Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
MACHELONIA (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) Ancient Greek, English, ItalianDerived from Μαχελονία
(Machelonia), the ancient Greek name for a region and satrapy of the Sasanian Empire. It was named after the Colchian (i.e. Kartvelian) tribe that lived there, who were known to the ancient Greeks as the Μαχελῶνες
(Machelones) or the Μαχελονοι
(Machelonoi)...
[more] MADAGASKAR (Country & Island) Afrikaans, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Swedish, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, UzbekForm of
MADAGASCAR.
MADINA (Settlement) Arabic, Armenian, Avar, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Karakalpak, Lak, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tajik, Telugu, Tatar, Urdu, UzbekArabic alternate transcription of
MADINAH as well as the form of
MEDINA used in various languages.
MADRID (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Spanish, Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Asturian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, UzbekFrom the older name
Magerit, which is of uncertain meaning and origin. It may be derived from Arabic اَلْمَجْرِيط
(al-majrīṭ) meaning "source of water", from Latin
matrix meaning "mother, source, origin (of rivers)", or from Celtic
mageto ritu meaning "great bridge"...
[more] MAGREB (Region) Afrikaans, Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Macedonian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, TagalogForm of
MAGHRIB, referring to the region.
MAGUINDANAO (Political Subdivision) Filipino, Cebuano, Ilocano, Pampangan, Tagalog, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, TurkishFrom Spanish
Maguindanao, which is a corruption of
Magindanaw, the endonym of the Maguindanao people. The ethnic name means "people of the flood plains" or "people of the lake" from the word
danao meaning "lake"...
[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).
MAJAPAHIT (Country & Settlement) Indonesian, Acehnese, Balinese, Banjar, Minangkabau, Sundanese, Malay, Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Sanskrit, Swedish, Filipino, Tagalog, TurkishMeans "bitter maja", from Javanese
maja referring to the bael tree (genus Aegle) and Malay
pahit meaning "bitter, acrid". This was the name of a kingdom (as well as its capital city) based on the island of
Java that existed from 1293 to 1527.
MAJARESTAN (Country) PersianFrom Persian مجار
(majâr) meaning "Hungrian" combined with the suffix ستان
(stan) meaning "land of". This is the Persian name for
Hungary.
MAJKOP (Settlement) Czech, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, SwedishForm of
MAYKOP.
MAJORCA (Island) EnglishMajorca is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of
SPAIN and located in the Mediterranean. The local language, as on the rest of the Balearic Islands, is Catalan, which is co-official with Spanish.
MAKAO (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Albanian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Georgian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Turkish, UkrainianForm of
Macau.
MAKASAR (Settlement) Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Greek, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, UrduForm of
MAKASSAR.
MAKASSAR (Settlement) Indonesian, Acehnese, Buginese, Javanese, Malay, Minangkabau, Sundanese, Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish, Thai, TurkishFrom Makassarese
akkasaraki nabbiya meaning "appearance of the prophet", taken from a legend in which a 16th-century king was supposedly approached by the Prophet Muhammad himself. This is the name of a city in Indonesia that serves as the capital of the South Sulawesi province.
MAKHACHKALA (Settlement) Russian, Armenian, Belarusian, English, Indonesian, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Ossetian, Tagalog, Tatar, Ukrainian, UrduMeans "Makhach's fortress", from the given name
MAKHACH and Kumyk къала
(qala) meaning "fortress". This is the name of the capital city of Dagestan, named in honour of Magomed-Ali "Makhach" Dadaev (1882-1918), a Dagestani revolutionary.
MAKKA (Settlement) Arabic, Avar, Bashkir, Chechen, Hindi, Ingush, Lak, Marathi, Nepali, Swahili, Tajik, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Urdu, UzbekArabic alternate transcription of
MAKKAH as well as the form of
MECCA used in various languages.
MAKURIA (Country & Region) History, EnglishDerived from Μακουρια
(Makouria), which is the hellenized form of the autochthonous name of a Nubian kingdom that existed from the 5th century AD to the late 15th century AD. The original Nubian name is unknown, as is its meaning...
[more] MALACCA (Country, Political Subdivision, Settlement & Body of Water) English, French, Italian, RomanianFrom Malay
Melaka, probably derived from the Malay name for the Indian gooseberry (genus Phyllanthus), a type of tree. This is the name of a state in southern Malaysia as well as a city (Malacca City) and a narrow body of water between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra (the Strait of Malacca)...
