Buchanan(Political Subdivision)Scottish A parish of Stirlingshire, Scotland. It's name derives from the Gaelic buth 'house, shed' and chanain 'canon', thus meaning 'house of the canon'.
Bucharest(Settlement)English Meaning uncertain. Traditional etymologies state that the city's name is derived from Bucur, the name of a prince, outlaw, fisherman, shepherd, or hunter (depending on the specific legend), whose name is derived from Romanian bucurie meaning "joy, happiness", probably of Dacian origin... [more]
Bucharest(Settlement)English, Malay, Tagalog From Romanian București, which is believed to be derived from the given name Bucur (referring to a figure in Romanian legend) combined with the suffix -ești used for place names... [more]
Bucheon(Settlement)Korean Combination of 富 (부, bu, "wealth") and 川 (천, cheon, "river, stream"), thus "wealthy river". This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Buckinghamshire(Political Subdivision & Region)English From Old English, meaning "the county of Bucca's home", from Buckingham, named after its 12th-century landowner, Bucca, with sċīr, from Proto-West Germanic *skīru... [more]
Bueng Kan(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai From Thai บึง (bueng) meaning "lake, marsh" and กาฬ (kan) meaning "black, dark". This is the name of a province of Thailand as well as its provincial capital.
Buenos Aires(Settlement)Spanish Ultimately derived from Aragonese buen ayre “good air”. It is the capital city of Argentina. The explorer who founded the city originally called it Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Nuestra Señora la Virgen María de los Buenos Aires meaning "City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Good Airs" which was later shortened to just Buenos Aires.
Buffalo(Settlement & River)English Various cities in the United States. From the English word "buffalo". The city in New York was named for the Buffalo River.
Bukavu(Settlement & Other)Central African Derived from the Shi word nkafu, meaning ‘cow’.
Bukhara(Settlement)English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Kazakh, Russian, Ukrainian From Uzbek Buxoro, itself derived from Persian بخارا (bokhara) of uncertain meaning, possibly from Sogdian βuxārak meaning "place of good fortune". Alternately it may have come from Sanskrit विहार (vihara) referring to a Buddhist monastery... [more]
Bukidnon(Political Subdivision)Filipino, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Bukid, Higaonon, Ilocano, English From Cebuano bukidnon meaning "mountaineers, people of the mountains", referring to the indigenous tribes of the Central Mindanao highlands. This is the name of a province of the Philippines.
Bukit Merah(Settlement)Malay, English Means "red hill" in Malay from bukit meaning "hill" and merah meaning "red", referring to the red-coloured soil of a hill in the area. This is the name of a planning area and town in Singapore, also called Redhill.
Bukit Panjang(Settlement)Malay, English Means "long hill" in Malay, from bukit meaning "hill" and panjang meaning "long". This is the name of a planning area and town in Singapore.
Bukit Timah(Settlement)Malay, English Literally means "tin hill" in Malay, from bukit meaning "hill" and timah meaning "tin". However, the name is more likely a corrupted form of the original Malay name Bukit Temak meaning "temak hill", from bukit meaning "hill" and temak referring to a type of tree (genus Shorea)... [more]
Bukittinggi(Settlement)Indonesian, Minangkabau Means "tall hill" from Indonesian bukit meaning "hill" and tinggi meaning "high, tall". This is the name of a city in West Sumatra province, Indonesia.
Bukovina(Region)Romanian Ukrainian The name was used in 1775 during the region’s annexation by the principality of Moldavia.... [more]
Bulacan(Political Subdivision)Filipino, Tagalog, English From the name of a town called Bulakan, derived from Tagalog bulak meaning "cotton" and the place marker suffix -an. This is the name of a province of the Philippines.
Bulakan(Settlement)Filipino Bulakan, officially the Municipality of Bulakan, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines... [more]
Bulawayo(Settlement)Shona Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe and is also a province in the Matabeleland region. It was founded by a king named Lobengula around 1840. The city's name means 'place of slaughter'.
Bulgareti(Country)Georgian From Georgian ბულგარული (bulgaruli) referring to the Bulgarian people and the suffix -ეთი (-eti) used to indicate location. This is the Georgian name for Bulgaria.
