Mongolija (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) Latvian, Lithuanian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, SloveneLatvian, Lithuanian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian and Slovene form of
Mongolia.
Montana (Political Subdivision) EnglishDerived from Latin
montanus "mountainous". This is the name of an American state.
Moray (Region & Political Subdivision) ScottishFrom Scottish Gaelic
Moireabh, possibly of Pictish origin, meaning
"seashore, coast". This is the name of a historical region in
Scotland, as well as a modern council area.
Mordor (Region) LiteratureMeans
"black land" in Sindarin, from
mor "black" and
dor "land". In
The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Mordor is the desolate realm ruled by the evil lord Sauron.
Moriah (Mountain) BiblicalPossibly means
"seen by Yahweh" in Hebrew, from the roots
רָאָה (raʾa) meaning "to see" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. In the Old Testament this is both the place where
Abraham is to sacrifice
Isaac and the mountain upon which
Solomon builds the temple.
Moscou (Settlement & River) French, Portuguese (Brazilian), CatalanFrench, Brazilian Portuguese and Catalan form of
Moscow. In Portuguese it refers to both the city and the river, while in French and Catalan it only refers to the city.
Moscow (Settlement) EnglishFrom the name of the Moskva River, in Russian
Москва (Moskva), from Old East Slavic
Москꙑ (Mosky). It is of uncertain origin, but it may be from a Slavic root meaning
"damp, wet". This is the name of the capital city of
Russia.
Moskva (Settlement & River) Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Azerbaijani, EnglishRussian form of
Moscow. In most languages this name refers to both the city and the river, while in English it only refers to the river.
Moskwa (Settlement & River) Polish, GermanPolish and German form of
Moskva. In Polish it refers to both the city and the river, while in German it only refers to the river.
Mouko (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) JapaneseAlternate transcription of Japanese Kanji
蒙古 (see
Mōko).
Mozambique (Island & Country) English, French, Spanish, Dutch, DanishFrom the name of an island off the southeastern coast of
Africa, named
Moçambique by the Portuguese after the 15th-century local sultan
موسى بن بيك (Mūsā bin Bīk). This island became the region's Portuguese colonial capital in the 16th century, and the name was eventually applied to a large area of mainland
Africa. Mozambique gained independence from
Portugal in 1974.
Mumbai (Settlement) Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu, English, German, RussianFrom Marathi
मुंबा (Mumbā), the name of an incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess
Devi, combined with
आई (āī) meaning "mother". This is the name of a city in Maharashtra,
India, formerly called
Bombay.
Mumhain (Region & Political Subdivision) IrishFrom Old Irish
Mumu, possibly from the name of a goddess Mór Muman. This is the name of one of the four Irish provinces, formerly a kingdom. It is Anglicized as
Munster.
Myanmar (Country) English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, French, Czech, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Turkish, HindiFrom Burmese
မြန်မာ (Myanma), the name of the main Burmese ethnic group (also called the Bamar), which is of unknown origin. This is the name of a country in southeastern
Asia. It was formerly called
Burma, derived from a variant of this term.
Naggio (Settlement) ItalianMeaning uncertain, the name of a small town in Lombardy.
Nairobi (Settlement) English, Swahili, Kikuyu, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Turkish, Japanese, KoreanFrom Maasai
enkare nyrobi meaning
"cold water", referencing a nearby river. This is the name of the capital city of
Kenya. It was founded in 1899 by the British colonial authorities.
Namibia (Country) English, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Albanian, Georgian, Armenian, Swahili, Indonesian, Malay, Japanese, KoreanFrom the name of the Namib Desert, meaning
"desert, vast place" in Khoekhoe. This is a country in southwestern
Africa.
Namibiya (Country) Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani, Hindi, BengaliForm of
Namibia used in various languages.
Naples (Settlement) EnglishFrom Latin
Neapolis, from Greek
Νεάπολις (Neapolis) meaning
"new city". This is the name of a city in southern
Italy, originally founded as a Greek colony.
Narnia (Country) LiteratureThe name of a fictional country in C. S. Lewis's
Chronicles of Narnia series of fantasy novels (first released 1950). It was inspired by the Latin name of Narni, an Italian town in the region of Umbria.
