Laayoune(Settlement)English, Slovene From French Laâyoune derived from Arabic اَلْعَيُون (al-ʿayūn) meaning "the springs". This is the name of the capital city of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, though it is administered by Morocco.
Labrador(Political Subdivision)Portuguese, Spanish Province in Canada. Likely from Portuguese explorer João Fernandes Lavrador. Lavrador means "farmer" in Portuguese, as does the Spanish word 'labrador'.
Labuan(Political Subdivision)Malay Derived from Malay pelabuhan meaning "harbour, port". This is the name of a federal territory of Malaysia.
Ladakh(Region & Political Subdivision)English, Persian From Persian لداخ (ladakh), itself derived from Tibetan ལ་དྭགས (la dwags) meaning "land of high passes", from the words ལ (la) meaning "hillside, mountain pass" and དྭགས (dwags) meaning "open place"... [more]
Lagos(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Western African, Hausa, Igbo, English From Portuguese lagos meaning "lakes". This is the name of a city in Nigeria as well as a state of the same name.
Laguna(Political Subdivision & Body of Water)English, Filipino Means "lake" or "lagoon" in Spanish. In the Philippines, it refers to a lake (Laguna de Bay) or a province which is adjacent to the lake.
Lahestan(Country)Persian From Persian له (Lah) referring to the Lechites, a group of West Slavic tribes who are the ancestors of modern-day Poles, combined with the suffix ستان (stan) meaning "land of"... [more]
Lampert(Settlement)English A tiny hamlet in Northumberland, near the border with Cumbria. Despite this location's small size, several theories have emerged relating to the etymology of this unique name, which was first recorded in c.1290 as Lythel Lampard.... [more]
Lampung(Political Subdivision)Indonesian From the name of the 7th-century kingdom of Tolang Pohwang, itself derived from Lampungese to meaning "people" and Lang Pohwang, an old name for the region, which is of uncertain origin and meaning... [more]
Lánao(Political Subdivision & Body of Water)Spanish Spanish form of Lanao.
Lanao(Political Subdivision & Body of Water)Filipino, Tagalog, English From Maranao ranaw meaning "lake, body of water". This is the name of a lake and two provinces in the southern Philippines.
Lanark(Settlement)Scottish A small town in Lanarkshire, Central Scotland. It's name is of Cumbric origin and is thought to be equivalent with Welsh llanerch, 'open space in a forest'.
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.
Lạng Sơn(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 諒 (lạng) meaning "excuse, forgive" and 山 (sơn) meaning "mountain". This is the name of a city in Vietnam as well as the province in which it is located.
Lanna(Country)Northern Thai, Thai Means "a million paddy fields" from Northern Thai ᩃ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨶ (lan) or Thai ล้าน (lan) meaning "million" and Northern Thai ᨶᩣ (na) or Thai นา (na) meaning "paddy field, rice paddy"... [more]
Lannstevan(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Cornish Lannstevan (Launceston in English) is a town, ancient borough, and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the middle stage of the River Tamar, which constitutes almost the entire border between Cornwall and Devon... [more]
Lansing(Settlement)English The English usage is a place name originally derived from the town of Lancing in West Sussex (and which has also given names to other towns such as Lansing, Michigan and Lansing, New York). ''Lancing'' comes from the Old English personal name ''Wlanc'', meaning ''proud, imperious'', with the added suffix ''-ing'', indicating ''family of or follower of''.
Lanzarote(Island)Spanish Derived from the first name of the Genoese navigator Lancillotto Malocello (born in 1270). Lanzarote is an island in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of northwestern Africa.
Lào Cai(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Vietnamese Possibly from a Hmong pronunciation of Chinese 老街 (lǎojiē) meaning "old town" (lão nhai in Vietnamese). This is the name of a province of, as well as a city in, Vietnam.
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.
Latina(Settlement)Italian, English, Finnish, French Derived from the former name Latinia, itself adopted in 1944 to replace the name Littoria, which had been chosen by the Fascist government upon the inauguration of the city in 1932... [more]
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]
Lea(River)English (British) Lea is a river in the UK. It's found in southeast England and flows from the Chiltern Hills and flows to the river Thames at Bow Creek.... [more]
Lebanon(Country & Mountain)English, Indonesian, Tagalog, Thai Derived from the Pro-West Semitic root laban meaning "white". This is the name of a country and mountain range in Western Asia.
