Bennington(Settlement)English Derived from the Old English personal name Beonna combined with -ing-, a connective particle denoting association, and tūn "farmstead, settlement". Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, in the United States.
Berea(Settlement)Biblical (All) Berea (also Beroea) was an ancient city of the Hellenistic period and Roman Empire now known as Veria (or Veroia) in Macedonia, northern Greece. It is a small city on the eastern side of the Vermio Mountains north of Mount Olympus... [more]
Berestia(Region)History, English This is the name of a historical region in Eastern Europe. Its territory was located in what is now Belarus, Poland and Ukraine. The region was named after the Belarusian city of Brest, which was at its centre.
Bergen(Settlement)Dutch, Norwegian, German Newer form of Bjǫrgvin, a combination of Old Norse bjarg "mountain" and vin "meadow". This is the 2nd largest city in Norway.
Bermuda(Political Subdivision)English Derived from the surname of Juan de Bermúdez, a 16th-century Spanish navigator alleged to have discovered the archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. Bermúdez is a surname meaning "son of Bermudo".
Betws-y-coed(Settlement)Welsh A village in rural North-West Wales. The element betws, in Welsh means 'prayer house'. The y is the definite article 'the'. The final element coed means 'trees'. This gives a full name meaning 'prayer house in the forest'... [more]
Bifrǫst(Other)Norse Mythology Means "swaying road to heaven", derived from Old Norse bifa ("shake, sway"). In Norse mythology this is the name of the bridge connecting Asgard and Midgard.
Bikini Atoll(Island)English From Marshallese Pikinni "surface of coconut". Bikini is an island located in the Marshall Islands, famous for being a place the United States formerly did nuclear tests.
Bingdao(Country & Island)Chinese Means "ice island" from Chinese 冰 (bīng) meaning "ice" and 島 (dǎo) meaning "island". This is the Chinese name for Iceland.
Birka(Settlement)Old Norse, Old Swedish Possibly taken from a Latinization of Norse Bjǫrkey "Birch island", although some believe it's derived from Old Norse birk "market place". Birka was a Viking age town and an important trading and market place during the Viking Age located on the island Björkö (modern form of Bjǫrkey) in Lake Mälaren, outside of Stockholm, Sweden.
Birkirkara(Settlement)Maltese Means "running water" or "cold water". Birkirkara is the second largest city in Malta.
Bir Lehlou(Settlement)English Derived from Hassaniya Arabic bir lehlou meaning "sweet water well". Bir Lehlou is an oasis town in the Polisario-controlled region in northeastern Western Sahara.
Birmingham(Settlement)English A city in central England. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon words meaning 'the farm of Beormund's people', from the personal name Beormund, ingas, meaning 'people' and ham, meaning 'farm'.
Bishkek(Settlement)Kyrgyz, English, Russian Meaning uncertain. One theory suggests that it comes from a word meaning "whorl, whisk" in Kyrgyz, referring to a tool used to prepare kumis, a traditional dairy product. It could also mean "five heights" from Kyrgyz беш (besh) meaning "five" and бийик (biyik) meaning "tall, high", or it could mean "five chiefs" from беш (besh) meaning "five" and the Turkish title beg meaning "chieftain, master"... [more]
Björneborg(Settlement)Swedish Combination of Swedish björn "bear" and borg "castle, fortress". This is the Swedish name for Pori (whose name is a Finnicized form of -borg).
Blackheath(Political Subdivision)English English place name which may be a corruption of "bleak heath", or simply mean "dark heath" from Old English blæc "black" and hǣth (see also Heath)... [more]
Blackpool(Settlement)English A coastal town in Lancashire. Literally means 'black pool', so named from a nearby drainage stream which ran through a peat bog, discharging discoloured water into the nearby Irish Sea. (Compare Dublin).
Blagoveshchensk(Political Subdivision)Russian literally 'the city of The Annunciation (of The Lord to The Blessed Virgin Mary)'
Blythburgh(Settlement)English (British) Blythburgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Southwold and 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Halesworth and lies on the River Blyth... [more]
Bờ Biển Ngà(Country)Vietnamese From Vietnamese bờ biển meaning "coast, seashore" and ngà meaning "ivory". This is the Vietnamese name for the Ivory Coast.
Bồ Đào Nha(Country)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 葡萄牙 (Bồ Đào Nha) possibly derived from Hokkien 葡萄牙 (Pô-tô-gâ). This is the Vietnamese name for Portugal.
