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]
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]
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).
Marne(River)French From Latin Dea Mātrōna, meaning literally “divine mother goddess”, the name of a mother goddess associated with the river who was worshipped by the Gauls.... [more]
Mecca(Settlement)English, Italian, Romanian From Arabic مكة (Makka) which is from بكة (bakka), an ancient name for the region. The name is of uncertain origin and meaning; it may be from Arabic بكى (baka) meaning "to cry, to mourn" or Ge'ez ምኵራብ (məkʷrab) meaning "temple, sanctuary"... [more]
Medan(Settlement)Indonesian, Malay, Batak Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from Batak Karo madan meaning "healed, blessed, recovered" or Malay medan meaning "field" (ultimately of Iranian origin). This is the name of a city in Indonesia.
Meije(Mountain)French From Occitan meija meaning "middle, centre, half," taken from its original name l'Agulha de la Meija meaning "the needle of the Meije."... [more]
Mexic(Country & Settlement)Occitan, Romanian Occitan and Romanian form of Mexico. The Occitan name refers to both the country and city, whereas the Romanian name is used only for the country.
Miami(Settlement)English Name of a city in Florida. The name was first mentioned by Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a captive of Indians in southern Florida for 17 years, when he referred to what is now Lake Okeechobee as the "Lake of Mayaimi, which is called Mayaimi because it is very large"... [more]
Minot(Settlement)English (American) Transferred use of the surname Minot. The city in North Dakota is named for Henry Minot, an ornithologist and investor in the Great Northern Railway, around which the city was built.
Minsk(Settlement)Belarusian, English, Russian From Old East Slavic Мѣньскъ (Menisku), which was derived from a river named Men. This is the name of the capital city of Belarus.
Mirna(River, Settlement & Political Subdivision)Slovene Dissimilation from Slavic nyrati meaning "to rise from the earth." It is the name of a river, village, and municipality in Slovenia.
Mocha(Settlement)English, Arabic (Anglicized) Variant of Mokha, from Arabic المُخا (al-Mukhā), the name of a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Long known for its coffee trade, the city gave its name to mocha coffee.
Mòdna(Settlement)Emilian-Romagnol Emilian-Romagnol form of Modena. More specifically, this is the Modenese dialect form of the name.
Mosul(Settlement)English Ultimately derived from Arabic الموصل (al-mawsil) meaning "the linking point, the junction" in reference to a bridge and ford over the Tigris river... [more]
Myeik(Settlement)Burmese Derived from Shan မႃႉ (ma) meaning "horse" and an uncertain word possibly meaning "pillar" or "tail". This is the name of a city in Myanmar.
Mykle(Body of Water)Norwegian Mykle is a lake in the municipality of Kongsberg in Viken county, Norway.
Mỹ Tho(Settlement & River)Vietnamese Most likely means "land of white girls", derived from Khmer ស្រុក (srok) meaning "land, inhabited area" (this element was dropped at some point), មេ (me) meaning "girl" and ស (sa) meaning "white"... [more]
Nairn(Settlement)Scottish A town in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The town is so called due to its location on the river Nairn, the name of which is probably of pre-Celtic origin.
Najaf(Settlement)Arabic, English Means "elevated place not reached by water, hill, dike" in Arabic. This is the name of a city in Iraq, considered one of the holiest cities of Shia Islam. It is reportedly the burial place of Ali ibn Abi Talib... [more]
Namsa(Country)Arabic Derived from Ottoman Turkish نمچه (nemçe) meaning "Austrian, German", ultimately from a Slavic word meaning "German". This is the Arabic name for Austria, usually written with the definite article: النمسا (al-Namsa).
Nan'yō(Region)Japanese This is the shorter version of the name Nan'yō Guntō. It's an abbreviation. It in English means the "South Seas" and "Micronesia." It was used lots of times by Okinawans during the Japanese administration era... [more]
Närke(Region)Swedish Närke is Swedish historical province. The name is believed to be derived from the word när meaning "ridge, hill" (not to be confused with the word nära "close, near").
Narni(Settlement)Italian Derived from the name of the Nera River which was called Nar in Latin. Author C.S. Lewis used the town's Latin name Narnia for a fictional country in his Chronicles of Narnia series of fantasy novels first released 1950.
