Finnish Place Names

Aasia (Region) Finnish, Estonian
Finnish and Estonian form of Asia.

Afganistan (Country) Russian, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Bulgarian, Finnish, Estonian, Icelandic, Greek, Indonesian
Form of Afghanistan in several languages.

Alankomaat (Country) Finnish
From Finnish alanko "lowland" and maat "lands". This is the Finnish name for the Netherlands (for which it is also a translation).

Albania (Region & Country) Late Roman, English, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Indonesian, Malay
Medieval Latin name for the region that was once occupied by the Illyrian tribe called Albanoi. This is the name of a country in the Balkans.

Algeria (Country) English, Italian, Romanian, Greek, Finnish
The name of a country in North Africa, named after its capital city Algiers.

Amerikka (Region & Country) Finnish
Finnish form of America.

Angola (Country) Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish, Georgian, Armenian, Indonesian, Malay
Portuguese form of Ngola, the royal title of the kings of Ndongo, an African kingdom that was conquered by the Portuguese in the 17th-century. It was a Portuguese colony until 1975, when it became an independent country.

Antarktis (Region) Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Estonian
Form of Antarctica in various languages.

Antwerpen (Settlement) Dutch, German, Luxembourgish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Bosnian
Dutch form of Antwerp, as well as the form in several other languages.

Arabia (Region) Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman, English, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish
From Greek Ἀραβία (Arabia), derived from Arabic عرب (ʿArab) meaning "Arabs, Arabian people". This is the name of a large peninsula in the Middle East, also called the Arabian Peninsula.

Argentiina (Country) Finnish, Estonian
Finnish form of Argentina, as well as an Estonian variant.

Armenia (Country) English, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Greek, Norwegian, Finnish, Indonesian, Malay, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek
From Greek Ἀρμενία (Armenia), which was from Old Persian Armina, which is itself probably of Armenian origin. This is the name of a country in the Caucasus region, called Hayastan in Armenian.

Australia (Region & Country) English, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Indonesian, Malay
Derived from Latin australis meaning "southern". It was formally adopted as the name of the continent (and later country) by the British administrators of the region in 1824.

Bahrain (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).

Bangladesh (Country) Bengali, Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Mongolian, Armenian, Hebrew, Persian, Indonesian, Malay
From Bengali বাংলাদেশ (Bānglādesh) meaning "country of the Bengali people", from the name of the Bengali people বাংলা (Bānglā) combined with দেশ (desh) "country, state". The ethnic name is derived from that of the ancient kingdom of Vanga. This is the name of a country in south Asia.

Belgia (Country) Finnish, Romanian, Norwegian, Polish, Georgian, Indonesian
Finnish, Romanian, Norwegian, Polish, Georgian and Indonesian form of Belgium.

Belize (Country & River) English, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay
From Spanish Belice, earlier Balis, from the name of the Belize River, which may itself be from Mayan beliz meaning "muddy water". This is the name of a country on the Atlantic coast of Central America.

Benin (Settlement, Body of Water & Country) English, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, Indonesian, Malay
From Portuguese Benim, derived from Itsekiri Ubinu, the name of the capital city of the historical Benin Kingdom (present-day Benin City in Nigeria). Allegedly it was initially named Ile-Ibinu meaning "land of anger" because of disputes between different factions. The Bight of Benin (a large bay) was named after the Benin Kingdom, and the modern country of Benin, west of Nigeria, was named after the bay in 1975 (formerly named Dahomey).

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 the south of 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.

Brasilia (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Brazil.

Brunei (Country) Malay, Indonesian, English, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, Georgian, Turkish, Hindi, Tagalog
Possibly from Sanskrit वरुण, the Hindu god Varuna or figuratively meaning "water, ocean". However, according to tradition, Brunei was from the Malay phrase baru nah meaning "there!" or "that's it!", which was supposedly declared by Brunei's first sultan Muhammad Shah when he discovered it in the 14th century.... [more]

Chile (Country) Spanish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Portuguese, Romanian, Georgian
The name of a country in South America, possibly from Quechua chiri meaning "cold" or Mapuche chülle meaning "seagull". This name was applied to the region by the conquistador Diego de Almagro.

Dubai (Settlement & Political Subdivision) English, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Romanian, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Turkish, Hindi, Bengali, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Chinese
From Arabic دبيّ (Dubayy), of uncertain meaning, possibly related to Arabic دبّ (dabba) meaning "to creep, to crawl", referring to the slow flow of a creek in the area. This is the name of an emirate and city in the United Arab Emirates.

