Madhya Pradesh(Political Subdivision)Indian The name "Madhya Pradesh" translates to "Central Province" in English. It is derived from the Sanskrit words "Madhya" meaning "central" and "Pradesh" meaning "province" or "region." Madhya Pradesh is located in the central part of India, hence the name.
Madison(Settlement)English Named after James Madison (1751–1836), Founding Father and fourth President of the United States. This is the name of several settlements, including the capital city of the State of Wisconsin.
Madison Heights(Settlement)English (American) Madison Heights ranked as fifth highest populated City in South Oakland County. The first City Hall was located at 26305 John R Road, the former township offices. On April 5, 1963, a new municipal building was constructed which is on the present location at 300 West Thirteen Mile Road.
Madoc(Settlement)Welsh Believed to come from the word "mad", meaning "fortunate" or "happy". It is also linked to the legendary Welsh prince Madoc, who, according to legend, sailed to America before Columbus.... [more]
Madras(Settlement)English, Hindi Meaning uncertain, possibly from the name of a fishing village. This is the former name of the Indian city of Chennai.
Madura(Island)Indonesian, Javanese Either from Indonesian madu meaning "honey" combined with dara meaning "maiden, girl" or from Sanskrit मथुरा (mathura) referring to the Indian city of Mathura (which is believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Krishna)... [more]
Maebashi(Settlement)Japanese From earlier 厩橋 (Umayabashi), derived from 駅家 (umaya), meaning "stable", denoting a small refreshment house with a stable, not far from a bridge (橋, hashi) that crossed the Tone River... [more]
Mae Hong Son(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai, Northern Thai Possibly from a Lanna or Shan name meaning "valley of the Son stream", referring to a local body of water. This is the name of a province and city in Thailand.
Magadan(Settlement)Biblical Hebrew Derived from Hebrew מגדל (Migdal) meaning "tower"; ultimately from Aramaic מגדלא (Magdala) "elegant, great" or "tower". The King James' Version of the Bible provide the name Magdala, while some Greek manuscripts and the Revised Version provide the name "Magadan"... [more]
Magadan(Political Subdivision)Biblical "Harp" or "to Cut, Invade, Expose"... [more]
Magalia(Settlement)English (American) A city in California. From Latin magalia meaning "little dwellings, huts, tents".
Mağrip(Country & Region)Crimean Tatar, Turkish Crimean Tatar and Turkish form of Maghrib. It is used to refer to the country of Morocco in Crimean Tatar while it refers to the region in Turkish.
Maguindanao(Political Subdivision)Filipino, Cebuano, Tagalog, English From Spanish Maguindanao, a corruption of Magindanaw, the endonym of the Maguindanao people. The ethnic name means "people of the flood plains" or "people of the lake" from the word danao meaning "lake"... [more]
Magway(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English From Burmese မကွေး (magwe) of uncertain meaning. This is the name of an administrative division of, as well as a town in, Myanmar.
Magway(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English From Burmese မကွေး (Magwe) derived from a corruption of မြစ် (myit) meaning "river" and ကွေ့ (gwe) meaning "turn, curve, bend", referring to the city's location along a bend of the Irrawaddy River... [more]
Magwe(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Burmese Burmese form of Magway.
Magwe(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English From Burmese မကွေး (Magwe) derived from a corruption of မြစ် (myit) meaning "river" and ကွေ့ (gwe) meaning "turn, curve, bend", referring to the city's location along a bend of the Irrawaddy River... [more]
Mahanuwara(Settlement)Sinhalese Means "great city" derived from Sanskrit महा (maha) meaning "great" combined with Sinhala නුවර (nuwara) meaning "city, town". This is the Sinhala name for Kandy.
Maharashtra(Political Subdivision)Indian The name "Maharashtra" translates to "Great Nation" or "Great State" in English. It is derived from the Sanskrit words "Maha" meaning "great" and "Rashtra" meaning "nation" or "state." Therefore, "Maharashtra" signifies a region of significant importance or prominence.
Mahnomen(Settlement)English (American) A city in Minnnesota. From the Ojibwe manoomin meaning "wild rice".
Mahtomedi(Settlement)English (American) A city in Minnesota. Its name is derived from Dakota mathó, "bear", and bdé, "lake".
Maidenland(Country)Arthurian Cycle The enchanted land of fairies where, in Ulrich’s Lanzelet, Lancelot was raised by his foster-mother, a fairy. It had no men, but Lancelot was able to learn skill with arms from visiting mermen. It is comparable to the island or valley in later legends ruled by the Lady of the Lake.... [more]
Maine(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, possibly from French Maine, a region in France (named for the river that runs through it, which has a name of Gaulish origin).
Majapahit(Country & Settlement)Indonesian, Malay, English Means "bitter maja", from Javanese maja referring to the bael tree (genus Aegle) and Malay pahit meaning "bitter, acrid". This was the name of a kingdom (as well as its capital city) based on the island of Java that existed from 1293 to 1527.