Niadi(River, Other, Political Subdivision & Settlement)Kongo, Central African The name of both a river and a valley in Southwest Republic of the Congo.
Omaha(Settlement)Sioux Siouan people of northeastern Nebraska, 1804, Maha, perhaps from Omaha umaha, perhaps literally "upstream (people), against the flow." The Nebraska city was founded in 1854.
Oneka(Body of Water)English (American) A lake in Minnesota. From Dakota onakan meaning "strike, knock off", referring to the practice of gathering wild rice by knocking it into a canoe.
Orsay(Settlement)French A town near Paris. Originates from the Latin given name Orcius
Ortac(Island)Norman A small Channel Island in England. Likely means "large rock at the edge" from the Norman 'or', meaning "edge", and 'etac', meaning "stack", referring to the geological landform.
Ōsaka(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Japanese Alternate transcription of Osaka.
Osaka(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 大 (ō) meaning "big, great" and 阪 (saka) meaning "slope". This is the name of a city in Japan, as well as the prefecture in which the city is located.
Ostia(Settlement)Ancient Roman, Italian From Latin ōs, meaning "mouth", transferred to mean "opening, entrance". This was a major port city in Ancient Rome, which is still the name of a coastal area of the modern city of Rome.
Pakse(Settlement)Lao, Thai Means "mouth of the river" from Lao ປາກ (pak) meaning "mouth" and ເຊ (se) meaning "river". This is the name of a city in Laos.
Palau(Country)English Palau is an archipelago in Oceania. The flag is a yellow circle in the middle of a blue background, and the country is locally known as Belau.
Panay(Settlement & Island)Filipino Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of 12,011 km2 and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census... [more]
Pasay(Settlement)Filipino Pasay, officially the City of Pasay, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Due to its location just south of Manila, Pasay quickly became an urban town during the American colonial period... [more]
Pasig(Settlement & River)Filipino The City of Pasig was founded in 1573. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has an area of 31.00 km2 and has 755,300 people living in it as of the 2015 census. The city shares its name with the Pasig River... [more]
Penge(Settlement)English A suburb of London, England. Originally named Penceat, it appears to derive from Brythonic *penno, 'head, edge' and *ceid, 'forest, wood', so likely meant 'settlement on the forest's edge'.
Perak(Political Subdivision)Malay, Tamil, English Means "silver" in Malay, given in reference to the region's abundance of tin. This is the name of a state of Malaysia.
Perth(Settlement)Scottish A city in central Scotland. The name is of Pictish origin and derived from *perth, meaning 'bush, copse' (Welsh perth, 'bush, hedge').
Piauí(Political Subdivision)Portuguese (Brazilian) From Piagoí, through the earlier name Piagüí, which is an early rendition of Tupi piauí, which means "river of the piabas" (piaba being a term used to indicate several types of fish)... [more]
Pikin(Settlement)Burmese Burmese form of Beijing based on the spelling Peking.
Pippu(Mountain)Japanese Mount Pippu is situated in Hokkaido Prefecture, apart of the Ishikari Mountains.
Prato(Settlement)Italian, English, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish, Dutch Italian for "meadow". This is the name of a city in northern Italy, which was probably chosen because the city was founded on a meadow.
Précy(Settlement)French Précy is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France.
Pskov(Political Subdivision & Region)Russian Originally Pleskov (historic Russian spelling Плѣсковъ, Plěskov), may be loosely translated as "(the town) of purling waters"
Qytai(Country)Kazakh, Bashkir Kazakh form of Cathay, used as the Kazakh name for China. It is also an alternate transcription of Bashkir Qytay.
Qytay(Country)Bashkir, Kazakh Bashkir form of Cathay, used as the Bashkir name for China. It is also an alternate transcription of Kazakh Qytai.
Rabat(Settlement)English, French, Spanish From Arabic الرباط (ar-Ribat) meaning "the ribat", referring to a type of fortification used during the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. It is also used as a shortened form of the city's Arabic nickname, رباط الفتح (ribatu l-fath), which means "fortification of conquest, fortification of victory"... [more]
Rabka(Settlement)Polish Name of Rabka-Zdrój until 1999, as well as its present colloquial name.