Mashriq(Region)Arabic, English From Arabic المشرق (al-Mashriq) meaning "the place of the sunrise, the east". This is the name used for the eastern part of the Arab world west of Egypt and Sudan. In Arabic the name is usually written with the definite article: المشرق (al-Mashriq).
Mesopotamia(Region)English This is the name of a historical region in the Middle East. Its name is derived from the Greek words μέσος (mesos) meaning “middle” and ποταμός (potamos) meaning “river”.
Micronesia(Country & Region)Dutch, English, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog From Greek μικρός (mikrós) meaning "small, little" and νῆσος (nesos) meaning "island". This is the name of a subregion of Oceania as well as an island country... [more]
Mississauga(Region)Ojibwe (Anglicized) From the Anishinaabe word misi-zaagiing, meaning "Those at the Great River Mouth". Name of the Mississauga tribe, and now a name of a Toronto suburb. Closely related to the Ojibwe word misswezahging, mean "river of many outlets".
Mizoram(Region)Mizo The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "land." Thus "Mizo-ram" means "land of the Mizos".
Mogholestan(Country, Political Subdivision & Region)Persian From Persian مغول (moğul) meaning "Mongol, Mongolian" combined with the suffix ستان (stân) meaning "land of". This is the Persian name for Mongolia.
Mompracem(Political Subdivision, Region, Settlement & Island)Literature, Popular Culture Mompracem is the historical name of Kuraman, which is currently known primarily as the alter ego name of Keraman in the Sandokan series.
Monterrey(Region)Spanish Borrowed from Galician Monterrei. This is the name of the largest city in northeastern Mexico. This is also the name of a city in California.
Nagorno-Karabakh(Country & Region)English Means "mountainous Karabakh" from Russian нагорный (nagorny) meaning "mountainous, highland" combined with the name of the region of Karabakh... [more]
Nanjizhou(Region)Chinese From Chinese 南极 (Nánjí) referring to the South Pole and 洲 (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the Chinese name for Antarctica.
Nan'yō(Region)Japanese This is the shorter version of the name Nan'yō Guntō. It's an abbreviation. It in English means the "South Seas" and "Micronesia." It was used lots of times by Okinawans during the Japanese administration era... [more]
Nan'yō Guntō(Region)Japanese This is the Japanese name for "Micronesia" which Imperial Japan occupied. This region included Marshall Islands which was taken over in 1914, Téél Falúw Kka Efáng Iiól Marianas (Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands) where the Japanese treated Carolinians worse than the Chamorros, Guam where Japanese-CHamoru families existed, and other areas in the region.
Nanyoku-tairiku(Region)Japanese From Japanese 南極 (nanyoku) referring to the South Pole and 大陸 (tairiku) meaning "continent". This is the Japanese name for Antarctica.
Närke(Region)Swedish Närke is Swedish historical province. The name is believed to be derived from the word när meaning "ridge, hill" (not to be confused with the word nära "close, near").
Niagara(Body of Water, Settlement & Region)Iroquois Name of a popular waterfall, a town, and region, in Canada. Derived from the Iroquois word Onguiaahra, meaning either "the strait", or "bisected bottom lands"
Nord-Pas-de-Calais(Political Subdivision & Region)French A combination of the names of the constituent departments of Nord, meaning "North" (the northernmost department of France) and Pas-de-Calais "Strait of Calais", the French name of the Dover Strait.... [more]
Norrland(Region)Swedish Literally means "Northland" in Swedish. Norrland is one of three lands of Sweden, the others being Götaland and Svealand.
North America(Region)English Combination of north and America, named after it’s geographic location. This is the name of a continent in the Northern Hemisphere.
Northern Cyprus(Region)English Northern Cyprus (Turkish: Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; Turkish: Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, KKTC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus... [more]
Northumberland(Region)English From the much larger Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, meaning 'land north of the Humber'.
