Cotabato(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Filipino, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Tagalog, English From Maguindanao Kutawatu meaning "stone city", from kuta meaning "city, fort" and wato meaning "stone, rock". This is the name of both a province and a city in the southern Philippines.
Cotonou(Settlement)French The name Cotonou comes from Fon origins, meaning, "by the river of death".
County Down(Political Subdivision)Northern Irish The name "Down" likely comes from the Irish "Dún" meaning "fort", referring to the ancient fortifications in the area. "County Down" refers to the administrative division in Northern Ireland.
Courtaney(Settlement)English Courtenay is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Coveney(Body of Water)English (American) Transferred usage of the Irish surname Coveney. The lake in Michigan is named for Joseph Coveney, an early European-American settler.
Cox's Bazar(Settlement)English Named in honour of British diplomat Captain Hiram Cox (1760-1799), who served as an officer of the East India Company. This is the name of a city in Bangladesh.
Cozcatl(Other)Aztec Cozcatl is a masculine name that means “jewel” in the Nahuatl language. Of Aztec origin.
Crawfordjohn(Settlement)Scottish A village in Southern Scotland. It's name is of Scots origin and means 'Crow's ford of John'. See Crawford.
Crete(Island)English From Ancient Greek Κρήτη (Krete) of uncertain meaning. It may come from Krus, a mythological hero, whose name is unexplained. Another theory is that it is derived from Luwian kursawar meaning "island" or kursattar meaning "cutting, sliver"... [more]
Crevichon(Island)Norman Islet in the Channel Islands, England. Means "isle of crabs, crayfish, and cranes", due to the abundance of those animals in the area.
Crimea(Country, Political Subdivision & Region)English, Italian, Spanish From Crimean Tatar Qırım, which is of uncertain origin. It may have been derived from a corruption of Latin Cimmerium or Greek Κιμμερικόν (Kimmerikon), the name of an ancient city, from Old Turkic qurum meaning "protection, defense" or qirum meaning "fosse, trench", or Ancient Greek κρημνοί (kremnoi) meaning "cliffs"... [more]
Crimée(Country, Political Subdivision & Region)French French form of Crimea.
Crna Gora(Country)Montenegrin, Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian Montenegrin form of Montenegro, which several other Balkan countries have adopted as their name for the country. The name literally means "black mountain", as it is derived from the South Slavic adjective crn meaning "black" combined with the South Slavic noun gora meaning "mountain".
Crompton(Settlement)English From Old English crumbe ("bent") + tun ("town"), referring to its location on a river bend. It is the name of a former town now part of Shaw and Crompton.
Cudahy(Settlement)English (American) Transferred use of the Irish surname Cudahy. The city in California was named for Michael Cudahy, a meat-packing baron and local landowner.
Cuillin(Mountain)English The Cuillin (Scottish Gaelic: An Cuilthionn or An Cuiltheann) is a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Cumberland(Region)English A historical English county, covering the Northern half of modern-day Cumbria. It derives from the Brythonic combrogi, meaning 'fellow-countrymen'.
Cumbernauld(Settlement)Scottish A town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The name in its present form is most likely derived from Gaelic comar nan allt meaning 'meeting of the waters'. However, early forms containing Cumyr- hint at a Cumbric predecessor derived possibly from Common Brittonic *cömber-ïn-alt (Welsh cymer-yn-allt), perhaps meaning 'confluence at the hill'.
Cumorah(Mountain)Mormon This is the name of the hill where the Nephite known as Moroni buried the golden plates. It is located in New York.
Cupertino(Settlement)English From the name of Italian saint Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663), who hailed from the town of Copertino in Apulia, Italy. This is the name of a city in California.
Curaçao(Political Subdivision & Island)Dutch, English From Portuguese Curação of uncertain origin, possibly from a name used by the indigenous peoples of the island. This is the name of an island country in the Caribbean Sea that is part of the Netherlands.
