Dutch Place Names

AALST (Settlement) Dutch
Possibly from Germanic alhust meaning "living place". This is the name of various towns in the Netherlands and Belgium.

AARLE (Settlement) Dutch
Meaning unknown. This is the name of various towns in the Netherlands.

ACHTHOVEN (Settlement) Dutch
Means "eight gardens" in Dutch. This is the name of various towns in the Netherlands.

ADRICHEM (Settlement) Dutch
Means "Adrik's home". This was the name of an estate and castle (demolished in 1812) that was formerly in North Holland, the Netherlands.

ALTENA (Settlement) Dutch
Possibly means "close, near" in Dutch. This is the name of a town in the Netherlands.

AMERIKA (Region & Country) German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian
Form of AMERICA, used to refer to the continents and sometimes to the United States of America.

AMERSFOORT (Settlement) Dutch
Means "ford of the Amer (Eem) River" in Dutch. This is the name of a city in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

AMSTEL (River) Dutch
Means "water place" in Dutch. This is the name of a river in the Netherlands, which lent its name to Amsterdam.

AMSTERDAM (Settlement) Dutch, English, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, French, Polish
Means "dam on the AMSTEL" in Dutch. This is the name of the capital city of the Netherlands, first mentioned with this name in the 13th century.

ANDEL (Settlement) Dutch
Possibly means "upper forest" in Old Dutch. This is the name of a town in North Brabant in the Netherlands.

ANTWERPEN (Settlement) Dutch
Dutch form of ANTWERP.

APELDOORN (Settlement) Dutch
Means "apple tree" in Dutch. This is the name of a city in the Netherlands.

ARENDONK (Settlement) Dutch
Derived from Dutch arend "eagle" and donk "hill". This is the name of a city in northern Belgium.

ARGENTINIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of ARGENTINA.

ARMENIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of ARMENIA.

ASCH (Settlement) Dutch
From Old Dutch aska meaning "ash tree". This is the name of a town in the Netherlands.

ASSENDORP (Settlement) Dutch
From Dutch es meaning "ash tree" (plural essen) and dorp meaning "village". This is the name of a city in the Netherlands.

BABYLON (Settlement) English, German, Dutch, Biblical, Ancient Roman, Biblical Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Greek
Greek form of Akkadian 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (Babili), which appears to mean "gateway of God", from Akkadian 𒆍 (babu) meaning "gate" and 𒀭 (ilu) meaning "God", though it may in fact derive from a non-Semitic language. This was the name of a major city in ancient Mesopotamia, the capital of the Babylonian Empire. It was located in present-day Iraq.

BEERS (Settlement) Dutch
Possibly from Dutch baar meaning "bar". This is the name of a town in the Netherlands (plus a smaller one in Frisia).

BRAZILIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of BRAZIL.

BUREN (Settlement) Dutch
From Old Dutch bur "house, dwelling". This is a small town on the island of Ameland in the north of the Netherlands, as well as a small city in Gelderland.

CANADA (Country) English, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
Derived from the Iroquoian word kanata meaning "village". This word was used by Native Americans to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to Stadacona. Cartier used the word to refer to the region.

CHINA (Country) English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Sanskrit
From Persian چین (Chin), probably derived via Sanskrit चीन (China) from Qin, the name of a dynasty that ruled in China in the 3rd century BC. In China the name Zhongguo is used to refer to the country.

DUITSLAND (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of DEUTSCHLAND.

ENGELAND (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of ENGLAND.

FINLAND (Country) English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
From Old Norse Finnr, which referred to the Finn and Sami peoples, combined with land. This is the name of a country in northern Europe, called Suomi in Finnish.

FRANKEN (Region) German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
German form of FRANCONIA.

FRANKRIJK (Country) Dutch
Dutch cognate of FRANKREICH. This is the Dutch name for France.

GENUA (Settlement) Ancient Roman, German, Dutch
Latin, German and Dutch form of GENOA.

HAANRADE (Settlement) Dutch
From 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.

HOFWEGEN (Settlement) Dutch
From Dutch hof meaning "garden, courtyard" and weg meaning "way, path, road". This is the name of a town in the Netherlands.

HOLLAND (1) (Political Subdivision & Country) Dutch, English, German
From Old Dutch holt "forest" and lant "land". This is the name of two provinces (North and South Holland) in the Netherlands. It is sometimes used to refer to the entire country of the Netherlands.

HOLSTEIN (Political Subdivision & Region) German, English, Dutch
From the name of a Saxon tribe, derived from Old Saxon holt meaning "wood" and sat 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.

