Padang(Settlement)Indonesian, Minangkabau Means "field, plain" in Indonesian. This is the name of the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra.
Pahang(Political Subdivision & River)Malay, English Uncertain meaning, possibly from mahang, the Malay name for a type of tree native to the area (genus Macaranga), or from Khmer ប៉ាហាំង (paahang) meaning "tin". This is the name of a Malaysian state as well as a river that flows through the region.
Pakokku(Settlement)English From Burmese ပခုက္ကူ (pahkukku), meaning uncertain. This is the name of a city in Myanmar.
Pakse(Settlement)Lao, Thai Means "mouth of the river" from Lao ປາກ (pak) meaning "mouth" and ເຊ (se) meaning "river". This is the name of a city in Laos.
Palau(Country)English Palau is an archipelago in Oceania. The flag is a yellow circle in the middle of a blue background, and the country is locally known as Belau.
Palembang(Settlement)Indonesian Meaning unclear, possibly from the prefix pa- denoting location combined with Malay limbang meaning "to pan gold, to wash rice" or lembang meaning "to cause (water) to flow" or "lowland basin, valley" (a reference to the area's geography as a wetland)... [more]
Palestine(Country & Region)English, Biblical, French From Hebrew Pelesheth, which probably means "land of the Philistines". This is the name of a historical/geographic region in Western Asia. It is also the name of a sovereign state in Western Asia (officially the State of Palestine).
Palestine(Region & Country)English, French From Ancient Greek (via Latin) Παλαιστίνη (Palaistine), itself most likely derived from Hebrew פלשת (peleshet) meaning "Philistia, land of the Philistines". This is the name of a region and country in western Asia.
Palestrina(Settlement)Italian The name of a town east of Rome in central Italy, apparently derived from Praeneste, its ancient name.
Palu(Settlement)Indonesian Uncertain, possibly from Mandarese topalu'e meaning "raised land" or Kaili bolovatu or volovatu referring to a type of local bamboo. This is the name of a city in Indonesia.
Pampanga(Political Subdivision & River)Filipino, Pampangan, Tagalog From Kapampangan pampang meaning "riverbank". This is the name of a province of, as well as a river in, the Philippines.
Pandosia(Settlement)Ancient Greek Pandosia (Ancient Greek: Πανδοσία) was an ancient city of Bruttium, in what is now Calabria, southern Italy. According to Livy it was situated near the border between Bruttium and Lucania (now Basilicata).
Panevėžys(Settlement)Lithuanian Means "along the Nevėžis" referring to the Nevėžis River in Lithuania. This is the name of a city and county in northeast Lithuania.
Pangasinan(Political Subdivision)Filipino, Pangasinan, Ilocano, Tagalog, English From the name of the Pangasinan people meaning "place of salt" or "land of salt", derived from Pangasinan pang- meaning "for", asin meaning "salt" and the place marker suffix -an... [more]
Pantai Gading(Country)Indonesian From Indonesian pantai meaning "beach, coast" and gading meaning "ivory". This is the Indonesian name for Ivory Coast.
Parahyangan(Region)Indonesian, Sundanese Means "abode of hyangs", from hyang referring to a type of supernatural spirit or deity in Indonesian mythology. This is the name of a mountainous region in the western part of Java.
Paraíba(Political Subdivision & River)Portuguese (Brazilian) From Tupi pa'ra ("river") and a'íba ("difficult to invade/navigate"), referring to the narrow mouth of the Paraíba River. This is the name of a river and a state of Brazil.
Paraná(Political Subdivision & River)Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese From Geral paraná, meaning "river". Some sources claim that the name comes from Guaraní para ("sea") and anã "resembling", owing to the width of the river Paraná. This is the name of a state in Brazil.
Parañaque(Settlement & River)Filipino The City of Parañaque was founded on November 30th, 1572. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has a land area of 47.69 km2 and has 665,822 people living in it as of the 2015 census... [more]
Parepare(Settlement)Buginese, Indonesian The name of a city in Indonesia, derived from the Buginese phrase bajiki ni pare meaning "ports in this region are good".
Pariaman(Settlement)Indonesian, Minangkabau From Arabic بر أمان (barr 'aman) meaning "safe land, secure land". This is the name of a town in West Sumatra province, Indonesia.
