Shunhua(Settlement)Chinese The Chinese name for the Vietnamese city of Huế, derived from the city's historical name, 順化 (Thuận Hoá).
Shymkent(Settlement)Kazakh, Russian From Kazakh шым (shym) meaning "sod, turf, meadow" and кент (kent) meaning "town". This is the name of a city in Kazakhstan.
Siem Reap(Settlement)Khmer, English Means "submission of Siam", from Khmer សៀម (Siem) referring to Siam (or Thailand) and រាប (reap) meaning "submissive, obedient, tame"... [more]
Sihanoukville(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English, French From the name of king Norodom Sihanouk (1922-2012) combined with French ville meaning "town, city". This is the name of a province of, as well as a city in, Cambodia.
Simunul(Settlement)Filipino, Sama-Bajau, Tagalog The name of a city in the Philippines, derived from the Arabic phrase اسمي نور (ismi nur) meaning "my name is light".
Sing Buri(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "lion city" from Thai สิงห์ (sing) meaning "lion" and บุรี (buri) meaning "city, town". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and town in, Thailand.
Sittwe(Settlement)Burmese Means "place where war meets" in Burmese and Arakanese, from စစ် (sit) meaning "war" and the suffix တွေ (-twe). This is the name of a city in Myanmar that serves as the capital of Rakhine State.
Skellefteå(Settlement)Swedish Combination of an unexplained first element, though it's believed to be of Sami origin, and the place name suffix -eå "river".
Skipton(Settlement)English A town in North Yorkshire, England meaning "sheep town".
Slavkov u Brna(Settlement)Czech Historically named Slavkov, it is derived from the name Slávek, a colloquial derivative of Bohuslav, which was likely the name of a prominent town figure or property owner. In 1918, Slavkov was renamed Slavkov u Brna, meaning "Slavkov near Brno", to distinguish it from other places with the same name.... [more]
Sligo(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish Town and county in Ireland. Means "shelly place", because of the large amount of shellfish the nearby river.
Smara(Settlement)English Meaning unknown. Smara is a Moroccan-controlled city in the disputed Western Sahara.
Sóc Trăng(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Vietnamese Derived from Khmer ស្រុក (srok) meaning "land, inhabited area" and ឃ្លាំង (khleang) meaning "storehouse, treasury" or ត្រែង (treng) meaning "reed"... [more]
Sofia(Settlement)Bulgarian, English Capital of Bulgaria named after the Saint Sofia Church located in the city. The name was first used by Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman in the 14th century.
Sollefteå(Settlement)Swedish Possibly a combination of Swedish sol "sun" and the place name suffix -eå "river". The river Ångermanälven runs through the town.
Solna(Settlement)Swedish From Old Swedish Solnö, a combination of soln "sun" and ö "island". Solna is a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden.
Solzha-Ghala(Settlement)Chechen Means "city (on the) Sunzha River" from Chechen Соьлжа (Solzha) referring to the Sunzha River and гӏала (ghala) meaning "town". This is the Chechen name for Grozny.
Sønderborg(Settlement)Danish (Modern) Town in Denmark located in North Slesvig specifically on the southern part of the island of Als and partly on the peninsula Jutland. Sønder meaning "southern" and borg meaning "castle"... [more]
Songkhla(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Derived from Malay Singgora, itself from Sanskrit सिंहपुर (sinhapura) meaning "city of lions", from सिंह (sinha) meaning "lion" and पुर (pura) meaning "city, town"... [more]
Soquel(Settlement)English Soquel is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California, United States approximately 75 miles (120 km) south of San Francisco, and forms part of the north coast of Monterey Bay.... [more]
Sorin(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Khmer Khmer form of Surin.
Sortobe(Settlement)Kazakh, Russian, English, Ukrainian Meaning uncertain, possibly of Dungan origin. This is the name of a town in southern Kazakhstan.
