Arabic Place Names

Arabic names are used in the Arab world, as well as some other regions within the larger Muslim world. They are not necessarily of Arabic origin, though most in fact are. Compare also Persian names and Turkish names. See also about Arabic names.
type
usage
Afghanistan أفغانستان (Country) Pashto, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, English, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Malay
From Pashto افغانستان (Afghānistān), from the Persian ethnic name افغان (Afghān) meaning "Afghan, Pashtun" combined with the Persian suffix ستان (stān) meaning "land of". This is the name of a country in central Asia.
Almanya ألمانيا (Country) Turkish, Arabic
Turkish and Arabic form of Alemannia, used as the name for Germany.
Amrika أمريكا (Region & Country) Arabic, Persian
Arabic and Persian form of America, used to refer to the continents and the United States of America.
Antarktika أنتاركتيكا (Region) German, Norwegian, Afrikaans, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Arabic, Turkish, Indonesian
Form of Antarctica in various languages.
Ariha أريحا (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Jericho.
Ashur آشور (Settlement & Region) English, Arabic, Persian, Akkadian
From Akkadian 𒀸𒋩 (Assur), meaning unknown. This was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, supposedly named for the god Ashur, though the god was in fact probably named for the city. The empire, Assyria, was also named for it. The city was destroyed in the 14th century by the forces of Tamerlane.... [more]
Asiya آسيا (Region) Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani, Hausa
Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani and Hausa form of Asia.
Athina أثينا (Settlement) Greek, Arabic
Modern Greek and Arabic form of Athens.
Bahrain بحرين (Country & Island) Arabic, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Romanian, Catalan, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
Means "two seas" in Arabic, derived from بحر (baḥr) meaning "sea" combined with the dual suffix ين (ayn). This is the name of a small island country in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: البحرين (al-Baḥrayn).
Bahrayn بحرين (Country & Island) Arabic
Arabic form of Bahrain.
Banama بنما (Country & Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Panama.
Banghladish بنغلاديش (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Bangladesh.
Barazil برازيل (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Brazil, usually written with the definite article: البرازيل (al-Barāzīl).
Baris باريس (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Paris.
Batra بتراء (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Petra. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: البتراء (al-Batrāʾ).
Bayt Lahm بيت لحم (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Bethlehem. The Arabic word لحم (laḥm) meaning "meat" is cognate with Hebrew לֶחֶם (leḥem) meaning "bread".
Bikin بكين (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Beijing.
Brunai بروناي (Country) Bengali, Thai, Arabic
Bengali and Thai form of Brunei, as well as an alternate Arabic transcription.
Brunay بروناي (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Brunei.
Butswana بوتسوانا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Botswana.
Dimashq دمشْق (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Damascus.
Dubayy دبيّ (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Arabic
Arabic form of Dubai.
Faransa فرنسا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of France.
Faris فارس (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Persia.
Furat فرات (River) Arabic
Arabic form of Euphrates. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: الفرات (al-Furāt).
Ghana غانا (Country) English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Arabic, Indonesian, Malay
From 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.
Hind هند (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of India, usually written with the definite article: الهند (al-Hind).
Hira حراء (Other) Arabic
Meaning unknown. This is the name of the cave near Mecca where the Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation.
Hungh Kungh هونْغ كونْغ (Political Subdivision, Settlement & Island) Arabic
Arabic form of Hong Kong.
Iran إيران (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, Mongolian
Derived 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.
Iraq عراق (Country) Arabic, English, Italian, Catalan, Malay
From Arabic العراق (al-ʿIrāq), probably derived from the name of the ancient Sumerian/Akkadian city of Uruk. This is the name of a country in the Middle East.
Isbaniya إسبانيا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Hispania (see Spain).
Iskandariya إسكندرية (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Alexandria, usually written with the definite article: الإسكندرية (al-ʾIskandariya).
Italiya إيطاليا (Country) Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Arabic, Persian
Form of Italy in several languages.
Jakarta جاكرتا (Settlement) Indonesian, Malay, Javanese, Acehnese, Balinese, Minangkabau, Sundanese, English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Arabic, Hindi
From 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.
Jayhun جيحون (River) Arabic
Arabic form of Gihon, used also as the name of the Amu Darya river in central Asia.
Jaza'ir جزائر (Settlement & Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Algiers and Algeria, usually written with the definite article: الجزائر (al-Jazāʾir).
Jurjiya جورجيا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Gorj. This is the Arabic name for the country of Georgia.
Kurdistan كردستان (Region) Kurdish, Arabic, English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian
From Kurdish کوردستان (Kurdistan), from the Persian ethnic name کرد (Kord) meaning "Kurd" combined with the Persian suffix ستان (stān) meaning "land of". This is the name of the region in the midst of Iran, Iraq and Turkey that is primarily inhabited by the Kurdish people.
Landan لندن (Settlement) Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Burmese, Hausa
Form of London in several languages.
Laws لاوْس (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Laos.
Libiya ليبيا (Country) Arabic, Bulgarian, Tajik, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Urdu, Chinese
Form of Libya in several languages.
Madina مدينة (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Medina, usually written with the definite article: المدينة (al-Madīna).
Madrid مدريد (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Spanish, Asturian, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, French, Italian, English, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Mongolian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
From Old Spanish Magerit, itself from Arabic مجريط (Majrīṭ), of uncertain meaning. It may be derived from Arabic مجرى (majrā) meaning "watercourse, channel" or from Latin matrix meaning "source, origin (of a river)". This is the name of the capital city of Spain as well as an autonomous community surrounding it.
Maghrib مغرب (Region & Country) Arabic
From Arabic المغرب (al-Maghrib) meaning "the place of the sunset, the west". This is the Arabic name of Morocco as well as the entire region of western North Africa (known as the Maghreb in English). In Arabic the name is usually written with the definite article: المغرب (al-Maghrib).