Parskastan(Country)Armenian From Armenian պարսիկ (parsik) meaning "Persian" combined with the Persian suffix ستان (stan) meaning "land of". This is the Armenian name of Persia, colloquially used to refer to modern-day Iran as well.
Pasadena(Settlement)English Name of a city in California, from Ojibwe pa-sa-de-na, meaning "valley of the valley" "crown of the valley" "key of the valley" or "hill of the valley"... [more]
Pasay(Settlement)Filipino Pasay, officially the City of Pasay, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines.... [more]
Pasig(Settlement & River)Filipino The City of Pasig was founded in 1573. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has an area of 31.00 km2 and has 755,300 people living in it as of the 2015 census. The city shares its name with the Pasig River... [more]
Pasir Gudang(Settlement)Malay, English From Malay pasir meaning "sand" and gudang meaning "warehouse, barn, deposit". This is the name of a city in Malaysia.
Pasuruan(Settlement & Political Subdivision)Indonesian, Javanese, Madurese Derived from Javanese pasuruhan meaning "place where betel grows", from the word suruh referring to the betel plant (genus Piper). This is the name of a city in Indonesia as well as a regency in the Indonesian province of East Java.
Pateros(Settlement)Filipino Pateros, officially the Municipality of Pateros, is the lone municipality of Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 63,643 people.
Pathein(Settlement)Burmese Most likely derived from Mon ဖာသီ (pha sem) meaning "big sea" or "great sea". This is the name of a city in Myanmar, formerly known as Bassein in English.
Pathum Thani(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "city of lotuses" from Thai ปทุม (pathum) meaning "lotus" and ธานี (thani) meaning "city". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and town in, Thailand.
Pattani(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Most likely from Pattani Malay pata ni meaning "this beach" (compare standard Malay pantai ini). Alternately, it may have come from Sanskrit पत्नी (patni) meaning "mistress, lady, wife" or from Malay petani meaning "farmer"... [more]
Pattaya(Settlement)English From Thai พัทยา (Phattaya) itself from a shortened form of ทัพพระยา (thap Phraya) meaning "army of the Phraya", referring to King Taksin... [more]
Pavlodar(Settlement)Kazakh, Russian From the given name Pavel combined with Russian дар (dar) meaning "gift". This is the name of a city in northern Kazakhstan, named for Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich of Russia (1860-1919).
Paxson(Settlement)English This is the name of 3 places, two being in America and one being in Canada.... [more]
Payakumbuh(Settlement)Indonesian, Minangkabau From the Minangkabau name Payokumbuah derived from payo meaning "swamp" and kumbuah referring to a type of grass. This is the name of a city in Indonesia.
Pearland(Settlement)English Combination of pear and land. This is the name of a city in Texas, USA.
Pe-cing-grong-khyer(Settlement)Tibetan From Tibetan པེ་ཅིང (pe-cing) referring to Beijing combined with གྲོང་ཁྱེར (grong-khyer) meaning "city, town", used as the Tibetan name for Beijing.
Pécs(Settlement)Hungarian Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country.
Pekanbaru(Settlement)Indonesian, Malay Means "new market" from Indonesian pekan meaning "market" and baru meaning "new". This is the name of a city in Indonesia.
Pekang(Settlement)Khmer Khmer form of Beijing via the French form Pékin.
Pembroke(Settlement)English From the Cantref of Penfro, which was one of the seven cantrefi of the former Kingdom of Dyfed in what is now Wales; which is in turn derived from pen, meaning "head" or "end", and bro, meaning "region", "country", or "land"; therefore, Penfro could be interpreted to mean either "land's end" or "headland".
Peñarroya(Settlement, Mountain & Other)Spanish Means "red rock," from peña meaning "rock, stone, cliff" combined with roya meaning "red" (usual word is rojo/roja).... [more]
Penge(Settlement)English A suburb of London, England. Originally named Penceat, it appears to derive from Brythonic *penno, 'head, edge' and *ceid, 'forest, wood', so likely meant 'settlement on the forest's edge'.
Penistone(Settlement)English (British) Penistone is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 22,909 at the 2011 census. ... [more]
Pennant(River)Welsh Means "the Head of the Ravine or Brook" (Welsh pen "head" + nant "glen, stream") from Middle English, Old French penant (Latin pœnitentia "penitence").