Nazaret (Settlement) Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Czech, Greek, Armenian, Croatian, Serbian, Ancient Greek, Biblical GreekForm of
Nazareth in various languages.
Nepal (Country) Nepali, Hindi, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Greek, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Indonesian, Malay, SanskritFrom Sanskrit
नेपाल (Nepāl), of unknown meaning. This is the name of a landlocked country in south
Asia.
Netherlands (Country) EnglishFrom English
nether meaning "lower" and
land, referring to the low-lying position of the country. This is the name of a country in northwestern
Europe. It is sometimes called
Holland in English, though this is properly one of its subregions. In English it is usually referred to using the definite article,
the.
Neuville (Settlement) FrenchMeans
"new town" in French. This is the name of various towns in
France.
Niemcy (Country) PolishFrom Slavic
němĭcĭ meaning
"foreigner, German", derived from
němŭ meaning "mute, incomprehensible". This is the Polish name of
Germany.
Niftrik (Settlement) DutchMeaning unknown. This is the name of a town in the province of Gelderland in the
Netherlands.
Niger (River & Country) English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Croatian, Serbian, Late RomanMeaning unknown, possibly of Berber origin, though influenced by Latin
niger "black". This is the name of a river in West
Africa (and a country that is named after it).
Nigeria (Country) English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, GeorgianFrom the name of the
Niger River, applied in the 19th century to the British colonial territory in West
Africa. It continued to be used after the territory became an independent country in 1960.
Nil (River) Arabic, French, German, Luxembourgish, Catalan, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Turkish, AzerbaijaniForm of
Nile in various languages. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article:
النيل (al-Nīl).
Nile (River) EnglishFrom Latin
Nilus, which was from Greek
Νεῖλος (Neilos), possibly of Semitic origin meaning
"river". This is the name of a long river in
Africa.
Nineveh (Settlement) English, BiblicalFrom Akkadian
𒉌𒉡𒀀 (Ninua), possibly related to
𒄩 (nūnu) meaning
"fish". When written, the name is usually prefixed with
𒌷 indicating a city. This may have referred to an aspect of
Ishtar, as from an early time the city was a center of worship of the goddess. The cuneiform symbols used to represent the city's name depict a fish within a house.
... [more] Nippon (Country) JapaneseMeans
"origin of the sun, sunrise", from Sino-Japanese
日 (nichi) meaning "sun" and
本 (hon) meaning "root, origin". This is the Japanese name for
Japan.
Nizozemsko (Country) CzechFrom Czech
nízký "low" and
země "land". This is the Czech name for the
Netherlands (for which it is also a translation).
Norway (Country) EnglishFrom Old English
Norþweg meaning
"north way". This is the name of a country in Scandinavia in Northern
Europe.
Nowice (Settlement) PolishFrom Polish
nowy meaning
"new". This is the name of a few towns in
Poland.
Nubia (Region) English, Late RomanPossibly derives from the Egyptian word
nbw meaning
"gold". This was the name of an ancient region and kingdom in
Africa, south of
Egypt.
Nysa (Region) Greek MythologyPossibly from an archaic Greek word meaning
"tree". In Greek mythology Nysa was the mountainous region where young
Dionysos was raised.
Odessa (Settlement) RussianFrom the name of the ancient Greek city of
Odessos (which was located at a different site). This is the name of a Ukrainian city that sits on the north coast of the Black Sea.
Odessos (Settlement) Ancient GreekMeaning uncertain. This was the name of an ancient Greek city located on the west coast of the Black Sea, at the site of present-day Varna,
Bulgaria.
Oirschot (Settlement) DutchPossibly from Dutch
oeros meaning "aurochs" and
schoot meaning "projection (of land)". This is the name of a town in the province of Noord-Brabant in the
Netherlands.
Olanda (Political Subdivision & Country) ItalianItalian form of
Holland 1, referring to the provinces and sometimes the entire country.
Oman (Country) English, French, Italian, Catalan, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Mongolian, Hindi, Bengali, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, Korean, TagalogFrom Arabic
عمان (ʿUmān), probably from the name of an ancient town called
Omana by the Roman author Pliny the Elder in the 1st century. It can probably be identified with the modern city of Suhar, and is from an Arabic root meaning
"to settle, to remain, to dwell". This is the name of a country on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
Orléans (Settlement) FrenchFrench form of
Aurelianum, the name of a city in central
France. The city in Louisiana,
La Nouvelle-Orléans or
New Orleans, was named after Philippe II, the Duke of Orléans.