Majar مجر (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of magyar (see Magyarország). It is usually written with the definite article: المجر (al-Majar).
Malawi مالاوي (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 the south of 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.
Malayziya ماليزيا (Country) Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Azerbaijani
Form of Malaysia in several languages.
Mali مالي (Country) Manding, Fula, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian, Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Persian, Urdu, Sinhalese, Hindi, Chinese, Mongolian, Burmese, Thai, Lao, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
A landlocked country in West Africa, named after an empire that lasted until the 17th century. The empire's name is possibly from a dialectal variant of the name of the Mande peoples. Alternatively, it could be from the name of the empire's capital (which has not been located) or from a Mande word meaning "hippopotamus".
Maqduniya مقْدونيا (Region, Country & Political Subdivision) Arabic
Arabic form of Macedonia.
Marrakush مرّاكش (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Marrakesh.
Masr مصر (Country) Arabic (Egyptian)
Egyptian Arabic transcription of Misr.
Misr مصر (Country) Arabic, Pashto, Urdu
From a Semitic root possibly meaning "border". This is the Arabic, Pashto and Urdu name for the country of Egypt.
Namibiya ناميبيا (Country) Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani, Hindi, Bengali
Form of Namibia used in various languages.
Nayrubi نيروبي (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Nairobi.
Nil نيل (River) Arabic, French, German, Luxembourgish, Catalan, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Turkish, Azerbaijani
Form of Nile in various languages. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: النيل (al-Nīl).
Ninawa نينوى (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Nineveh.
Qahira قاهرة (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Cairo, usually written with the definite article: القاهرة (al-Qāhira).
Qubrus قبْرص (Island & Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Cyprus.
Quds قدْس (Settlement) Arabic
Means "holy" in Arabic. This is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, usually written with the definite article: القدْس (al-Quds).
Rusiya روسيا (Country) Arabic, Bulgarian, Tajik, Azerbaijani
Arabic, Bulgarian, Tajik and Azerbaijani form of Russia.
Ruwanda روانْدا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Rwanda.
Samarra سامَرّاء (Settlement) Arabic, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German
This is the name of a city in Iraq, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century. It was possibly built at the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Surmarrati, which is of uncertain meaning.
Saudiyya سعوديّة (Country) Arabic
Alternate transcription of Arabic سعوديّة (see Su'udiyya).
Sin صين (Country) Arabic, Hebrew
Arabic and Hebrew form of China. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: الصين (al-Ṣīn).
Siqiliyya صقليّة (Island & Political Subdivision) Arabic
Arabic form of Sicily.
Sirilanka سريلانكا (Country & Island) Arabic, Swahili
Arabic and Swahili form of Sri Lanka.
Slufiniya سْلوفينيا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Slovenia.
Sudan سودان (Country) English, Arabic, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Thai
From Arabic سود (sūd) meaning "black", referring to the darker skin of the inhabitants. This is the name of a country in Africa. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: السودان (al-Sūdān).
Sumal صومال (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Somalia, usually written with the definite article: الصومال (al-Ṣūmāl).
Suriya سوريا (Country) Arabic, Tajik, Uzbek
Arabic, Tajik and Uzbek form of Syria.
Su'udiyya سعوديّة (Country) Arabic
From the family name Al Su'ud. This is the Arabic name for Saudi Arabia, properly written with the definite article: السعوديّة (al-Suʿūdīya).
Tahran تهران (Settlement) Arabic, Turkish
Arabic and Turkish form of Tehran.
Tajikistan طاجيكستان (Country) English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
From Tajik Тоҷикистон (Tojikiston), which is derived from the name of the Tajik people combined with the Persian suffix ستان (stān) meaning "land of". The ethnic name is of debated origin, but it is generally believed to be from Persian تازیک (tāzīk) meaning "Arab". This is the name of a country in central Asia.
Tanzanya تنْزانْيا (Country) Arabic, Persian, Turkish
Arabic, Persian and Turkish form of Tanzania.
Tatawin تطاوين (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Tataouine.
Timbuktu تمبكتو (Settlement) English, Arabic, Bamileke
Meaning uncertain. It could be derived from Songhai meaning "hollow, hole", or from Berber meaning "place of small dunes". This is the name of a city in central Mali. Descriptions of the city's wealth and remoteness first reached Europe from the 16th-century Berber author Leo Africanus. Since then the city has been used in Western Culture as a symbol for a distant, mysterious place.
Tshad تشاد (Body of Water & Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Chad.
Tshili تشيلي (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Chile.
Tukiyu طوكيو (Settlement) Arabic
Arabic form of Tokyo.
Turan طوران (Region) Persian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Arabic
Historical region in central Asia, originally inhabited by nomadic Iranian peoples and traditionally said to mean "land of Tur". It is mentioned frequently in the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh.
Turkiyya تركيّا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Turkey.
Ughanda أوغندا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Uganda.
Ukraniya أوكرانيا (Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Ukraine.
Uman عمان (Country) Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Dhivehi
Arabic, Persian, Pashto and Dhivehi form of Oman.
Urdun أردن (River & Country) Arabic
Arabic form of Jordan, usually written with the definite article: الأردن (al-ʾUrdun).
Washintun واشنْطن (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Arabic
Arabic form of Washington.
Yaman يمن (Country) Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Uzbek, Indonesian, Malay
Arabic form of Yemen, properly written with the definite article: اليمن (al-Yaman).
Zambiya زامبيا (Country) Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Turkish, Arabic
Form of Zambia in several languages.
Zanjibar زنجبار (Island) Arabic
Arabic form of Zanzibar.