Pennsylvania(Political Subdivision)English Name of a state in the United States, literally "Penn's woods". Penn comes from Pennaeth, the welsh word for "head" "top" and Latin silvania (from Latin silvia) "wood, forrest"... [more]
Pennsylvanië(Political Subdivision)Dutch (Archaic) Archaic Dutch form of Pennsylvania. The modern Dutch form is written exactly the same as the English form.
Penrith(Settlement)English A town in Northern England. Its name derives from the Cumbric pen, 'hill, top, summit' (Welsh pen) and rith, 'ford, crossing', (Welsh ryd).
Pensacola(Settlement)Indigenous American Pensacola is the Westmost city in Florida USA.Found in Escambia County Florida.... [more]
Penshaw(Settlement)English A village in Northern England. The first element seems to be Cumbric pen, which means 'summit, head'. The most obvious explanation for the second is Old English sceaga, meaning 'woods'... [more]
Pen-y-ghent(Mountain)English, Old Celtic A mountain in Yorkshire, Northern England. In the Cumbric Language, the element pen, exactly as in Welsh, meant 'head, top, summit', and y, also as in Welsh, meant the definite article 'the'... [more]
Perak(Political Subdivision)Malay, Tamil, English Means "silver" in Malay, given in reference to the region's abundance of tin. This is the name of a state of Malaysia.
Perlis(Political Subdivision)Malay, English Of unclear origin, possibly from the Thai phrase พร้าวลอย (phrao loi) meaning "floating coconut" or "coconut washed ashore", a reference to the many coconuts once found along the shores of the region... [more]
Pernambuco(Political Subdivision)Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese Four theories exist over the origin of the name. The first theory is that it may come from Tupi para'nã ("great river" or "sea") and buka, meaning "hole", thus meaning "hole in the sea", perhaps indicating the Canal de Santa Cruz, which separates the island of Itamaracá from mainland Brazil.... [more]
Persley(Settlement)Scottish A small hamlet in North-East Scotland, now encompassed by the city of Aberdeen. There are several explanations as to the origin of the name of this small settlement:... [more]
Perth(Settlement)Scottish A city in central Scotland. The name is of Pictish origin and derived from *perth, meaning 'bush, copse' (Welsh perth, 'bush, hedge').
Petaluma(Political Subdivision)Miwok Petaluma is a transliteration of the Coast Miwok phrase /péta lúuma/ which means hill backside.
Peterborough(Settlement)English This is the name of 2 cities, one in Cambridgeshire (UK) and Ontario (Canada), and 3 towns, one in New Hampshire (US), Victoria & South Australia (Australia).... [more]
Petrograd(Political Subdivision & Region)Russian The name of Saint Petersburg during 1914 to 1924. Saint Petersburg's name was changed to this to avoid German connotations, as burg is a common German suffix meaning "fortress, fortification, castle" and sankt meaning saint... [more]
Phần Lan(Country)Vietnamese From a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 芬蘭 (Fēnlán), perhaps altered based on Vietnamese phân meaning "feces" or phần meaning "part, portion". This is the Vietnamese name for Finland.
Phan Rang – Tháp Chàm(Settlement)Vietnamese Derived from Eastern Cham Pandarang, itself from Sanskrit पाण्डुरङ्ग (panduranga) meaning "white god" (an epithet of the Hindu god Vithoba), combined with Vietnamese tháp Chàm meaning "Cham tower" or "Cham temple"... [more]
Phan Thiết(Settlement)Vietnamese The meaning of the name is not certain, but it is widely believed to be of Cham origin. The first element, Phan, may come from Eastern Cham Pandarang, itself derived from Sanskrit पाण्डुरङ्ग (panduranga) meaning "white god", an epithet of the Hindu god Vithoba... [more]
Pháp(Country)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 法 (Pháp), from a contraction of Chinese 法國 (Fǎguó). This is the Vietnamese name for France.
Phasis(Settlement & River)Ancient Greek The ancient Greek name for the Rioni River as well as a historical town along that river, meaning unclear. It may be of Georgian-Zan (Mingrelian and Laz), Svan or Semitic origin.