La Mare(Settlement)Medieval French Means "the pool" in Old French. This was the name of a town in Normandy.
Landau(Settlement)German From Old High German lant meaning "land" and auwa meaning "damp valley". This is the name of a town in the Palatinate region of Germany.
Langley(Settlement)English From Old English lang "long" and leah "woodland, clearing". This is the name of numerous towns in the United Kingdom and North America.
Layton(Settlement)English From Old English leac "leek, herb" and tun "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of towns in England.
Lecce(Settlement & Political Subdivision)Italian From Latin Licea or Litium, earlier Lupiae. This is the name of a city in southern Italy, as well as a province named for it.
Lehi(Region)Biblical Means "jawbone" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is the name of the site where the hero Samson killed 1,000 men using only a donkey's jawbone.
Leighton(Settlement)English Variant of Layton. This is the name of several English towns.
Leire(Mountain)Basque Possibly from Latin legionarius meaning "pertaining to a legion". This is the name of a mountain in Navarre, the site of an old monastery.
Leitzkau(Settlement)German Possibly of Slavic origin. This is the name of a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Lennox(Region)Scottish From Gaelic Leamhnachd, possibly meaning "lace of elms". This is the name of a district in Scotland.
León(Settlement & Political Subdivision)Spanish Derived from Latin legio (genitive legionis) meaning "legion", so named because the Roman 7th Legion Gemina was stationed there. This is the name of a city and province in northern Spain.
Lesselyn(Region)Medieval Scottish Probably from Gaelic leas celyn meaning "garden of holly". This was the name of a location in Aberdeenshire.
Liberia(Country)English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Polish Derived from Latin liber meaning "free". This was the name of a colony established in western Africa by free African Americans in the 1820s. It declared its independence in 1847, and was one of only two independent countries in Africa in the early 20th century (along with Ethiopia).
Lilliput(Island)Literature Created by the Irish author Jonathan Swift for one of the islands in his novel Gulliver's Travels (1726). The novel's hero Gulliver is shipwrecked here, a place inhabited by a society of tiny people. Lilliput, a satirical version of Great Britain, is in conflict with the neighbouring island of Blefuscu, a satirical version of France. Though Swift did not explain the source of the name, he may have based it on English little and the archaic word put meaning "fool, silly man".
Lincoln(Settlement)English Derived from Brythonic lindo "lake, pool" and Latin colonia "colony". This is a city in eastern England, called Lindum Colonia by the Romans.
Lindsey(Region)English Means "Lincoln island" in Old English. This is the name of a region and historical kingdom in Lincolnshire.
Linton(Settlement)English From Old English lind "linden tree" or lin "flax" combined with tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of several towns in the United Kingdom.
Linwood(Settlement)English From Old English lind "linden tree" and wudu meaning "wood, forest". This is the name of a few English towns.
Lithuania(Country)English From a Latinized form of Lithuanian Lietuva, possibly derived from the name of the small river Letavka. This is the name of a country in the Baltic region of northern Europe.
Lombardy(Political Subdivision)English From Italian Lombardia, from Late Latin Langobardia, the name of a region in northern Italy, which was named after the Germanic Langobards (or Lombards as they are more often called), a people who invaded and occupied Italy in the 6th century. The Lombards' name is derived from lang "long" and bard "beard". In modern Italy this is now an administrative region, with a capital at Milan.
Loreto(Settlement)Italian, Spanish From Latin Lauretum meaning "laurel grove". This is the name of a town in eastern Italy.
Lorne(Region)English Possibly from the name of the legendary king of Dál Riata, Loarn mac Eirc. This is the name of a region in western Scotland.
Lorraine(Political Subdivision)French, English Ultimately from Latin Lothari regnum meaning "kingdom of Lothar". Lothar was a Frankish king, the great-grandson of Charlemagne, whose realm was in the part of France now called Lorraine, or in German Lothringen.
Loyola(Settlement)Spanish From Basque Loiola, from loi meaning "mud". This is the name of a place near the town of Azpeitia in the Basque Country of Spain.
Lydia(Region)Ancient Greek, English An ancient region on the west coast of Asia Minor, said to be named for the legendary king Lydos.
Lyndon(Settlement)English From Old English lind "linden tree" and dun meaning "hill". This is the name of a few towns in the United Kingdom.
Lyon(Settlement)French, English, German From Latin Lugdunum, derived from the name of the Celtic god Lugus combined with Gaulish dunon meaning "hill fort, citadel". This is the name of a city in central France.