El Salvador (Country) Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Estonian, Finnish, Bosnian, Macedonian, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
Form of Salvador with the Spanish definite article, which was officially added to the name in 1915. Some languages include the untranslated article, some do not, and some use both forms.

Eritrea (Country) Italian, English, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Czech
From the Italian name for one of their colonies in Africa, derived from the Latin name for the Red Sea Erythraeum Mare, itself of Greek origin (see Erythra). This is the name of country in East Africa. It became independent from Ethiopia in 1993.

Espanja (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Hispania (see Spain).

Etiopia (Country) Italian, Polish, Norwegian, Finnish, Georgian, Korean, Indonesian
Italian, Polish, Norwegian, Finnish, Georgian, Korean and Indonesian form of Aethiopia (see Ethiopia).

Eurooppa (Region) Finnish
Finnish form of Europe.

Gabon (Country) English, French, Italian, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay
Derived from Portuguese gabão meaning "cloak, overcoat", referring to the shape of the Gabon Estuary. This is the name of a country on the western coast of central Africa.

Georgia 1 (Country) English, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Late Roman
Possibly of Persian origin, maybe from Middle Persian gurg meaning "wolf". In Europe the name was long explained as derived from the given name George. This is the name of a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. It is called Sakartvelo in Georgian.

Georgia 2 (Political Subdivision) English, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch
From the given name George, named in honour of the British king George II. This was the name of an American colony, later a state.

Guatemala (Country) Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Catalan, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Turkish
From Nahuatl Cuauhtemallan meaning "place of the woodpile". This is the name of a country in Central America.

Hongkong (Political Subdivision, Settlement & Island) German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovene, Macedonian, Korean, Khmer
Form of Hong Kong used in various languages.

Indonesia (Country) Indonesian, Malay, Buginese, Minangkabau, English, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish, Korean
From Greek Ἰνδός (Indos), referring to the Indus, combined with νῆσος (nesos) meaning "island". This name has been used since the 18th century by colonial powers to refer to the Indonesian archipelago and since 1945 to refer to the independent nation.

Intia (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of India.

Irak (Country) German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovak, Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Thai, Lao, Mongolian, Indonesian
Form of Iraq in several languages.

Iran (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.

Israel (Country) English, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Indonesian, Malay, Biblical, Biblical Greek
From the name of the Old Testament hero Jacob, who was also called Israel. This was the name of an ancient kingdom that existed until the 8th century BC. The modern country of Israel is named for it.

Italia (Country) Italian, Spanish, Greek, Romanian, Norwegian, Finnish, Georgian, Indonesian, Ancient Roman
Italian and Latin form of Italy, as well as the form in several other languages.

Jakarta (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.

Jemen (Country) German, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Dutch, Afrikaans, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian
Form of Yemen in several languages.

Jerusalem (Settlement) English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Luxembourgish, Afrikaans, Catalan, Bosnian, Biblical
From Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim), from an earlier Canaanite form like Urushalim, probably meaning "established by (the god) Shalim". This is the name of a city in Israel and Palestine. Originally a Canaanite city, it was conquered by the Israelites under King David at the beginning of the 10th century BC. It is now regarded as a holy city by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Jordan (River & Country) English, Danish, Norwegian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, German, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Slovene, Biblical
River that flows between the countries of Jordan and Israel. The river's name in Hebrew is יַרְדֵן (Yarḏen), and it is derived from יָרַד (yaraḏ) meaning "descend, flow down". The river has lent its name to the country to the east (in German, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish and Slovene this is only the name of the river, with the name of the country taking a different form).

Jordania (Country) Spanish, Finnish, Polish
Spanish, Finnish and Polish form of Jordan (the country).

Kamerun (Country) German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Indonesian, Korean
Form of Cameroon in several languages.

Kanada (Country) German, Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Indonesian, Malay, Japanese
Form of Canada in several languages.

Kazakstan (Country) Kyrgyz, Greek, Finnish, Swedish
Kyrgyz, Greek, Finnish and Swedish form of Kazakh Қазақстан (see Kazakhstan).

Kenia (Country & Mountain) German, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Polish, Italian
Form of Kenya in several languages, as well as an Italian variant.

Kongo (Region, River & Country) Kongo, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Bulgarian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Turkish, Georgian
Form of Congo in many languages.

Korea (Country) English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Greek, Georgian, Armenian, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
From medieval Latin Corea, itself derived from Goryeo, the name of a kingdom that 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.

Kroatia (Country) Norwegian, Finnish, Greek
Norwegian, Finnish and Greek form of Croatia.