[more] MÁLAGA (Settlement) SpanishThe city name of Málaga came from the latin name "Malacca".
MALAKKA (Country, Political Subdivision, Settlement & Body of Water) Afrikaans, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, German, Greek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Turkish, UkrainianForm of
MALACCA.
MÄLAREN (Body of Water) SwedishDerived from Old Norse
mælir meaning "gravel". Mälaren is the third largest lake in
SWEDEN.
MALAVI (Country) Albanian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Georgian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Turkish, UkrainianForm of
MALAWI.
MALAWI (Country) EnglishThe name of the Country in East Africa. Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, is defined by its topography of highlands split by the Great Rift Valley and enormous Lake Malawi. The lake’s southern end falls within Lake Malawi National Park – sheltering diverse wildlife from colorful fish to baboons – and its clear waters are popular for diving and boating...
[more] MALAYSIA (Country) Malay, Indonesian, Acehnese, Balinese, Banjar, Buginese, Javanese, Minangkabau, Sundanese, Danish, English, German, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish, Filipino, TagalogFrom the name of the Malay people combined with the Greek suffix σία
(sia). The ethnic name itself is of uncertain origin, possibly derived from
Melayu or
Malayu, the name of an ancient Sumatran kingdom, which may have been derived from Tamil மலை
(malai) or Malayalam മല
(mala) both meaning "hill, mountain" combined with Tamil ஊர்
(ur) meaning "village, town"...
[more] MALDIF (Country) Arabic, ThaiArabic and Thai form of
MALDIVES. The Arabic name is usually written with the definite article: المالديف
(al-Maldif).
MALI (Country) Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latvian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tatar, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, UzbekFrom the name of the Mali Empire, which was derived from Mandinka or Bambara
mali meaning "hippopotamus" or "the place where the king lives". This is the name of a landlocked country in West Africa.
MALMÖ (Settlement) SwedishNewer form of
Malmhaug meaning "gravel pile" or "ore hill". Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden.
MALTA (Country & Island) Maltese, Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, German, Greek, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, UzbekUncertain, possibly derived from Greek μέλι
(meli) meaning "honey". This is the name of an island nation in southern Europe.
MANAMA (Settlement) Arabic, Afrikaans, Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Kyrgyz, Malay, Maltese, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, UzbekMeans "place of sleep, place of rest" in Arabic. This is the name of the capital city of Bahrain, usually written with the definite article: المنامة
(al-Manama) in Arabic.
MANAMAH (Settlement) Arabic, Indonesian, UrduArabic and Urdu alternate transcription of
MANAMA as well as the Indonesian form. In Arabic it is usually written with the definite article: منامة
(al-Manamah), which is also used in Indonesian.
MANCHESTER (Settlement) EnglishA large city in North-West England. Manchester is an Anglicization of the town's Latin name
Mancunium. This was likely derived from an earlier name in a language similar to Welsh. It may have derived from words equivalent to Welsh
mamau, meaning 'mother', in reference to a local river goddess...
[more] MANDALAY (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, UzbekFrom 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.
MANILA (Settlement) Filipino, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Maranao, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Tajik, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, UzbekFrom Tagalog
Maynila derived from the term
may-nilà meaning "where indigo is found", ultimately from Sanskrit नील
(nī́la) referring to the indigo plant. This is the name of the capital city of the
Philippines.
MANITOBA (Political Subdivision) EnglishName of a province in
CANADA, from Cree
manitou-wapow or Ojibwa
manidoobaa, both meaning "straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit",
MARAWI (Settlement) Filipino, Maranao, Cebuano, Ilocano, Pampangan, Tagalog, Albanian, Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, UrduFrom
Maraghui or
Marahui, the name of a Maranao fort and settlement that was seiged in 1895, which is of uncertain meaning. This is the name of a city in the southern Philippines that serves as the capital of the Lanao del Sur province.
MARIEFRED (Settlement) SwedishSwedish town named after a charterhouse called
Pax Mariae "Maria's peace". A combination of the name
MARIA and Swedish
fred "peace" (
pax means "peace, harmony" in Latin).
MARIESTAD (Settlement) SwedishMeans "
MARIA's town". It was founded in 1583 by Charles IX of Sweden and was named after his wife Maria of the Palatinate....
[more] MARLBOROUGH (Other) EnglishOriginating from the name of a market town in Wiltshire. Legend has it that the Mound is the burial site of Merlin and that the name of the town, Marlborough comes from Merlin's Barrow....
