Uppland(Region)Swedish Uppland is a Swedish historical province. The name is a combination of Swedish upp "up" and land "land". The name is believed to refer to its location north of Lake Mälaren.
Uppsala(Settlement)Swedish Means "upstream from Sala", from Old Norse upp "up" and salir "halls, rooms". Sala was a village located downstream from Uppsala (it is nowadays a neighbourhood known as Sala backe)... [more]
Urewera(Region)Māori Composed of the Māori words ure meaning "penis" and wera meaning "burnt". The name of Te Urewera in Aotearoa New Zealand: the ancestral homeland of the Tūhoe people.... [more]
Urquhart(Other)Scottish Gaelic Urquhart (castle by Loch Ness) derives from the 7th-century form Airdchartdan, itself a mix of the Old Irish aird (point or promontory) and Old Welsh cardden (thicket or wood).
Ürümqi(Settlement)English From Uyghur ئۈرۈمچى (ürümchi), which may have been derived from Mongolian ᠦᠯᠡᠮᠵᠢ (ülemji) meaning "great", a short form of the phrase ᠦᠯᠡᠮᠵᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠰᠠᠶ᠋ᠢᠬᠠᠨ ᠪᠡᠯᠴᠢᠭᠡᠷ (ülemji-yin say᠋iqan belchiger) meaning "great pasture" or "beautiful pasture"... [more]
Usuri(Region, Body of Water & River)Manchu The naming source of Ussuri.
Utah(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, from Spanish yuta, name of the indigenous Uto-Aztecan people of the Great Basin perhaps from Western Apache (Athabaskan) yudah "high" (in reference to living in the mountains).
Utara(Other)Indonesian, Minangkabau, Malay The Malay, Indonesian and Minangkabau definition of the Sanskrit word Uttara, which means “Northward”.
Uthai Thani(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai From Thai อุทัย (uthai) meaning "sunrise, dawn, emergence, rise" and ธานี (thani) meaning "city". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and city in, Thailand.
Utqiagvik(Settlement)Iñupiaq, Indigenous American Means "place to gather roots" in Iñupiaq. This is the name of the northernmost town in the US, located in the state of Alaska on the Arctic Ocean coast... [more]
Utsunomiya(Settlement)Japanese This is the name of a city which is the capital and most populous city of Tochigi Prefecture, located in central Japan. The kanji used are 宇 (u) meaning "eaves, heaven, house, roof", 都 (tsu, to, miyako) meaning "capital, metropolis" and 宮 (kyuu, ku, kuu, guu, miya) meaning "constellations, palace, princess, Shinto shrine."... [more]
Uttaradit(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai, Northern Thai From Thai อุตร (uttara) meaning "north, northern" and ดิตถ์ (dit) meaning "port, landing", referring to the region's historical status as a trading port along the Nan River... [more]
Uttar Pradesh(Political Subdivision)Hindi, Bhojpuri, Urdu, English Means "north province", derived from Sanskrit उत्तर (uttara) meaning "north" and प्रदेश (pradesha) meaning "province". This is the name of a state in northern India, taken from a calque of its former English name, Northern Provinces.
Uummannaq(Other)Greenlandic Means "heart-shaped" in Greenlandic, ultimately derived from uummat "heart". Uummannaq is the name of several places in Greenland, including a mountain, a town, an island, and a fjord.
Uzbeketi(Country)Georgian From Georgian უზბეკური (uzbekuri) referring to the Uzbek people and the suffix -ეთი (-eti) used to indicate location. This is the Georgian name for Uzbekistan.
Uzbekija(Country)Lithuanian Lithuanian form of Uzbekistan via its Latin name Uzbecia. This is the standard Lithuanian name for the country, but sometimes the form Uzbekistanas is also used.
Uzhhorod(Political Subdivision & Other)Ukrainian From the River Uzh (Уж) and dialectal Ukrainian город (horod) "city". Uzhhorod is a city and oblast' (region) in western Ukraine.
Vacaville(Settlement)English (American) From the Spanish surname Vaca and the English suffix ville, meaning "city". The city in California is named for Juan Manuel Cabeza Vaca, an early settler in the land that would become the city.
Vadstena(Settlement)Swedish Probably a combination of Old Swedish *vazt "place to fish" and sten "stone". Vadstena is a city in Sweden that had an important role in Sweden's early Christian history. Saint Bridget (Heliga Birgitta) founded the Bridgettine Order here at the Vadstena Abbey in the 14th centry.