Laos (Country) French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Greek, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Hebrew, Hindi, Nepali, Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog
The name of a country in southeastern Asia, derived from the Lao people, the majority ethnic group. Their name may be derived from an Austroasiatic root meaning "human". The name Laos was originally applied to the region by France, who established it as a colony in 1893. It achieved independence in 1953.

Libya (Country & Region) Berber, English, Norwegian, Finnish, Turkish, Hausa, Swahili, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Ancient Roman
From Λιβύη (Libye), the Ancient Greek name for North Africa. It was derived from the Berber tribe of the Libu, attested as rbw in Ancient Egyptian. This name was revived in 1934 when the Italian colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were merged, carrying forward when the country gained independence in 1951. It is called ليبيا (Lībiyā) in Arabic.

Lontoo (Settlement) Finnish
Finnish form of London.

Luxemburg (Country, Settlement & Political Subdivision) German, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Romanian, Catalan, Hungarian, Slovak
Form of Luxembourg used in several languages. In Hungarian this is the name of the country only (Luxembourg is the city), while in Slovak this is the name of the city only (Luxembursko is the country).

Madrid (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.

Makedonia (Region, Country & Political Subdivision) Ancient Greek, Greek, Norwegian, Finnish
Greek, Norwegian and Finnish form of Macedonia.

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 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.

Malesia (Country) Finnish, Greek, Thai, Italian
Finnish, Greek and Thai form of Malaysia, as well as an older Italian variant.

Mali (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".

Marokko (Country) German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Mongolian
Form of Morocco in several languages.

Marrakech (Settlement) French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Croatian
French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Croatian form of Arabic مرّاكش (see Marrakesh).

Meksiko (Country & Settlement) Finnish, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Afrikaans, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Indonesian
Finnish, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Afrikaans, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali and Indonesian form of Mexico. In Finnish it refers only to the country, not the capital city.

México (Country & Settlement) Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Estonian, Slovene
Spanish (and Portuguese) form of Mexico. This native spelling is also used in several other languages to refer to the capital city, while the name of the country has other forms.

Moldova (Country, River & Region) Romanian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, English, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Latvian, Georgian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Maltese, Indonesian, Malay
From the name of the Moldova River in eastern Romania, which is of uncertain origin. It could be from Romanian molid meaning "spruce", Old Slavic *moldŭ meaning "young", or Gothic mulda meaning "dust, dirt". This is the Romanian name (Moldavia in English) for a former principality that was located in Eastern Europe. The eastern part of this principality came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1812, eventually becoming the modern country of Moldova. The western part united with Wallachia in 1859 to become the Kingdom of Romania. Northeastern Romania is called Moldova Occidentală in Romanian.

Mongolia (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) English, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Romanian, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Indonesian, Malay
From Mongolian монгол (mongol), the name for the Mongolian people, possibly from монг (mong) meaning "brave". This the name of a region in eastern Asia, now divided between the country of Mongolia (historically called Outer Mongolia) and the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.

Moskova (River & Settlement) French, Finnish, Turkish
French form of Moskva (the river), Finnish form of Moscow (the city), and Turkish form of both the city and the river.

Myanmar (Country) English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, French, Czech, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Turkish, Hindi
From 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.

Nairobi (Settlement) English, Swahili, Kikuyu, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Turkish, Japanese, Korean
From 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, Korean
From the name of the Namib Desert, meaning "desert, vast place" in Khoekhoe. This is a country in southwestern Africa.

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, Sanskrit
From Sanskrit नेपाल (Nepāl), of unknown meaning. This is the name of a landlocked country in south Asia.

Nigeria (Country) English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, Georgian
From 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.

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, Tagalog
From 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.

Pakistan (Country) Urdu, Punjabi, English, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Slovak, Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian
From 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, Korean
From 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.

Paraguay (Country, River & Settlement) Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Czech, Guarani
The 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.

Pariisi (Settlement) Finnish
Finnish form of Paris.

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.

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, Hindi
From Spanish Perú, older Birú, which was possibly derived from the name of a chieftain (who nevertheless resided in modern-day Panama).

Praha (Settlement) Czech, Slovak, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Czech form of Prague.

Puola (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Poland.

Ranska (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of France.

Ruanda (Country) German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Finnish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, English, French
Form of Rwanda in several languages, as well as a variant spelling in other languages.

Ruotsi (Country) Finnish
Probably borrowed from Old Norse róðr meaning "rowing", referring to people from the coastal region of Roslagen in Sweden. This is the Finnish name for Sweden.

