South American Place Names

South American names include those from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
type
usage
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.
Verona (Settlement) Italian, Spanish, English, Ancient Roman
Meaning unknown, possibly of Latin, Gallic or Etruscan origin. This is the name of a city in northern Italy.
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 (việt), referring to the Yue people, and (nam) meaning "south". This is the name of a country in southeastern Asia.
Vietname (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Vietnamese Chữ Nôm 越南 (see Vietnam).
Washington (Settlement & Political Subdivision) English, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Means "settlement belonging to Wassa's people", from the given name Wassa and Old English tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town". This is the name of a town in northern England. It is also the name of the capital city and a state in the United States, both named after the president George Washington (1732-1799), whose surname was derived from the name of the English town.
Yakarta (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Jakarta.
Yemen (Country) English, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Tagalog
From Arabic يمن (Yaman), probably derived from يمين (yamin) meaning "right hand, south". This is the name of a country at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.
Zaire (River & Country) Portuguese, English
Older name of the Congo River, said to be derived via Portuguese from Kikongo nzadi o nzere meaning "river swallowing rivers". This was also the former name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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.
Zelanda (Political Subdivision & Country) Italian, Spanish
Italian and Spanish form of Zealand.
Zelândia (Political Subdivision & Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Zealand.
Zimbábue (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese variant form of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabue (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabué (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Zimbabwe.