Valdosta(Settlement)English The name of a city in southern Georgia, United States, taken from that of George Troup (1780-1856)'s plantation; Troup, the 32nd Governor of Georgia, named Valdosta after Piedmontese Val d'Osta meaning "Aosta Valley", a place in the Italian Alps... [more]
Valenzuela(Settlement)Filipino Valenzuela, officially the City of Valenzuela, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 714,918 people... [more]
Välimeri(Body of Water)Finnish Combination of Finnish väli "gap, space" and meri "sea". This is the Finnish name for the Mediterranean Sea.
Valinor(Region)Literature A region in JRR Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' series. From the fictional Quenya language, a compound of vala, a fictional quasi-divine species, and the suffix ndor meaning "land".
Vallejo(Settlement)Spanish, English The name of a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, which was founded by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-1890), a Californio military leader and landowner... [more]
Valletta(Settlement)Maltese, English From the name of 16th century French nobleman Jean de Valette. This is the name of the capital city of Malta.
Vänern(Body of Water)Swedish Meaning uncertain. One theory is that the name is derived from Old Swedish vænir and therefore related to Archaic Swedish words vån "hope, prospect" and vän "beautiful, fair"... [more]
Vasouvi(Settlement)Khmer Khmer form of Warszawa (see Warsaw) via the French form Varsovie.
Västerås(Settlement)Swedish Derived from Westra Aros meaning "west river mouth". Västerås is the 5th largest city in Sweden.
Västerbotten(Political Subdivision)Swedish Swedish county (län) and historical province (landskap) in Northern Sweden. The name refers to its geographical location west of the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea... [more]
Vatican City(Country)English Vatican City (/ˈvætɪkən/), officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is the Holy See's independent city state, an enclave within Rome, Italy... [more]
Vättern(Body of Water)Swedish Meaning uncertain, but possibly derived from Swedish vatten "water". Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden and the sixth largest lake in Europe.
Vatykan(Country)Ukrainian Ukrainian form of Vatican, which is one of the names commonly used to refer to Vatican City.
Vavylon(Settlement)Ukrainian, Greek Ukrainian form of Babylon as well as the modern Greek transcription of the name. However, in modern Greece, Vavylona is typically the form used to refer to the capital city of ancient Babylonia.
Velikorossiya(Country & Region)Russian Means "Great Russia" (великий/velikiy + россия/rossiya). It is a historical name of what is now mostly the Russian Federation.
Venäjä(Country)Finnish From Finnish venät meaning "Russian" (a rare word), ultimately from Germanic winidaz meaning "Wend, Slav". This is the Finnish name of Russia.
Verenigd Koninkrijk(Country)Dutch Dutch form of United Kingdom. It is literally a direct translation of the country's name, since it consists of the Dutch adjective verenigd meaning "united" combined with the Dutch noun koninkrijk meaning "kingdom".
Vermont(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, literally "green mountain" from French verde "green" + mont "mountain".
Versen(Settlement)German Speculated to be from German Ferse meaning "heel", as it was founded on the figurative heel of the river Ems. First documented as fersne in 854.
Vest-Agder(Political Subdivision)Norwegian From the Norwegian word vest meaning "west" and the place name agder. It means "the western part of Agder."... [more]
Vestfold(Political Subdivision)Norwegian From the old name of the Olsofjord fold and the Norwegian word vest. The name means, "the region west of the fold."... [more]
Veszprém(Settlement)Hungarian Veszprém is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights.
Vevey(Settlement)French Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.
Veyatie(Body of Water)Scottish The name of a loch in north-west Scotland, from the Gaelic Mheathadaidh, which is of uncertain derivation. It appears to be a tri-thematic name composed of meatha-, a derivative of Old Norse mjó or mjór "narrow", combined with an uncertain second element (presumably the name of the river that led to the loch, which is lost) and the suffix -aidh, derived from Old Norse á "river".
Viangchan(Settlement)Khmer Khmer form of Vientiane via the Thai form เวียงจันทน์ (Wiangchan).
Viedma(Settlement)Spanish Possibly of Huarpe origin. This is the name of a city in Argentina which is the capital of Río Negro province in northern Patagonia. Together with the city of Carmen de Patagones across the river in Buenos Aires Province, Viedma is the oldest European settlement in Patagonia (founded 1779).
Viên(Settlement)Vietnamese Vietnamese form of Vienna via the French form Vienne.
Vientiane(Settlement)English, French French form of Lao ວຽງຈັນ (Wiangchan) meaning "city of sandalwood" or "city of the moon" from Lao ວຽງ (wiang) meaning "city, town" and ຈັນ (chan) meaning "sandalwood" or "moon"... [more]
Vieques(Settlement & Island)English (American), Spanish (Latin American) An island and town east of Puerto Rico. The name is derived from the Hispanicization of a Taíno word said to mean "small island, small land".