Ubon Ratchathani(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai From Thai อุบล (ubon) meaning "lotus" and ราชธานี (ratchathani) meaning "royal city, capital city". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and city in, Thailand.
Ubud(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Indonesian, Balinese From Balinese ubad meaning "medicine", so named because the area was a rich source of medicinal herbs and plants. This is the name of a district and town in Bali, Indonesia.
Úc(Region & Country)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 澳 (úc), itself a short form of 澳大利 (Úc Đại Lợi) derived from Chinese Aodaliya. This is the Vietnamese name of Australia.
Udmurtia(Political Subdivision)English From Russian Удмуртия (Udmurtiya), which is derived from the name of the Udmurt people. The ethnic name is from odo-mort meaning "meadow people", from the Permic root od(o) meaning "meadow, glade, turf" and Iranian murt meaning "person, man"... [more]
Udon Thani(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "northern city" from Thai อุดร (udon) meaning "north" and ธานี (thani) meaning "city". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and city in, Thailand.
Ufa(Settlement & River)Russian From Bashkir Өфө (Ofo), which is of uncertain origin and meaning, possibly derived from the Iranian root ap meaning "water". This is the name of the capital city of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan as well a river that runs through the Ural Mountains.
Ufi(Settlement)Kazakh Kazakh form of Ufi, referring only to the city.
Ukiah(Settlement)English (American) Two cities in California and Oregon. From Pomo yokáya meaning "deep valley, south valley".
Ukkusiksalik(Other)Inuit National park in Nunavut, Canada. From Inuktitut, meaning "where there is material for the stone pot", from the word 'ukkusik', meaning "pot" or "saucepan".
Ulan-Ude(Settlement)Russian From Buryat Улаан-Үдэ (Ulaan-Ude) meaning "red Uda", derived from Buryat улаан (ulaan) meaning "red" and Үдэ (Ude) referring to the Uda River. The name was originally given to reflect the Soviet Union's communist ideology... [more]
Uleåborg(Settlement)Finland Swedish Combination of Ule, the name of a river whose name derives from the Finnish dialectal word oulu "floodwater", Swedish å "river, stream", and borg "castle, fortification"... [more]
Ulkebøl(Settlement)Danish Village on the Danish island of Als. The name is derived from the Frisian given name Ulke (in modern Danish: Ole) and the old Danish word bøl (meaning an outlying farm) and as such means "Ole's outlying farm".... [more]
Ulsan(Settlement)Korean Combination of 蔚 (울, ul, of uncertain meaning) and 山 (산, san, "mountain"), thus "kind river". This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Ulster(Region)Northern Irish, Irish From the name of a group of tribes that once lived in the area, the Ulaidh, and either Irish tír or Old Norse staðr, both meaning “land”, “place” or “territory”.... [more]
Uluğ-Hem(Body of Water & River)Tuvan The Tuvan word for mother river.
Uluru(Other)Pitjantjatjara This is the traditional name of Ayers Rock as well as part of the traditional name of the park its in. The Anangu (arn-ung-oo) Aboriginal Australians viewed the Uluru monolith as sacred. They gained control of the site in 1985... [more]
Umayyad Caliphate(Country)History An historical Islamic dynasty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. And fell to the revolution by the Abbasid Caliphate in 285 AD.
Umeå(Settlement)Swedish From the name of the Ume River. Possibly derived from Old Norse úma "roaring" and the place name element -eå denoting the city's location near the river. Another theory is that the name is derived from Finnish uoma "riverbed".
Unaka(Region & Mountain)Cherokee From the Cherokee unega meaning “white”, said to be in reference to the long white chestnut blossoms that bloomed in the mountains during spring. This is the name of a subrange of the Appalachian mountain range, on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.
Underwood(Region & Other)English (British) Underwood is an unincorporated community in Monroe Township, Clark County, Indiana, United States. The community took its name from the local Underwood family.... [more]
Uppland(Region)Swedish Uppland is a Swedish historical province. The name is a combination of Swedish upp "up" and land "land". The name is believed to refer to its location north of Lake Mälaren.