Bulunksy(Region)Russian I don't know if it's the actual etymology or if it just 'looks similar,' but a search for 'etymology of bulunsky' turns up a lot of results about "Blue Sky"
Bunduqiyyah(Settlement)Arabic Arabic form of Venetia (see Venice) via the German form Venedig. It is usually written with the definite article: البندقية (al-Bunduqiyyah).
Bunkyō(Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 文 (bun) meaning "literature, culture, writing" and 京 (kyō) meaning "capital city". This is the name of a special ward of Tokyo.
Buôn Ma Thuột(Settlement)Vietnamese Means "village of Y Thuôt's father" from Rade ƀuôn meaning "village", ama meaning "father" and the given name Y Thuôt. This is the name of a city in Vietnam.
Burgos(Settlement)Spanish From Gothic baurgs, "burg". It is a city in northern Spain.
Burgundy(Political Subdivision & Region)English From the ethnonym for the Burgundians, an East Germanic people who moved westwards beyond the Rhine during the late Roman period.... [more]
Burhou(Island)Norman A Channel Island in England. Means "storehouse island", from bur meaning "storehouse", and -hou, a Norman suffix derived from Old Norse holmr meaning "island".
Buriram(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "city of happiness" from Thai บุรี (buri) meaning "city, town" and รัมย์ (ram) meaning "joyful, pleasurable". This is the name of a province and city in Thailand.
Burlington(Settlement)English Burlington is a city in Vermont and other states, it could be named this from Richard Boyle, the third Earl of Burlington, or a family with he surname Burling.
Burnaby(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English The name "Burnaby" is thought to have originated from the surname of a British colonial official, Sir Francis Burnaby. It may also be tied to the Old English words "burna" (stream) and "by" (town or village), potentially meaning "town near the stream."
Burnsville(Settlement)English From the English surname Burns and ville, "town". The city in Minnesota is named for the settler William Byrne, whose surname was recorded incorrectly.
Buryatia(Political Subdivision)English From Russian Бурятия (Buryatiya), itself from буряад (buryaad), the name of the Buryat people. The ethnic name is of uncertain origin and meaning, possibly from Buryat буртэ (burte) meaning "wolf"... [more]
Busan(Settlement)Korean From Sino-Korean 釜山 (Busan) meaning "cauldron mountain", from 釜 (bu) meaning "cauldron, pot, kettle" and 山 (san) meaning "mountain". This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Buskerud(Political Subdivision)Norwegian Named after an old manor of the same name. (Biskupsruð) It derives from the Old Norse biskup (bishop) and ruð (clearing, farm.) The biskup part referring in particular to the Bishop of the ancient Catholic diocese of Hamar.... [more]
Bute(Island)Scottish (Anglicized) Possibly from Old Irish bót, meaning "fire", in reference to signal fires.
Bute(Political Subdivision & Island)Scottish Gaelic, Norse, English The name Bute is believed to derive from the Old Norse word Bót, meaning "fire", possibly referring to ancient beacons or signal fires used on the island. Alternatively, it may come from the Scottish Gaelic Bòd or Bodach, meaning "island of the old man"... [more]
Buzzards Bay(Body of Water)English Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
Bwindi(Other)Kiga, African, Eastern African Bwindi is the name of a popular National Park in Southwestern Uganda. It means “a dark place” in the Kiga language.
Byblos(Settlement)English, Arabic, Greek Byblos, also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon.
Byrzentwyla(Country)Abkhaz From Abkhaz абырзен (abyrzen) meaning "Greek" (derived from Mingrelian) and атәыла (atwyla) meaning "country". This is the Abkhaz name for Greece.
Byzantium(Settlement)Late Greek (Latinized) Byzantium was an ancient Greek colony on the site that later became Constantinople, the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire since 330 AC. From 1204 to 1261 was conquered and ruled by crusaders but Michael VIII Palaeologus reintroduced there a Byzantine dynasty... [more]
Cadix(Political Subdivision & Settlement)French French form of Cádiz.
Cádiz(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Spanish From Arabic قادس (Qadis), ultimately derived (via Latin) from Phoenician 𐤂𐤃𐤓 (gdr) meaning "wall, compound". This is the name of a province and city in southwestern Spain, historically known as Gades in Latin and Γάδειρα (Gadeira) in Greek.