[more] MARMARA (Body of Water) English (Modern, Rare)Place name; the Sea of Marmara is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea in Turkey.
MARSELLA (Settlement) CatalanMarsella is the catalan version of the city of Marseilles. It is a place name.
MARSHALL ISLANDS (Country) EnglishThe Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Marshallese: Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ), is an island country near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line and an Associated state of the United States...
[more] 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.
MASSACHUSETTS (Political Subdivision) English (American)Name of a state in the United States, named for the Algonquian native people who lived around the bay, from Algonquian
massachusett "at the large hill," in reference to Great Blue Hill, southwest of Boston.
MAURITANIA (Country) Albanian, English, Finnish, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Spanish, Filipino, TagalogFrom Latin
Maurītānia, itself from
Maurus meaning "Moor", a historical name for the Muslims that inhabited Northern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. This is the name of a country in West Africa.
MAVROVOUNIO (Country) GreekGreek form of
MONTENEGRO. It is literally a direct translation of the country's name, since it consists of the Greek adjective μαύρος
(mavros) meaning "black" (compare
MAURUS) combined with the Greek noun βουνό
(vouno) meaning "mountain".
MAYKOP (Settlement) Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bulgarian, English, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Malay, Mongolian, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian, UzbekFrom Adyghe Мыекъуапэ
(Məeq°āpă) meaning "cape of apples", from мые
(məe) meaning "apple" and къуапэ
(q°āpă) meaning "cape, gorge, height". This is the name of the capital of
Adygea.
MAYO (Political Subdivision & Settlement) IrishTown and county in
IRELAND. Means "plain of the yew".
MAZHARCHO (Country) ChechenFrom Chechen мажарий
(mazhariy) meaning "Hungarian" and the suffix -чоь
(-cho) meaning "land of". This is the Chechen name for
Hungary.
MECCA (Settlement) English, Italian, RomanianFrom 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, Batak, Banjar, Minangkabau, Malay, Afrikaans, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Indian, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kyrgyz, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, UzbekPossibly from Tamil மைதானம்
(maidhāṉam) meaning "ground, field". This is the name of the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra.
MEDELHAVET (Body of Water) SwedishCombination of Swedish
medel "middle, centre, medium" and
havet "the sea". This is the Swedish name of the
Mediterranean Sea.
MEDITERRANEAN (Region & Body of Water) English, Ganda, ScotsFrom the Latin term
Mediterrāneum meaning "in the middle of land", composed of Latin
medius "middle",
terra "land, earth" and
āneus "having the nature of". The Mediterranean Sea is located between
Europe,
Africa and a small part of
Asia...
[more] MEGHALAYA (Political Subdivision) IndianMeans "abode of clouds" in Sanskrit. This is the name of a state in northeastern India.
MEIGUO (Country) ChineseFrom Chinese 美
(Měi) meaning "America" and 国
(guó) meaning "country". This is the Chinese name for the United States of
America.
MEIJE (Mountain) FrenchFrom Occitan
meija meaning "middle, centre, half," taken from its original name
l'Agulha de la Meija meaning "the needle of the Meije."...
[more] MEKA (Settlement) Albanian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Georgian, Hebrew, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovene, TagalogForm of
MECCA.
MEKKA (Settlement) Afrikaans, Armenian, Belarusian, Bosnian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Japanese, Luxembourgish, Maltese, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, UkrainianForm of
MECCA.
MEKSIKA (Country) Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, UzbekForm of
MEXICO (the country).
MELLIEĦA (Settlement & Body of Water) MalteseThe 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.
MELNKALNE (Country) LatvianLatvian form of
MONTENEGRO. It is literally a direct translation of the country's name, since it consists of the Latvian adjective
melns meaning "black" combined with the Latvian noun
kalns meaning "mountain".
MELROSE (Settlement) ScottishHabitational namefor a place near Galashiels in the Scottish borders, so named from British words that were ansetors of Welsh moel 'bare', 'barren' rhos 'heath'....
[more] MERAPI (Mountain) Indonesian, Javanese, Balinese, Banjar, Minangkabau, Sundanese, Malay, Albanian, Armenian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Indian, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Kazakh, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, UkrainianFrom Sanskrit मेरु
(Meru), the name of a legendary mountain in Buddhist and Hindu mythology, combined with Indonesian
api meaning "fire". This is the name of a volcano on the island of Java in Indonesia.