Leeds(Settlement)Celtic Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It derives it's name from a Brythonic term Ladenses, meaning 'people of the fast-flowing river' (Welsh llawd). The word likely originally denoted a forest which covered the area of modern day Leeds.... [more]
Leh(Settlement)English, Hindi, Urdu Possibly derived from Tibetan གླེ (gle) meaning "grove, small uncultivated island". This is the name of a city in India.
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]
Leith(Settlement & River)Scottish, Medieval Scottish The name of a river (Water of Leith) and the settlement at it's mouth, near Edinburgh, Scotland. The name is likely of Cumbric origin and is likely cognate with the Welsh word laith, meaning 'damp, moist'.
Leitrim(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish County and town in Ireland. Meaning "gray ridge", from 'liath' ("grey") and 'droim' ("ridge").
Lelystad(Settlement)Dutch Means "Lely-city" in Dutch, named after Cornelis Lely. This is the capital city of the Flevoland province in the Netherlands.
Leominster(Other)English (British) The first recorded name was “Llanllienni” a Welsh name meaning Church in a Place of Streams. Renamed by the Saxons, after Leofric Earl of Hereford and husband of Lady Godiva. It appears as “Leofminstrein” in the Domesday Book... [more]
Lesotho(Country)English The name of the Country in Southern Africa. Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa, is crisscrossed by a network of rivers and mountain ranges including the 3,482m-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana... [more]
Leyte(Island)Filipino It is the name of an island in central Philippines. It was originally called ‘Isla de Felipinas’, coined by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos and named after Don Felipe II of Spain. It eventually evolved into “Philippines’.
Lhasa(Settlement)Tibetan, English Probably from Tibetan ལྷ་ས (lha sa) meaning "land of gods", derived from ལྷ (lha) meaning "deity, god" and ས (sa) meaning "land, earth". Alternatively, it may have been an alteration of Old Tibetan ར་ས (ra sa) meaning "land of goats" or "fortified land" from ར (ra) meaning "goat" or "enclosure" and ས (sa) meaning "land, earth"... [more]
Lhokseumawe(Settlement)Indonesian From the Acehnese name Lhôk Seumaw'è from lhôk meaning "deep" and Seumaw'è referring to the swirling water in the sea along the coast of eastern Aceh. This is the name of a city in the Indonesian province of Aceh.
Lhotse(Mountain)Tibetan Lhotse is the name of a mountain in Tibet. Lhotse means “South Peak” in Tibetan. ... [more]
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”.
Lidice(Settlement)Czech Lidice is a village in the Czech Republic, which was completely destroyed by German Nazis in 1942. All people from Lidice, including over 100 children, were murdered. People and places all over the world have been named after the village to commemorate the massacre.
Liffey(River)Irish The River Liffey runs through the city of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. In poetry and mythology, the river is called Abhainn An Life, which is occasionally anglicized as 'Anna Liffey'
Lihou(Island)Norman, Breton Island in the Channel Islands in England. From the Breton words 'lydd' or 'ligg', meaning "in or near water", and the Norman suffix -'hou', meaning "island". The island and reef in Australia named after this island.
Limdi(Other)Mormon The fifth great star from the center of the galaxy; also known as Veh-kliflosisis.
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]
Lindley(Settlement)English This is the name of several places located in England, United States and South Africa.... [more]
Linköping(Settlement)Swedish Combination of Swedish ljung "heather" and köping "marketplace". The name was first mentioned in Old Swedish as Liunga. kaupinga in 1103.
Linley(Settlement)English This is the name of a hamlet, located in Shropshire in England.... [more]
Linz(Settlement)English From *lentos (“bend” in Proto-Celtic), describing the bend in the Danube where the original Celtic settlement was placed.
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.
Lisbaon(Settlement)Khmer Khmer form of Lisbon via the French form Lisbonne.
Lisbon(Settlement)English From Portuguese Lisboa derived from Latin Olisīpō, which is of uncertain meaning. Folk etymologies state that it comes from the name Odysseus or Ulysses, though it may have been derived from Phoenician ʿlyṣ ʿbʾ or ʿaliṣ-ʿuboʾ meaning "safe harbour"... [more]