Uppsala(Settlement)Swedish Means "upstream from Sala", from Old Norse upp "up" and salir "halls, rooms". Sala was a village located downstream from Uppsala (it is nowadays a neighbourhood known as Sala backe)... [more]
Urewera(Region)Māori Composed of the Māori words ure meaning "penis" and wera meaning "burnt". The name of Te Urewera in Aotearoa New Zealand: the ancestral homeland of the Tūhoe people.... [more]
Urquhart(Other)Scottish Gaelic Urquhart (castle by Loch Ness) derives from the 7th-century form Airdchartdan, itself a mix of the Old Irish aird (point or promontory) and Old Welsh cardden (thicket or wood).
Ürümqi(Settlement)English From Uyghur ئۈرۈمچى (ürümchi), which may have been derived from Mongolian ᠦᠯᠡᠮᠵᠢ (ülemji) meaning "great", a short form of the phrase ᠦᠯᠡᠮᠵᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠰᠠᠶ᠋ᠢᠬᠠᠨ ᠪᠡᠯᠴᠢᠭᠡᠷ (ülemji-yin say᠋iqan belchiger) meaning "great pasture" or "beautiful pasture"... [more]
Usuri(Region, Body of Water & River)Manchu The naming source of Ussuri.
Utah(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, from Spanish yuta, name of the indigenous Uto-Aztecan people of the Great Basin perhaps from Western Apache (Athabaskan) yudah "high" (in reference to living in the mountains).
Utara(Other)Indonesian, Minangkabau, Malay The Malay, Indonesian and Minangkabau definition of the Sanskrit word Uttara, which means “Northward”.
Uthai Thani(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai From Thai อุทัย (uthai) meaning "sunrise, dawn, emergence, rise" and ธานี (thani) meaning "city". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and city in, Thailand.
Utqiagvik(Settlement)Iñupiaq, Indigenous American Means "place to gather roots" in Iñupiaq. This is the name of the northernmost town in the US, located in the state of Alaska on the Arctic Ocean coast... [more]
Utsunomiya(Settlement)Japanese This is the name of a city which is the capital and most populous city of Tochigi Prefecture, located in central Japan. The kanji used are 宇 (u) meaning "eaves, heaven, house, roof", 都 (tsu, to, miyako) meaning "capital, metropolis" and 宮 (kyuu, ku, kuu, guu, miya) meaning "constellations, palace, princess, Shinto shrine."... [more]
Uttaradit(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai, Northern Thai From Thai อุตร (uttara) meaning "north, northern" and ดิตถ์ (dit) meaning "port, landing", referring to the region's historical status as a trading port along the Nan River... [more]
Uttar Pradesh(Political Subdivision)Hindi, Bhojpuri, Urdu, English Means "north province", derived from Sanskrit उत्तर (uttara) meaning "north" and प्रदेश (pradesha) meaning "province". This is the name of a state in northern India, taken from a calque of its former English name, Northern Provinces.
Uummannaq(Other)Greenlandic Means "heart-shaped" in Greenlandic, ultimately derived from uummat "heart". Uummannaq is the name of several places in Greenland, including a mountain, a town, an island, and a fjord.
Uzbeketi(Country)Georgian From Georgian უზბეკური (uzbekuri) referring to the Uzbek people and the suffix -ეთი (-eti) used to indicate location. This is the Georgian name for Uzbekistan.
Uzbekija(Country)Lithuanian Lithuanian form of Uzbekistan via its Latin name Uzbecia. This is the standard Lithuanian name for the country, but sometimes the form Uzbekistanas is also used.
Uzhhorod(Political Subdivision & Other)Ukrainian From the River Uzh (Уж) and dialectal Ukrainian город (horod) "city". Uzhhorod is a city and oblast' (region) in western Ukraine.