INDIA (Country) English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Romanian, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek
Derived from the name of the INDUS River. In many languages of India, the name Bharat is used to refer to the country.

INDONESIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of INDONESIA.

ITALIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of ITALY.

JAPAN (Country) English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Croatian, Serbian
From Portuguese Japão, which was derived from a Malay form of Riben, the Chinese reading of NIPPON.

JERUZALEM (Settlement) Dutch
Dutch form of JERUSALEM.

JORDAAN (River) Dutch
Dutch form of JORDAN (the river).

JORDANIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of JORDAN (the country).

KANNE (Settlement) Dutch
Meaning unknown. This is the name of a town in the province of Limburg in Belgium.

KENIA (Country & Mountain) German, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Polish
Form of KENYA.

KONGO (Region, River & Country) Central African, Kongo, German, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Russian, Croatian, Serbian
Form of CONGO.

KOREA (Country) English, German, Dutch, Finnish, Czech
From medieval Latin Corea, itself derived from GORYEO, the name of a kingdom which ruled most of the Korean Peninsula from the 10th to 14th centuries. This is the name of two countries, North and South Korea. Hanguk and Joseon are the Korean names for the countries.

LONDEN (Settlement) Dutch
Dutch form of LONDON.

NEPAL (Country) Nepali, Indian, Hindi, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Sanskrit
From Sanskrit नेपाल (Nepal), of unknown meaning. This is the name of a landlocked country in south Asia.

NIFTRIK (Settlement) Dutch
Meaning 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 Roman
Meaning unknown, possibly of Berber origin, though influenced by Latin niger "black". This is the name of a river in western Africa (and a country which is named after it).

OIRSCHOT (Settlement) Dutch
Possibly 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.

OLYMPUS (Mountain) Ancient Roman, English, Dutch
Latinized form of OLYMPOS.

PAKISTAN (Country) Urdu, Punjabi, English, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Slovak, Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian
From Persian پاک (pak) meaning "pure" and the suffix ستان (stan) 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.

PEKING (Settlement) German, Dutch, Czech, English (Archaic)
German, Dutch and Czech form of BEIJING, as well as an older English form.

PERU (Country) English, Portuguese, German, Dutch
From Spanish Perú, older Birú, which was possibly derived from the name of a chieftain (who nevertheless resided in modern-day Panama).

PERZIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of PERSIA.

PEY (Settlement) Dutch
Meaning unknown. This is the name of a town in Limburg in the Netherlands.

POLEN (Country) German, Dutch
German and Dutch form of POLAND.

PORTUGAL (Country) Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Croatian, Serbian
From 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.

PRETORIA (Settlement) Southern African, 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.

ROEMENIË (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of ROMANIA.

ROES (Region) Dutch
Dutch form of RUS.

ROME (Settlement) English, French, Dutch
Meaning uncertain, from Latin Roma. This is the name of the capital city of Italy, formerly the capital of the Roman Kingdom, Republic and Empire. According to legend the city was named for ROMULUS.

ROSSUM (Settlement) Dutch
From the older Rotheheim, derived from Dutch rothe "cleared area in a forest" and heim "home". This is the name of a town in Gelderland in the Netherlands.

RUSLAND (Country) Dutch
Dutch cognate of RUSSLAND.

SCHOORL (Settlement) Dutch
From older Scoronlo, meaning "forest by the shore" in Dutch. This is the name of a town in the province of Noord-Holland in the Netherlands.

SOEDAN (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of SUDAN.

SPANJE (Country) Dutch
Dutch form of Hispania (see SPAIN).

STOCKHOLM (Settlement) Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, German, Dutch, French
From Swedish stock "log" and holme "islet". The islet probably referred to Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. This is the name of the capital city of Sweden. The first written mention of the name occurs in 1252.

THAILAND (Country) English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Combination of THAI and land. This is the name of a country in southeastern Asia, formerly called Siam.

VIETNAM (Country) English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish
From Việt Nam, meaning "southern Yue", derived from Sino-Vietnamese 越 (việt), referring to the Yue people, and 南 (nam) "south". This is the name of a country in southeastern Asia.

VLAANDEREN (Region) Dutch
Dutch form of FLANDERS.

WIEREN (Settlement) Dutch
Means "seaweed" in Dutch. This is the name of towns in Frisia and other parts of the Netherlands.

ZWEDEN (Country) Dutch, Medieval Dutch
Dutch form of SWEDEN.