Bodaybo(Political Subdivision)Russian possibly named after the Celtic queen "Boadicea" or "Boadacaea"
Boise(Settlement)English Most likely from French, but of uncertain ultimate origin. One account states that it may come from a story of a French-speaking person who yelled "Les bois! Les bois!" ("The woods! The woods!"); another account is that the name comes from the phrase la rivière boisée ("the wooded river").... [more]
Bojótie(Political Subdivision & Region)Czech Czech form of Boiotia (see Boeotia).
Bolgharestan(Country)Persian From Persian بلغار (bolghar) meaning "Bulgarian" combined with the suffix ستان (stan) meaning "land of". This is the Persian name for Bulgaria.
Bombay(Settlement)English (Archaic), Dutch, French, Spanish From Portuguese Bombaim, which may have been derived from the phrase bom baim meaning "good little bay" or from the Marathi name मुंबई (Mumbai). This is an older English name for Mumbai, officially used until 1995... [more]
Bombo(Mountain & Other)Kongo, Literature, Popular Culture The name of a hill in westernmost DRC and the meaningful rename of a little known Tarzan inspired character.
Bonn(Settlement)German From Latin Bonna, of uncertain meaning. Theories are that it is derived from the name of a Gallic-Germanic tribe, the Eburoni, or that it is derived from words meaning "settlement" or "castle"... [more]
Bonnyrigg(Settlement)Scottish A town, near Edinburgh, Scotland. It derives from Lowland Scots bonnie, meaning 'beautiful, fine', and rig, meaning 'ridge, hill-crest' (Old Norse hryggr, 'back, ridge', Dutch rug, 'ridge').
Borneo(Island)Malay, English From the name of the Bruneian Empire (see Brunei), which is believed to be derived from Sanskrit वरुण (varuna) meaning "ocean, water" or referring to the Hindu god Varuna... [more]
Boryslav(Settlement)Ukrainian Boryslav is a city located on the Tysmenytsia River (a tributary of the Dniester), in Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. Boryslav is designated as a city of oblast significance.
Bosnia and Herzegovina(Country)English Bosnia and Herzegovina, abbreviated BiH or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country of South and Southeast Europe, located within the Balkans. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city.
Bossier(Political Subdivision & Settlement)French A city and parish in Louisiana, a place with Creole roots. This is also a French surname.
Boston(Settlement)English From a surname which was originally taken from an English place name meaning "Botwulf's stone". (It is likely that Botwulf was an ordinary landowner; later the place name became associated with the saint of the same name, Botulph, who built a monastery there in the 7th century.) A city in Massachusetts bears this name... [more]
Bottenviken(Body of Water)Swedish Combination of Old Swedish botn "bay, gulf" and the definite form of Swedish vik "bay", making it a tautological place name meaning "the bay bay". Bottenviken is a part of Bottniska viken and the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea.
Boulder(Settlement)English Name of a city in Colorado, from Middle English bulderston, from a Scandinavian source akin to Swedish dialectal bullersten "noisy stone", (Swedish buller "rumbling noise" + sten "stone".
Brecqhou(Island)Medieval Scandinavian A Channel Island in England. The name Brecqhou derives from the Old Norse 'brekka', meaning "slope' or "escarpment", and holmr, or -'hou', meaning "island" or "islet".
Breda(Political Subdivision)Dutch Breda is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from brede Aa ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa.7
Bridge(Settlement)English Bridge is a city in Texas.
Bridgemont(Settlement)English This very old and rare medieval English surname is almost certainly locational and derives from a now "lost" medieval village called "Bridgemont". Meaning, "mount of the bridge."
Brixton(Settlement)English The name of Brixton (a town in England).
Brno(Settlement)Czech Meaning uncertain. Possible explanations are that it's derived from Old Czech brnie "muddy, swampy", from the Slavic verb brniti "to fortify", or that it's related to Welsh bryn "hill, mound" (Celtic languages were spoken in the area in ancient times)... [more]
Bro(Settlement)Swedish Means "bridge" in Swedish. This is the name of many localities and parishes in Sweden. It's also a common place name element (see Örebro).
Broadford(Settlement)Scottish A village in Skye, Scotland. It's name derives from the Old Norse words for 'wide fjord', referencing the local geography.... [more]
Broughton(Settlement)English Broughton (Welsh: Brychdyn) is a district in Flintshire, Wales, close to the Wales–England border, located to the west of the City of Chester, England.