Majorca(Island)English Majorca is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The local language, as on the rest of the Balearic Islands, is Catalan, which is co-official with Spanish.
Makassar(Settlement)Indonesian, Buginese From the Makassarese phrase akkasaraki nabbiya meaning "appearance of the prophet", taken from a legend in which a 16th-century king was supposedly approached by Muhammad himself... [more]
Makati(Settlement)Tagalog, English Derived from the phrase makati na, kumakati na meaning "ebbing tide". This is the name of a city in the Philippines.
Makhachkala(Settlement)Russian Means "Makhach's fortress", from the given name Makhach and Kumyk къала (qala) meaning "fortress". This is the name of the capital city of the Russian republic of Dagestan, named in honour of Magomed-Ali "Makhach" Dadaev (1882-1918), a Dagestani revolutionary.
Maksik(Country)Arabic Arabic form of Mexico via the French form Mexique, usually written with the definite article: المكسيك (al-Maksik). This name refers only to the country, not the capital city.
Makuria(Country & Region)History, English Derived from Μακουρια (Makouria), which is the hellenized form of the autochthonous name of a Nubian kingdom that existed from the 5th century AD to the late 15th century AD. The original Nubian name is unknown, as is its meaning... [more]
Malabon(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Filipino The City of Malabon was founded on May 21, 1599. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has a land area of 15.71 km2 and has 365,525 people living in it as of the 2015 census.... [more]
Malacca(Country, Political Subdivision, Settlement & Body of Water)English From Malay Melaka, probably derived from the Malay name for the Indian gooseberry (genus Phyllanthus), a type of tree. This is the name of a state in southern Malaysia as well as a city (Malacca City) and a narrow body of water between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra (the Strait of Malacca)... [more]
Malang(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese Meaning uncertain, possibly from Malangkuçeçwara, the name of a legendary temple meaning "God has destroyed vanity". This is the name of a regency of, as well as a separately administered city in, the Indonesian province of East Java.
Maldives(Country)Catalan, English, French, Greek, Malay Uncertain, possibly means "Malé islands" from Dhivehi މާލެ (māle) referring to Malé, the capital city of the Maldives, combined with Sanskrit द्वीप (dvīpá) meaning "island"... [more]
Malibu(Settlement)English (American) A city in California. The name is derived from the Chumash word humaliwo meaning "the surf sounds loudly", which was the name of a pre-colonial Chumash settlement in the area.
Malolos(Settlement)Filipino Malolos, officially the City of Malolos, is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Bulacan, Philippines... [more]
Malorossiya(Country & Region)Russian Means "Little Russia" (малый/malyy + россия/rossiya), a historical term denoting to what now is mostly Ukraine.
Malton(Settlement)Old English Derived From Old English "mael" (a mill) and "tun" (a settlement or town), meaning "a town with a mill" or "a mill town."... [more]
Maluku(Region & Political Subdivision)Indonesian, English Meaning uncertain. This is the name of an archipelago in eastern Indonesia, the Maluku Islands, as well as the name of two Indonesian provinces, Maluku and North Maluku.
Mamaroneck(Settlement)English (American) A river and town in New York, USA. Possibly from the Unami word mehëmalunèk meaning "place to dance", but more likely from the Munsee word maamaalahneek meaning "striped stream".
Manado(Settlement)Indonesian From Sangir manaro meaning "on the far coast, in the distance", referring to the farther of two islands that can be seen from the mainland. This is the name of a city in Indonesia.
Manama(Settlement)Arabic, English Means "place of sleep, place of rest" in Arabic. This is the name of the capital city of Bahrain, usually written with the definite article: المنامة (al-Manama) in Arabic.
Manamah(Settlement)Arabic, Indonesian, Urdu Arabic and Urdu alternate transcription of Manama as well as the Indonesian form. In Arabic it is usually written with the definite article: منامة (al-Manamah), which is also used in Indonesian.
Manchester(Settlement)English A large city in North-West England. Manchester is an Anglicization of the town's Latin name Mancunium. This was likely derived from an earlier name in a language similar to Welsh. It may have derived from words equivalent to Welsh mamau, meaning 'mother', in reference to a local river goddess... [more]
Manchuria(Region)English, Indonesian, Malay, Spanish, Tagalog Likely from a Dutch calque of Japanese 満州 (Manshū) derived from the name of the Manchu people, ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ (manju), of uncertain origin. The ethnic name is probably derived from the name of the bodhisattva Manjushri in Buddhist tradition... [more]
Mandalay(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English From Burmese မန္တလေး (mandale) of unclear origin, possibly from Sanskrit मण्डल (mandala) meaning "circle, disk". This is the name of an administrative division of Myanmar as well as its regional capital.
Mandaluyong(Settlement)Filipino Mandaluyong, officially the City of Mandaluyong, is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Located directly east of Manila, Mandaluyong was originally a barrio of Santa Ana de Sapa called San Felipe Neri... [more]
Mandan(Settlement)English (American) The city in North Dakota was named for the Mandan people, who are indigenous to the area.