Cuyahoga(River)English (American) A river in Ohio. The name is possibly derived from the Mohawk word cayagaga meaning "crooked river", the Seneca word gayó'ha'geh meaning "on your chin", or the Wyandot name for the river, yažaʔyeh.
Cuzco(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Inca (Hispanicized), Quechua (Hispanicized), Spanish (Archaic) Traditional spelling of Cusco, a city in Peru which was the capital of the Inca Empire. Cusco is the Hispanicized form of Quechua Qusqu meaning "rock, boundary stone; heap of earth and stones; nucleus; navel; bed, dry bed of a lake".
Cwm Gwaun(Settlement)Welsh Cwm Gwaun (English: Gwaun Valley) is a community and valley in north Pembrokeshire, Wales. The name itself is derived from Welsh cwm "valley" and gwaun "heath, moor".
Czech Republic(Country)English The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin: Boiohaemum, which means "home of the Boii" (Gallic tribe). The current English name comes from the Polish ethnonym associated with the area, which ultimately comes from the Czech word Čech... [more]
Daedeok(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Korean From Sino-Korean 大德, meaning "great virtue." It is the name of numerous districts and settlements in South Korea.
Daegu(Settlement)Korean Combination of 大 (대, dae, "big, large") and 邱 (구, gu, "hill"), thus "large hill". This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Daejeon(Settlement)Korean Combination of 大 (대, dae, "big, large") and 田 (전, jeon, "cultivated piece of land"). This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Dagestan(Political Subdivision)Russian Derived from Turkish dağ meaning "mountain" and the Persian suffix ستان (stan 2) meaning "land of". This is the name of a federal subject of Russia.
Dahlak(Other)Arabic The Dahlak Archipelago is located in the Red Sea near Massawa, Eritrea. The pearl fisheries of the archipelago have been famous since Roman times and still produce a substantial number of pearls.
Dahomey(Other)English The name of the Kingdom. Dahomey Kingdom was an African kingdom that existed from about 1600 until 1894, when the last king, Behanzin, was defeated by the French, and the country was annexed into the French colonial empire.
Đăk Nông(Political Subdivision)Vietnamese Combination of Đắk Lắk and M'Nông, the name of an ethnic group in Vietnam. This is the name of a province of Vietnam.
Đà Lạt(Settlement)Vietnamese Derived from Koho daa meaning "water" and Lạt, a name for the indigenous Koho people of Vietnam. This is the name of a city in Vietnam.
Dalian(Settlement)Chinese Ultimately from the name of the Russian settlement Дальний (Dalniyy) literally meaning "far, distant", a reference to the town's location. This is the name of a city in China.
Dalkeith(Settlement)Scottish A small town in Midlothian, Scotland, south of Edinburgh. It is of Cumbric language origin. The first element is dal, meaning 'meadow, plateau' (Welsh ddôl) and chyd, meaning 'trees, wood' (Welsh coed).
Damah(Settlement)Khmer Khmer form of Damascus via the French form Damas.
Damanhur(Settlement)Arabic From Coptic ⲡϯⲙⲓⲛ̀ϩⲱⲣ (Ptiminhōr), itself derived from Egyptian 𓂧𓏇𓇋𓇋𓊖𓏌𓅃 (pꜣ-dmỉ-n-Ḥr.w) meaning "the settlement of Horus"... [more]
Đà Nẵng(Settlement)Vietnamese Uncertain, possibly from Eastern Cham đanak meaning "mouth of a river" or đarak meaning "large river" or from Western Cham đaknan meaning "wide water, large water" (all referring to the Han River)... [more]
Dar Es Salaam(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Swahili, English Derived from Arabic دار السلام (dar as-salam) meaning "house of peace" or "abode of peace". This is the name of an administrative region and city in Tanzania.
Darjeeling(Other)Indian Darjeeling India is a part of India and is well known because Mother Teresa (1910-1997) went there in 1929 for missionary reasons.
