Southern African Origin Place Names

This is a list of place names in which the origin is Southern African.

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Bechuana (Country) English (Archaic)
Older English form of Botswana.

Bocvana (Country) Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Slovene
Form of Botswana in several languages.

Botsuana (Country) Spanish, Portuguese, German
Spanish and Portuguese form of Botswana, as well as a German variant.

Botsuwana (Country) Japanese
Japanese form of Botswana.

Botsvāna (Country) Latvian
Latvian form of Botswana.

Botsvana (Country) Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Icelandic, Bulgarian, Albanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Armenian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Mongolian
Form of Botswana in several languages.

Botswana (Country) 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.

Butswana (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Botswana.

Jinbabue (Country) Japanese
Japanese form of Zimbabwe.

Malaui (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Malawi.

Malavi (Country) Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene, Albanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Persian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Urdu, Hindi
Form of Malawi in several languages.

Malāvija (Country) Latvian
Latvian form of Malawi.

Malavis (Country) Lithuanian
Lithuanian form of Malawi.

Malawi (Country) Chewa, 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.

Mallawi (Country) Korean
Korean form of Malawi.

Maraui (Country) Japanese
Japanese form of Malawi.

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

Namíbia (Country) Portuguese, Catalan, Hungarian, Slovak
Portuguese, Catalan, Hungarian and Slovak form of Namibia.

Namibia (Country) English, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Albanian, Georgian, Armenian, Swahili, Indonesian, Malay, Japanese, Korean
From the name of the Namib Desert, meaning "desert, vast place" in Khoekhoe. This is a country in southwestern Africa.

Namibie (Country) Czech, French
Czech and French form of Namibia.

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

Namībija (Country) Latvian
Latvian form of Namibia.

Namibija (Country) Lithuanian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian
Lithuanian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Macedonian form of Namibia.

Namibiya (Country) Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani, Hindi, Bengali
Form of Namibia used in various languages.

Pretoria (Settlement) 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.

Sambia (Country) German, Finnish
German and Finnish form of Zambia.

Simbabwe (Country) German
German form of Zimbabwe.

Zambezi (River) 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".

Zâmbia (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Zambia.

Zambia (Country) 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.

Zambie (Country) French, Czech
French and Czech form of Zambia.

Zambija (Country) Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian
Form of Zambia in several languages.

Zambiya (Country) Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Turkish, Arabic
Form of Zambia in several languages.

Zanbia (Country) Japanese
Japanese form of Zambia.

Zimbábue (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese variant form of Zimbabwe.

Zimbàbue (Country) Catalan
Catalan form of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabue (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabué (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabve (Country) Russian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Armenian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Mongolian
Form of Zimbabwe in several languages.

Zimbabvė (Country) Lithuanian
Lithuanian form of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe (Country & Settlement) 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.