Orleans (Settlement) EnglishEnglish form of
Orléans. This is the name of several towns in the Americas, notably the city of New Orleans in Louisiana.
Oz 1 (Region) LiteratureInvented by the American author L. Frank Baum for the setting of his fantasy novel
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). There are several unsubstantiated theories about how Baum created the name, though it seems probable he simply made it up.
Pakistan (Country) Urdu, Punjabi, English, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Slovak, Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, SerbianFrom Persian
پاک (pāk) meaning "pure" and the suffix
ستان (stān) meaning "land of". The name was coined in 1933 by the Pakistani nationalist Choudhry Rahmat Ali who justified it as an acronym of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir and Sindh, plus the final three letters of Baluchistan.
Panama (Country & Settlement) English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Burmese, Thai, Lao, Khmer, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Japanese, KoreanFrom Spanish
Panamá, of uncertain meaning. It may be derived from the name of a tree commonly found in the area (species Sterculia apetala). Alternatively it could be related to Guaraní
panambi meaning
"butterfly" or Kuna
bannaba meaning
"distant, far away". This is the name of a country in Central
America. It is also the name of its capital, usually called
Panama City in English.
Pangaea (Region) EnglishCreated 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, GuaraniThe 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.
Paris (Settlement) French, English, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Romanian, Turkish, Persian, HausaFrom the ancient Celtic tribe known as the Parisii. This is the capital city of
France.
Pavia (Settlement) Italian, EnglishFrom 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) FrenchFrom French
pays "country, land" and
bas "low". This is the French name for the
Netherlands (for which it is also a translation).
Peking (Settlement) German, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, English (Archaic)Form of
Beijing in various languages, as well as an older English form.
Persia (Country) Ancient Roman, English, Spanish, ItalianLatin 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 the Western name for the country of Iran until 1935, when the king requested that the native name
Iran be used instead.
Peru (Country) English, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Hungarian, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, HindiFrom Spanish
Perú, older
Birú, which was possibly derived from the name of a chieftain (who nevertheless resided in modern-day Panama).
Pest (Settlement) HungarianPossibly 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, EnglishFrom 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) DutchMeaning unknown. This is the name of a town in Limburg in the
Netherlands.
Peyton (Settlement) EnglishMeans
"Pæga's town". This is the name of a town in Sussex.
Philippines (Country) English, FrenchFrom 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) PolishDerived from Polish
pień meaning
"stump, tree trunk". This is the name of a town in Silesia in
Poland.
Poix (Settlement) FrenchPossibly from Old French
peis meaning
"fish". This is the name of a town in Picardy,
France.
Poland (Country) EnglishFrom 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.
Pontecorvo (Settlement) ItalianFrom Italian
ponte "bridge" and
curvo "curved". This is the name of a town in central
Italy.
Portugal (Country) Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, German, Dutch, Luxembourgish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Indonesian, MalayFrom
Portugale, which was derived from
Portus Cale, the old name of the city of Porto. The name of the city was later applied to the entire country.
Prag (Settlement) German, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Luxembourgish, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, TurkishGerman, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Luxembourgish, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Turkish form of
Praha (see
Prague).
Praga (Settlement) Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Slovene, Russian, Bulgarian, GreekItalian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Slovene, Russian, Bulgarian and Greek form of
Praha (see
Prague).
Prague (Settlement) English, FrenchFrom Czech
Praha, possibly from the Slavic root
práh meaning
"ford". This is the name of the capital city of the Czech Republic.
Princeton (Settlement) EnglishThe 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, GermanFrom 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.
Quds (Settlement) ArabicMeans
"holy" in Arabic. This is the Arabic name for
Jerusalem, usually written with the definite article:
القدْس (al-Quds).
Quebec (Settlement & Political Subdivision) EnglishEnglish form of French
Québec, derived from the Algonquin word
kepec meaning
"narrows", referring to the Saint Lawrence River near Quebec City. This is the name of a Canadian province and also the capital city of that province.
Ramsey (Settlement) EnglishMeans
"garlic island", derived from Old English
hramsa "garlic" and
eg "island". This is the name of villages in
England.