South American Place Names

South American names include those from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

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Schwyz (Settlement & Political Subdivision) German, English, Spanish
Meaning uncertain, possibly related to Old High German suedan "to burn" or possibly of Celtic origin. This is the name of a town (and a canton named for it) in central Switzerland.

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.

Shanghái (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Shanghai.

Sicília (Island & Political Subdivision) Portuguese, Catalan
Portuguese and Catalan form of Sicily.

Sicilia (Island & Political Subdivision) Italian, Spanish, Ancient Roman
Latinate form of Sicily.

Silesia (Region) English, Spanish, Ancient Roman
From Mount Ślęża or the River Ślęza. This is the name of a historical region in southern Poland, with portions in the Czech Republic and Germany.

Singapur (Country, Settlement & Island) Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, German, Estonian, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, Turkish, Armenian
Form of Singapore in several languages.

Siria (Country) Italian, Spanish, Albanian, Georgian, Armenian, Thai, Korean
Form of Syria in various languages.

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.

Sousa (River) Portuguese
Possibly derived from Latin salsus "salty" or saxa "rocks", but likely of pre-Latin origin. This is the name of a river in Portugal.

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.

Sudán (Country) Spanish, Slovak
Spanish and Slovak form of Sudan.

Sudão (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Sudan.

Suécia (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Sweden.

Suecia (Country) Spanish, Late Roman
Spanish and Latin form of Sweden.

Suiza (Country) Spanish
Spanish cognate of Schweiz. This is the Spanish name for Switzerland.

Tadjiquistão (Country) Portuguese (Brazilian)
Brazilian Portuguese form of Tajikistan.

Tailandia (Country) Spanish, Italian
Spanish form and Italian variant of Thailand (probably via English).

Tanzânia (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Tanzania.

Tanzania (Country) Swahili, English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Romanian, Greek, Armenian, Georgian, Indonesian, Malay
From a combination of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the names of the two countries that were united to create the East African country of Tanzania in 1964.

Tayikistán (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Tajikistan.

Tejas (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Spanish variant of Texas.

Texas (Political Subdivision) English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese
A state of the United States, from Spanish Texas or Tejas, originally an ethnic name used by the Spanish for the Caddo. It was derived from the Caddo word taysha meaning "friends, allies".

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.

Tombuctú (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Timbuktu.

Tóquio (Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Tokyo.

Turquía (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Turcia (see Turkey).

Turquia (Country) Portuguese, Catalan
Portuguese and Catalan form of Turcia (see Turkey).

Ucrânia (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Ukraine.

Ucrania (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Ukraine.

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.

Uruguai (Country & River) Portuguese, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Japanese
Portuguese, Catalan, Galician, Basque and Japanese of Uruguay.

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".

Uzbekistán (Country) Spanish, Czech
Spanish and Czech form of Uzbekistan.

Valencia (Settlement & Region) Spanish, Italian, English, German
The name of a city and surrounding region in eastern Spain, originally named in Latin Valentia (Edetanorum) meaning "strength (of the Edetani people)", and derived from Latin valentius "strength, vigour", from valens "strong, vigorous". Besides the city in Spain, this is also the name of a city in Venezuela.

Venecia (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Venice.

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 越 (việt), referring to the Yue people, and 南 (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 (yamīn) 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.

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