Caen(Settlement)French The name Caen is of Gaulish origin, from the words catu-, referring to military activities and magos, field, hence meaning "manoeuvre field" or "battlefield". In Layamon's Brut, the poet asserts that King Arthur named the city in memory of Sir Kay1... [more]
Caernarfon(Settlement)English, Welsh From the Welsh words caer "fort", yn "in" and Arfon "opposite Môn (Anglesey)", therefore altogether translating to "the fort in the land opposite Anglesey"... [more]
Cagayan(Political Subdivision)Filipino, Ilocano, Ibanag, Itawit, English From Spanish Cagayán, itself derived from the word kagayan meaning "place near or on a river" in various indigenous languages. This is the name of a province and administrative region of the Philippines (called Cagayan Valley).
Cagayan De Oro(Settlement)Filipino Cagayan de Oro, officially the City of Cagayan de Oro, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Northern Mindanao, Philippines... [more]
Cahokia(Settlement)English (American) A city in Illinois and the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city whose original name is unknown. The name is derived from Cahokia people, who lived in the area before their relocation.
Cainhannoch(Settlement)Mormon From an alternative name for New York used in the Doctrine and Covenants. A possible origin could be that in the Bible, Cain, the son of Adam, had a son named Enoch. A derivative of that is Henoch, and a further derivative is Hanoch... [more]
Cainta(Settlement)Filipino Cainta, officially the Municipality of Cainta, is a 1st class urban municipality in the province of Rizal, Philippines... [more]
Caiseal(Settlement)Irish The original Gaelic name of a town in County Tipperary, Ireland, known in the English-speaking world as Cashel. It means "stone ringfort", ultimately from Latin castellum.
Calabarzon(Region)Filipino Calabarzon, sometimes referred to as Southern Tagalog and designated as Region IV‑A, is an administrative region in the Philippines. The region comprises five provinces: Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, and Rizal; and one highly urbanized city, Lucena... [more]
Calabria(Political Subdivision)Italian, English, Finnish, Galician, Spanish From Ancient Greek Καλαβρία (Kalabría), itself derived from the name of a local Oscan tribe. This is the name of a region in southern Italy.
Caledon(Region & Settlement)Spanish (Latin American), Scottish, English Caledon originates from the Latin "Caledonia," the name used by the Romans for what is now Scotland. The term was likely derived from the Caledonii, an ancient Pictish or Celtic tribe in the region.... [more]
Caledonia(Country & Political Subdivision)English, History Borrowed from Latin Caledonia, meaning "land of the Calēdonēs", from Latin Calēdonēs, probably of Celtic origin, possibly from Proto-Celtic *kaletos "hard" and *ɸēdo- "foot", with an added country-forming suffix -ia... [more]
Caleta(Settlement)Spanish City name meaning ''little bay, inlet, or cove''. Most often La Caleta.
Caletum(Settlement)Ancient Roman From the name of the Caletes people; the name itself may derive from proto-Celtic kaletos meaning "hard, cruel, strong".
Calimesa(Settlement)English (American) A city in California. From a portmanteau of California and the English word "mesa" or the Spanish word mesa meaning "table, mesa".
Callifae(Settlement)English From the name of a town in ancient Italy, of uncertain origin. It was mentioned only by the Roman historian Livy, and may correspond to the village Calvisi, at the foot of the Monte Matese.
Caloocan(Settlement)Tagalog, English Derived from Tagalog kalookan meaning "interior, inland, innermost region". This is the name of a city in the Philippines.
Caltanissetta(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Italian The name of a city and province of Sicily, which comes from its ancient Arabic name قَلْعَة النِسَاء (qalʕa an-nisāʔ) meaning "fort of the women".
Calvados(Political Subdivision)French A department in Normandy, France. It is named after a cluster of sparsely vegetated rocks off the coast, likely from 'calva dorsa', meaning "bare backs".
Calvary(Region)Biblical A location outside of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified according to the Gospels. It means "place of the skull" (derived from "calvariae locus") and is also known as Golgotha.
Cam(River)English The River Cam is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England.... [more]
Camarines(Political Subdivision)Filipino, Central Bikol, Tagalog, English Either from a Hispanicized plural form of Bikol kamalig meaning "shelter, hut, storage shed" or the plural form of Spanish camarín meaning "alcove, niche". This is the name of two provinces of the Philippines, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur.
Cà Mau(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 哥 (cà) meaning "to sing" and 毛 (mau) meaning "fur".