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.
Labëria(Region)Albanian Labëria is a historic region that is roughly situated in southwestern Albania.
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'.
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.
Lâm Đồng(Political Subdivision)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 林 (lâm) meaning "woods" and 同 (đồng) meaning "same".
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'.
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.
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.
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]
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]
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]
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.
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]
Lexington(Settlement)English A place name meaning "Leaxa's town" in Old English.
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]
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]
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.
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]
Little Rock(Settlement)English From the name of a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River, used as a landmark by early river traffic. This is the name of the capital city of the US state of Arkansas.
Liverpool(Settlement)English, Welsh A port city in western England on the mouth of the River Mersey. Uncertain origin. Possibly derived from Cumbric words equivalent to the Welsh leidiau, meaning 'mud' and pwll, meaning 'pool', or else the Old English formation *Liferpōl, 'thick, muddy pool'.
Ljubljana(Settlement)Slovene, Croatian, English The origin of the city's name is unclear. In the Middle Ages, both the river and the town were also known by the German name Laibach. This name was in official use as an endonym until 1918, and it remains frequent as a German exonym, both in common speech and official use... [more]
Llanberis(Settlement)Welsh A village in North Wales. The first element is Welsh llan, 'parish, church of-'. The second is a corruption of Peris, a 6th century Welsh saint.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch(Settlement)Welsh Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a large village and local government community on the island of Anglesey, Wales, on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor... [more]
Loch Garman(Political Subdivision)Irish Irish name for the county of Wexford. Named after Garman Garbh, a legendary figure, who was drowned in the mudflats at the mouth of the river Slaney by an enchantress, resulting in the lake that bears his name... [more]
Lockerbie(Settlement)Scottish A small town in Southern Scotland. It derives from the personal name Lockhard and the Old Norse suffix -by, meaning 'town'. ... [more]
Lofoten(Other)Norwegian Modern definite form of Lófót which is a combination of Old Swedish ló "lynx" and Old Norse fótr "foot". Lofoten is a archipelago in Norway known for it's dramatic scenery.
Logan(Other)Scottish Logan is a Scottish place name, meaning "little hollow" in Scottish Gaelic.
Loire(River)French From Latin Liger, a transcription of the native Gaulish name of the river, derived from the Gaulish word liga, meaning "silt, sediment", itself deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *legʰ-, meaning "to lie".... [more]
Londonderry(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish Another name for Derry. The prefix -london was added because donations from the city of London help rebuild Derry in 1613.
Long An(Political Subdivision)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 隆 (long) meaning "grand" and 安 (an) meaning "safe".
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]
Longyearbyen(Settlement)Norwegian Means "the Longyear town" in Norwegian. Longyearbyen is the main settlement of the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. The town was named after American businessman John Munro Longyear (1850-1922) whose company helped develop the settlement.
Lönneberga(Settlement)Swedish, Literature Combination of Swedish lönn "maple" and berg "mountain". This is the name of a small village and parish in Småland, southern Sweden... [more]
Los Ángeles(Other)American, Spanish A city and county in Southern California in the United States of America. Its full name being El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (English: The town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula).
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.
Louisiana(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, named after King Louis XIV of France.
Louisville(Settlement)English Named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers were aiding the Americans during the Revolution. This is the name of several settlements in the United States, including the lagrest city in the state of Kentucky.
Loulon(Other)Ancient Greek (Rare, Archaic) Loulon (Greek: Λοῦλον), in Arabic known as Lu'lu'a (Arabic: لولوة), was a fortress near the modern village of Hasangazi in Turkey.... [more]