Saksa (Country) Finnish
From German Sachsen (Saxony), used as the Finnish name of Germany.

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

Saudi-Arabia (Country) Finnish, Norwegian
Finnish and Norwegian form of Saudi Arabia.

Senegal (River & Country) Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, Turkish, Armenian, Persian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Mongolian, Hindi, Bengali, Korean, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog
From Portuguese, possibly from the name of the Berber Zenaga people of northern Senegal. This is the name of a river in West Africa, and a country named after it. It gained independence from France in 1960.

Serbia (Country) English, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Norwegian, Finnish
From Serbian Србија (Srbija), of uncertain meaning. This is the name of a Balkan country in southeastern Europe.

Singapore (Country, Settlement & Island) English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Romanian
From Malay Singapura meaning "lion city", derived from Sanskrit siṃha "lion" and pura "city". This is the name of a city-state situated on an island (of the same name) at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula.

Skotlanti (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Scotland.

Slovakia (Country) English, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek
From Slovák, the Slovak form of Old Slavic slověne, referring to the tribe of the Slavs. This is the name of a country in central Europe. Note that the name of this country is closely related to that of Slovenia.

Slovenia (Country) English, Italian, Romanian, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Georgian
From Slovene, the language of the Slovenes, derived from the Old Slavic tribal name slověne meaning "Slavs". This is the name of a country in central Europe. Note that the name of this country is closely related to that of Slovakia.

Somalia (Country) English, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Greek, Albanian, Indonesian, Malay
From the ethnic name Somali, of uncertain meaning. The Somali people connect it to their mythical ancestor Samaale. Italian and British colonists applied the ethnic name to the Horn of Africa region in the 19th century. It became an independent country in 1960.

Sri Lanka (Country & Island) English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, Greek, Turkish, Malay, Indonesian
From Sinhalese ශ්‍රී ලංකා (Shrī Lankā), derived from the Sanskrit honorific श्री (śrī) meaning "holy, sacred" combined with the name of the legendary island of Lanka. This is an island nation in southern Asia. Formerly known as Ceylon when it was a colony of the Portuguese, Dutch and English, the country adopted the name Sri Lanka when it became a republic in 1972.

Sudan (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).

Suomi (Country) Finnish
Possibly from the Balto-Slavic root zeme meaning "ground, earth". This is the Finnish name for Finland.

Syyria (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Syria.

Tadžikistan (Country) Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Finnish, Estonian
Form of Tajikistan in several languages.

Tansania (Country) German, Finnish
German and Finnish form of Tanzania.

Tanska (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Denmark.

Teheran (Settlement) German, Dutch, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Croatian, Serbian
Form of Tehran in several languages.

Tokio (Settlement) Spanish, German, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Greek, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, Mongolian
Form of Tokyo used in various languages.

Tukholma (Settlement) Finnish
Finnish form of Stockholm.

Uganda (Country) English, Ganda, Swahili, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish, Georgian, Armenian, Hebrew, Persian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay
From Buganda, the name of a kingdom within Uganda, which means "land of the Ganda" in the Luganda language. The Ganda are an ethnic group, their name possibly deriving from a Bantu word meaning "family". Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa.

Ukraina (Country) Polish, Russian, Macedonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen, Albanian, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, Indonesian
Form of Ukraine in several languages.

Unkari (Country) Finnish
Finnish form of Hungary.

Uruguay (Country & River) Spanish, English, French, Italian, Romanian, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Czech, Turkish
The name of a country in South America, derived from a river of the same name. It is possibly from Guaraní uruguá, referring to a type of water snail. Alternatively it could come from uru "quail", gua "from" and y "water".

Venezuela (Country) Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovene, Croatian, Albanian, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay
Possibly from Italian Veneziola meaning "little Venice". This is the name of a country on the northern coast of South America. The region was supposedly named this in 1499 by a Spanish expedition (which included Amerigo Vespucci) because an indigenous town on Lake Maracaibo was built on stilts over the water, reminiscent of the Italian city. Another theory suggests that the country's name comes from Veneciuela, the name of a local people.

Vietnam (Country) English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Indonesian, Malay
From Việt Nam, meaning "southern Yue", derived from Sino-Vietnamese 越 (việt), referring to the Yue people, and 南 (nam) meaning "south". This is the name of a country in southeastern Asia.

Viro (Country) Finnish
From the name of the old region of Virumaa in northern Estonia, which got its name from the Finnic tribe of the Vironians. This is the Finnish name for Estonia.

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.