is from the name of the Armenian hero
Hayk, though it is more likely that they simply derive from the same source. This is an archaic Armenian name for
Armenia; the modern name is
Հայաստան (Hayastan).
Hind (Country) ArabicArabic form of
India, usually written with the definite article:
الهند (al-Hind).
Hira (Other) ArabicMeaning unknown. This is the name of the cave near Mecca where the Prophet
Muhammad received his first revelation.
Holland 1 (Political Subdivision & Country) Dutch, English, German, Danish, IcelandicFrom Old Dutch
holt "forest" and
lant "land". This is the name of two provinces (North and South Holland) in the Netherlands. It is sometimes informally used to refer to the entire country of the
Netherlands.
Holland 2 (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
hoh "point of land, heel" and
land "land". This is the name of several towns in
England.
Hollande (Political Subdivision & Country) FrenchFrench form of
Holland 1, referring to the provinces and sometimes the entire country.
Holstein (Political Subdivision & Region) German, English, DutchFrom the name of a Saxon tribe, derived from Old Saxon
holt meaning "wood" and the suffix
-setio meaning "inhabitant". This is the name of a historical region in
Germany, near the Danish border. It forms part of the name of the modern German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Hong Kong (Political Subdivision, Settlement & Island) English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Turkish, Persian, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, TagalogFrom Cantonese
香港 (Hoenggong), a compound of
香 (hoeng) meaning "fragrant" and
香 (gong) meaning "port, harbour". This is the name of a city, island and special administrative region of southeastern
China.
Hongkong (Political Subdivision, Settlement & Island) German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovene, Macedonian, Korean, KhmerForm of
Hong Kong used in various languages.
Hořovice (Settlement) CzechFrom Czech
hora meaning "mountain". This is the name of a town in the Czech Republic.
Hotaka (Mountain) JapaneseFrom Japanese
穂 (ho) meaning "grain" and
高 (taka) meaning "tall". This is the name of a mountain in
Japan.
Houston (Settlement) Scottish, EnglishMeans
"Hugh's town", from the given name
Hugh and Old English
tun meaning "enclosure, town". This is the name of a town in
Scotland. The American city of Houston is named after the Texas president Sam Houston (1793-1863), whose surname is derived from the Scottish town.
Hungary (Country) EnglishFrom Latin
Hungaria, derived from Byzantine Greek
Οὔγγροι (Oungroi), from Turkic
Onogur meaning
"ten tribes". This is the name of a country in Eastern
Europe that was settled by the Hungarians in the 9th century. Because they were identified with the Huns, the
H was added to the beginning of their Latin name. The Hungarian name for the country is
Magyarország.
Hunnacott (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
hunig "honey" or the given name
Huna combined with
cot "cottage". This is the name of a small town in Devon,
England.
Huxley (Settlement) EnglishFrom Old English
hux "insult, scorn" (possibly) and
leah "woodland, clearing". This is the name of a town in Cheshire,
England.
Ibarra (Settlement) Basque, SpanishDerived from Basque
ibar meaning
"meadow". This is the name of a few Basque towns.
Igaunija (Country) LatvianFrom Latvian
igaunis meaning
"Estonian", derived from the name of the old region of
Ugandi in southern Estonia. This is the Latvian name of
Estonia.
India (Country) English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Estonian, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Albanian, Greek, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Tagalog, Ancient Roman, Ancient GreekDerived from the name of the
Indus River. In many languages of India, the name
Bharat is used to refer to the country. However, some southern Indian languages use spellings based on English
India.
Indiana (Political Subdivision) EnglishMeans
"land of the Indians". This is the name of an American state.
Indija (Country) Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene, Macedonian, Latvian, LithuanianSerbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene, Macedonian, Latvian and Lithuanian form of
India.
Indo (Country) Japanese, KoreanJapanese and Korean form of
India. It is usually written in katakana in Japan and Hangul in Korea.
Indonesia (Country) Indonesian, Malay, Buginese, Minangkabau, English, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish, KoreanFrom Greek
Ἰνδός (Indos), referring to the
Indus, combined with
νῆσος (nesos) meaning "island". This name has been used since the 18th century by colonial powers to refer to the Indonesian archipelago and since 1945 to refer to the independent nation.
Irak (Country) German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovak, Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Thai, Lao, Mongolian, IndonesianForm of
Iraq in several languages.
Iran (Country) Persian, Arabic, English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Hebrew, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Urdu, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Burmese, Thai, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean, MongolianDerived from Middle Persian
Eran, related to Old Iranian
Arya meaning
"Iranian, Aryan". This is the name of a country in western
Asia, formerly called
Persia in the West.
Ireland (Country & Island) EnglishDerived from Irish Gaelic
Éire and English
land. This is the name of an island to the west of Great
Britain. The country of Ireland occupies the majority of the island.
Irvine (River & Settlement) ScottishDerived from Brythonic elements meaning
"green water". This is a river and city in North Ayrshire,
Scotland.
