Langkawi(Island)Malay, English Meaning uncertain, possibly from a colloquial name for the brahminy kite (a type of eagle), derived from Malay helang meaning "eagle" and kawi referring to a reddish-brown chalk. This is the name of an island and archipelago in Malaysia.
Las Piñas(Settlement)Filipino The City of Las Piñas was founded on either 1762 or 1797. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has a land area of 32.69 km2 and has 588,894 people living in it as of the 2015 census.... [more]
Las Vegas(Settlement)English, Spanish Means "the meadows" in Spanish, from vega meaning "meadow". This is the name of a city in the American state of Nevada.
Lausanne(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English, English (British), French From Latin Lausanna or Lausonium, ultimately from Proto-Celtic lausa meaning “slab.” This is the name of the fourth most populated city of Switzerland... [more]
Leinster(Region)Irish From the Irish Laighin, the name of a major tribe previously living in the area, and either Irish tír or Old Norse staðr, both meaning “land”, “place” or “territory”.... [more]
Lelystad(Settlement)Dutch Means "Lely-city" in Dutch, named after Cornelis Lely. This is the capital city of the Flevoland province in the Netherlands.
Liaoning(Political Subdivision)Chinese (Cantonese) From Cantonese 辽 (liao) “the Liao River” and 宁 (ning) “pacification”. Put together, the name means “pacification of the Liao River”.
Limerick(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish, English Possibly derives from loimeanach, meaning "bare marsh" or "spot made bare by feeding horses". Other potential derivations connect with luimnigthe "cloaked" and luimnechda, meaning "shielded"... [more]
Limousin(Political Subdivision & Region)French From the ethnonym of a Celtic tribe, the Lemovices, from Gaulish *Lemouīcēs, meaning "those who vanquish by the elm", probably referring to the wood their weapons were made of, which derives from the Proto-Celtic stem *lēmo- or *limo-, which comes from from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élem or *h₁leym-... [more]
Lisavona(Settlement)Greek Modern Greek form of Lisbon. The more traditional form is actually Λισσαβώνα (Lissavona), but the current form of Lisavona first came into use in the 1990s and has since become increasingly popular to the point that it has now virtually replaced Lissavona.
Longford(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish Town and county in Ireland. Meaning "the port".
Longfort(Political Subdivision)Irish The Irish name of Longford from long, meaning "ship", and port, meaning "dock".... [more]
Los Gatos(Settlement)English Means "the cats" in Spanish, named after the wild cats that used to live in the area. This is the name of a city in California.
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]
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]
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]
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.
Maninjau(Body of Water)Minangkabau, Indonesian Means "observation, overlook" in Minangkabau, from the word tinjau meaning "to observe, to watch". This is the name of a lake in Indonesia.
Manitoba(Political Subdivision)English Name of a province in Canada, from Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, both meaning "straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit",
Maniwaki(Settlement)Algonquin (Gallicized) Town in Quebec. Algonquin for "Mary's Land", for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate who lived there.
Mapleton(Settlement)English The name Mapleton is derived from the old English words of maple and tūn. The word maple plainly refers to the deciduous species of tree native to the area, with tūn being a descriptive term for an enclosure, a farmstead, a village or an estate.
Maranhão(Political Subdivision)Portuguese (Brazilian) Of uncertain origin: it may come from Tupi mar'anhan ("running sea"), a name for the Amazon River. This is the name of a state of Brazil.
Maryland(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England.
Mellieħa(Settlement & Body of Water)Maltese The name of a large village or small town located on the northern tip of Malta's main island, it comes from mellieħa meaning "salt pan," derived from the Semitic root m-l-h (compare melħ meaning "salt"), probably referring to the ancient Punic-Roman salt pans which existed at Mellieħa Bay, the site of which is now occupied by the Għadira Nature Reserve.
Michigan(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, originally applied to Lake Michigan, perhaps from Old Ojibwa (Algonquian) meshi-gami "big lake".
Milpitas(Settlement)English Means "little cornfields" from a diminutive of Spanish milpa meaning "cornfield". This is the name of a city in California.
Mindanao(Island)Filipino, Cebuano, Tagalog, English From a Spanish corruption of Magindanaw, the endonym of the Maguindanao people. The ethnic name means "people of the flood plains" or "people of the lake" from Maguindanao danao meaning "lake"... [more]
Minquier(Island)Breton, Norman, English An island chain in the Channel Islands, England. Could be from Breton 'minihi', meaning "sanctuary, or from 'minkier' meaning "seller of fish".
Mirabeau(Political Subdivision)French From Provençal mirar ("to see") and bel ("beautiful"). This is the name of a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, which is in southeastern France.
Missouri(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, from Illinois mihsoori, "dugout canoe".
Miyazaki(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 宮 (miya) meaning "temple, shrine, palace" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape, peninsula". This is the name of a city in Japan, as well as the prefecture in which the city is located.
Moldavië(Country & Region)Dutch Dutch name for the historical region of Moldavia. The name is also used to refer to Moldova, a country that currently contains most of the aforementioned region.
Montreal(Settlement)English Name of a city in Canada, from French le mont Royal "mont royal". Jacques Cartier named it after the nearby mountain, but it is uncertain how royal became real... [more]
Mordovia(Political Subdivision)English From Russian Мордовия (Mordoviya) derived from the name of the Mordvin (or Mordva) people. The name is thought to be derived from the Iranian root mard meaning "man". This is the name of a republic of Russia.
Mukdahan(Political Subdivision)Thai Derived from Sanskrit मुक्ताहार (muktahara) meaning "garland of pearls", from मुक्ता (mukta) meaning "pearl" and हार (hara) meaning "garland, necklace"... [more]
Murmansk(Settlement)Russian Murmansk is a port city in north Russia. Founded in 1916 , being the last settlement founded is the Russian empire.... [more]
Myingyan(Settlement)Burmese From Burmese မြင်း (myin) meaning "horse" and ခြံ (gyan) meaning "farm". This is the name of a city in Myanmar.
Mỹ Phương(Settlement)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 美 (mỹ) meaning "beautiful," and 芳 (phương) meaning "fragrant" or "virtuous." It is the name of a village and commune in northeast Vietnam.
Nagasaki(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 長 (naga) meaning "long" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape". This is the name of a city in Japan, as well as the prefecture in which the city is located.
Nástrǫnd(Other)Norse Mythology Means "shore of death" or "corpse shore". In Norse mythology this is the name of the afterlife for people guilty of murder, adultery and oath-breaking. It is a hall far from the sun with its gate facing north, poison dripping from its roof, and snakes curled in it... [more]