Novorossiya(Region)Russian Means "New Russia", from Russian новый (novyy), meaning "new" and Россия (Rossiya), meaning "Russia". Historically it was used to describe a region of land around the Ukrainian coastline, but in contemporary usage it refers to the group of 8 regions in Ukraine* (Donyetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozh'ye, Kherson, Khar'kov, Odessa, Dnyepr, Nikolayev) that are predominantly Russian... [more]
Nunavik(Region)Inuit Region of Quebec, Canada. From the Inuit word nunavik meaning "great land".
Nusantara(Region & Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese Derived from Old Javanese nūsāntara meaning "outer islands" or "other islands", from nūsa meaning "island" and antara meaning "interval, interspace, between, other" (both of Sanskrit origin)... [more]
Nusantara(Region & Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese Derived from Old Javanese nūsāntara meaning "outer islands" or "other islands", from nūsa meaning "island" and antara meaning "interval, interspace, between, other". In Indonesia this term is used to refer to the Indonesian Archipelago, while outside of Indonesia it has been used to represent the broader Malay Archipelago... [more]
Nusa Tenggara(Region & Political Subdivision)Indonesian, English Means "southeastern island" from Indonesian nusa meaning "island" and tenggara meaning "southeast". This is the Indonesian name for the archipelago of the Lesser Sunda Islands as well as the name of two Indonesian provinces (West and East Nusa Tenggara).
Occitania(Region)English The name of a historical region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken. Not to be confused with Occitanie.
Occitanie(Region)French, English The name of a southernmost administrative region in France. Not to be confused with Occitania, the historical region which it is named after.
Oenotria(Region)History Latinized form of Greek Οἰνωτρία (Oinotria), the name applied to southern Italy by Greek colonists when they arrived to the region in around the 8th century BC. It is possibly a derivative of Greek οἶνος (oinos) meaning "wine" (perhaps via the related word οἴνωτρον (oinotron), which referred to a kind of vine stake) and may mean "wine land" or "land of vineyards"... [more]
Okanagan(Region & Body of Water)Salishan Region and lake in Canada, named after the Okanagan people. Means "the people living where you can see the top", due to the many mountains in the area.
Olaha Shinehah(Region)Mormon The name of a plain mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants, a work of Mormon scripture. In the 1800's, the same section in which it was mentioned was copied into a few journals, though the spellings differed... [more]
Ontario(Region)English, French (Quebec), Iroquois The name Ontario comes from the Iroquoian word ontarí:io, meaning "great lake" or "beautiful water." It originally referred to Lake Ontario, which is one of the five Great Lakes in North America... [more]
Ossetia(Country, Political Subdivision & Region)English From Russian Осетия (Osetiya), from Georgian ოსეთი (oseti) derived from ოსი (osi) meaning "Ossetian". The name comes from As, the self-designation of the historic Alan people... [more]
Ouzhou(Region)Chinese From Chinese 欧 (ōu) referring to Europe (from an abbreviation of the archaic name 欧罗巴 (Ōuluóbā) derived from Greek Εὐρώπη) and 洲 (zhōu) meaning "continent"... [more]
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.
Patagonia(Region)Spanish, English A geographical region in South America. From the Spanish word patagón, referring to a legendary race of giants, which the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan used to describe the peoples indigenous to the area.
Pays De La Loire(Region & Political Subdivision)French Meaning "lands of the Loire", describing the river that flows through the area.... [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]
Phoenicia(Region)History from the Ancient Greek: Φοινίκη, Phoiníkē meaning "purple country", Phoenicia was a thalassocratic ancient Semitic civilization that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the west of the Fertile Crescent.
Picardie(Political Subdivision & Region)French French form of Picardy. From Old French pic, meaning "pike", which was the characteristic weapon used by ancient Picards.... [more]
Piedmont(Political Subdivision & Region)English From Italian piemonte, itself derived from Medieval Latin Pedemontium, ultimately from Latin ad pedem montium, literally "at the foot of the mountains".... [more]
Polynesia(Region)English From Ancient Greek πολύς (polys) meaning "much, many" and νῆσος (nesos) meaning "island". This is the name of a subregion in Oceania.
Pomerania(Region)Medieval Slavic The name "Pomerania" comes from the Slavic words meaning "by" or "along" and one meaning "sea". So, "Pomerania" essentially means "land by the sea". ... [more]