Isin (Settlement) SumerianMeaning unknown. This was the name of a city-state in Mesopotamia, originally Sumerian.
Israel (Country) English, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Indonesian, Malay, Biblical, Biblical GreekFrom the name of the Old Testament hero Jacob, who was also called
Israel. This was the name of an ancient kingdom that existed until the 8th century BC. The modern country of Israel is named for it.
Italy (Country) EnglishAnglicized form of
Italia, originally applied by the Greeks to the south of the Italian Peninsula. It may have been borrowed from Oscan
Víteliú possibly meaning
"land of bulls". According to Roman mythology, the region was named for
Italus, though in fact it was he who was named for the region.
Ithaca (Island) English, Greek MythologyFrom Greek
Ἰθάκη (Ithake), meaning unknown. This is the name of an island off the west coast of
Greece. In Greek mythology Ithaca was the home of the hero Odysseus. Homer's epic the
Odyssey describes his long and perilous voyage home after the Trojan War.
Ivah (Settlement) BiblicalDerived from Hebrew
עַוָּה (ʿawwa) meaning
"ruin, destruction". According to the Old Testament, this was the name of a city in Assyria.
Jakarta (Settlement) Indonesian, Malay, Javanese, Acehnese, Balinese, Minangkabau, Sundanese, English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Arabic, HindiFrom Sanskrit
जयकर्ता (Jayakartā) meaning
"victory accomplished", from
जय (jaya) meaning "victory, conquest" and
कृत (kṛta) meaning "done, accomplished". This is the name of the capital city of
Indonesia. It was known as
Batavia during the colonial (Dutch) era.
Janków (Settlement) PolishFrom the given name
Janek. This is the name of several Polish towns.
Japan (Country) English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Hindi, BurmeseFrom Portuguese
Japão, which was derived from a Malay form of
Riben, the Chinese reading of
Nippon.
Jaskółki (Settlement) PolishDerived from Polish
jaskółka meaning
"swallow (bird)". This is the name of multiple Polish towns.
Jemen (Country) German, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Dutch, Afrikaans, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, MacedonianForm of
Yemen in several languages.
Jericho (Settlement) English, BiblicalMeaning uncertain, possibly related to the Hebrew word
יָרֵחַ (yareaḥ) meaning
"moon", or otherwise to the Hebrew word
רֵיחַ (reyaḥ) meaning
"fragrance". This is the name of a city in
Palestine, mentioned several times in the Old Testament.
Jerusalem (Settlement) English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Luxembourgish, Afrikaans, Catalan, Bosnian, BiblicalFrom 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.
Jordan (River & Country) English, Danish, Norwegian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, German, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Slovene, BiblicalRiver that flows between the countries of Jordan and
Israel. The river's name in Hebrew is
יַרְדֵן (Yarḏen), and it is derived from
יָרַד (yaraḏ) meaning
"descend, flow down". The river has lent its name to the country to the east (in German, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish and Slovene this is only the name of the river, with the name of the country taking a different form).
Joseon (Region & Country) KoreanThis was the name of two kingdoms in the history of Korea. The first was conquered by the Han Empire in the 2nd century BC. The second ruled Korea from the 14th century until the 19th century. The name of these kingdoms was written using the Sino-Korean characters
朝 (jo) meaning "dynasty" and
鮮 (seon) meaning "new", though the actual origin is assumed to be Korean. This name is now used in North Korea to refer to the country of North
Korea.
Judah (Region) BiblicalFrom the name of the Old Testament figure
Judah, a son of
Jacob and
Leah. This was the name of a kingdom located in the south of what is now
Israel and
Palestine, existing until the 6th century BC. This spelling occurs in the English Old Testament; in the New Testament the Latinized spelling
Judaea or
Judea is typically used to refer to the region (by then a Roman province).
Judea (Region & Political Subdivision) Biblical, English, Spanish, PolishFrom
Iudaea, the Latin form of
Judah. This was the name of a Roman province, the location of many of the events of the New Testament.
Kailash (Mountain) Hindi, MarathiProbably derived from Sanskrit
केलास (kelāsa) meaning
"crystal". This is the name of a mountain in the Himalayas that is believed to be the paradise of the Hindu god
Shiva.
Kamerun (Country) German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Indonesian, KoreanForm of
Cameroon in several languages.
Kanada (Country) German, Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Indonesian, Malay, JapaneseForm of
Canada in several languages.
Kanne (Settlement) DutchMeaning unknown. This is the name of a town in the province of Limburg in Belgium.
Kantō (Region) JapaneseMeans
"eastern frontier", from Japanese
関 (kan) meaning "frontier" and
東 (tō) meaning "east". This is the name of a region in central
Japan, including
Tokyo.
Karmel (Mountain) Biblical HebrewMeans
"garden, vineyard" in Hebrew. This is the name of a mountain in
Israel mentioned in the Old Testament.