Darton(Settlement)English Darton is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley (part of South Yorkshire), on the border with West Yorkshire, England.
Dasmariñas(Settlement)Filipino Dasmariñas, officially the City of Dasmariñas, is a 1st class component city in the province of Cavite, Philippines... [more]
Dauphin(Political Subdivision & Settlement)French, English The name Dauphin comes from the French word for "dolphin", which was historically used as the emblem of the heir to the French throne (the "Dauphin"). The name likely refers to the Dauphin River, which in turn was named after the French title... [more]
Davao(Region, Settlement & River)Filipino Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of 2,443.61 km2, making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area... [more]
Davenport(Settlement)English Transferred use of the English surname Davenport. The city in Iowa was named for George Davenport, a prominent settler in Iowa Territory.
Dawei(Settlement)English From Burmese ထားဝယ် (dawe) derived from Mon ထဝဲါ (thawai) meaning "to sit cross-legged", referring to the Buddha's posture on the palin (a type of throne). This is the name of a city in Myanmar, formerly known as Tavoy in English.
Dayangzhou(Region)Chinese From Chinese 大洋 (dàyáng) meaning "ocean, sea" and 洲 (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the Chinese name for Oceania.
Deadwood(Settlement)English From the English word "deadwood". The city in South Dakota was named for the dead trees found by Euro-American settlers in the area.
Decatur(Settlement)English (American) Transferred use of the surname Decatur. The city in Alabama was named for Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr., a United States Navy officer.
Deguo(Country)Chinese From Chinese 德 (Dé), a short form of 德意志 (Déyìzhì), a name for Germany, and 国 (guó) meaning "country". This is the modern Chinese name for Germany.
Dekalb(Settlement)English (American) Transferred use of the surname De Kalb. The city in Illinois was named for Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb, a French-Franconian major-general who fought for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Delaware(Political Subdivision)English Name of a state in the United States, named after the Delaware river, which was named after Lord De La Warr, from French de la guerre or de la werre literally "of the war".
Delta(Political Subdivision)English This is a state in Nigeria, a western African country. This is where the Isoko peoples live.
Demak(Country, Political Subdivision & Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese Meaning uncertain, possibly either of Javanese or Arabic origin. This is the name of a sultanate that existed between the 15th and 16th centuries in northern Java. It is also the name of a regency of, as well as a city in, the modern-day Indonesian province of Central Java.
Demelza(Settlement)Cornish Name of a hamlet in Cornwall, sometimes explained as a contraction of Cornish Dinas Maeldaf "fort of Maeldaf", but more likely derived from Cornish ty "house" and malsai "eel".
Democratic Republic of the Congo(Country)English The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa. It was formerly called Zaire (1971–1997). It is, by area, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, the second-largest in all of Africa (after Algeria), and the 11th-largest in the world... [more]
Dengjialou(Political Subdivision)Chinese Chinese form of Terengganu, chosen specifically for the characters 登 (dēng) meaning "rise, ascend", 嘉 (jiā) meaning "excellent", and 樓 (lóu) meaning "floor, level"... [more]
Denpasar(Settlement)Indonesian From Balinese ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ (dénpasar) possibly meaning "north market". This is the name of the capital city of the Indonesian province of Bali.
Denver(Settlement)English Named after James W. Denver; the surname itself comes from Old English Denefær ("crossing of the Danes") or den-ōfer ("valley-bank")... [more]
Depew(Settlement)English (American) Transferred use of the surname Depew. The village in New York was named for Chauncey M. Depew, president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company.
Depok(Settlement)Indonesian From an acronym of Dutch De Eerste Protestantse Organisatie van Christenen (DEPOC) meaning "First Protestant Christian Organisation", referring to a 17th-century congregation established by Dutch merchant Cornelis Chastelein (1657-1714) to convert indigenous Indonesians to Christianity... [more]