Spalding(Settlement)English This is the name of several places in England, USA, Canada and Australia, including one located in the eastern English county of Lincolnshire.... [more]
Sparta(Settlement)English, Czech, Danish, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Manx, Polish, Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman From Doric Greek Σπάρτα (Sparta) and Attic Greek Σπάρτη (Spartē), which is of uncertain origin but possibly derived from σπάρτον (sparton) meaning "rope, cable" - a reference to the cords laid as the city’s foundation boundaries, though this could be just a folk etymology.... [more]
Split(Settlement)Croatian Split is the second-largest city of Croatia and the largest city of the region of Dalmatia.... [more]
Springville(Settlement)English (American) The city of Springville in Utah was named after Fort Springville, a fort that religious leader Brigham Young ordered to be built to be turned into a town as soon as possible.
Sredets(Settlement)Bulgarian Original Bulgarian name of Sofia in use until the 18th century. It is also the name of a city in southeastern Bulgaria.
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte(Settlement)English From Sinhalese ශ්රී ජයවර්ධනපුර කෝට්ටේ (shri jayawardhanapura kotte) meaning "blessed fortress city of growing victory" or "fortified city of victory"... [more]
Srinagar(Settlement)English From Hindi श्रीनगर (shrinagar) comprised of श्री (shri) meaning "radiance, splendour, beauty" and नगर (nagara) meaning "town, city"... [more]
Stamps(Settlement)English Stamps is a city in Arkansas, a state in the southern United States of America. This is where the author and actress Maya Angelou spent most of her childhood.
Statham(Settlement)English This is the name of a hamlet in the civil parish of Lymm, part of the borough of Warrington in Cheshire (Lancashire before 1974) in northern England. See Statham on the surname site for more information.
Steinauer(Settlement)Medieval German The first settlement at Steinauer was made in the 1850s by Joseph Steinauer and his two brothers. Steinauer was platted in 1886 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was named for Joseph A. Steinauer, an early settler and the first postmaster.
Stralsund(Settlement)German From the polabian name Stralov. From slavic stral- (arrow) and -ow (place).... [more]
Strängnäs(Settlement)Swedish Combination of an uncertain first element (possibly from a word describing a snare used for hunting, but other meanings are possible), and Swedish näs "isthmus". On June 6 in 1523, Gustaf Vasa was elected king of Sweden here... [more]
Stranraer(Settlement)Scottish A port town in South-West Scotland. Its name derives from Gaelic An t-Sròn Reamhar, literally meaning 'the fat nose', but which more prosaically might be rendered as 'the broad headland', referring to the local geography.
Stungaičiai(Settlement)Lithuanian Stungaičiai is located in Šilalė district municipality, Tauragė county, Lithuania.
Stung Treng(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Khmer Means "river of reeds" from Khmer ស្ទឹង (stung) meaning "stream, small river" and ត្រែង (traeng) meaning "reed". This is the name of a province of, as well as a city in, Cambodia.
Sucre(Settlement)Spanish This is the constitutional capital city of Bolivia, it was named after Venezuelan revolutionary leader Antonio José de Sucre in 1839.
Sudbury(Settlement)English City in Ontario, Canada. Meaning "south fortress" from Old English suð (south) and byrig (fortified place).
Suginami(Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 杉 (sugi) meaning "cedar" and 並 (nami) meaning "row, line, avenue", so named for the row of cedar trees planted by an Edo period lord to mark the bounds of his property... [more]
Sukabumi(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Indonesian, Sundanese Derived from Indonesian suka meaning "like, love" (ultimately from Sanskrit सुख (sukha) meaning "pleasant, happy") and bumi meaning "earth, soil" (from Sanskrit भूमि (bhumi))... [more]
Sukhothai(Political Subdivision, Country & Settlement)Thai Most likely means "rise of happiness" from Thai สุข (suk) meaning "joy, happiness" and อุทัย (uthai) meaning "sunrise, dawn, emergence, rise". This is the name of a province of Thailand... [more]
Sukhumi(Settlement)English From Georgian სოხუმი (sokhumi) of uncertain origin. It may be from Georgian ციხე (tsikhe) meaning "fortress" combined with the suffix ომი (omi) denoting a geographical location or from Svan ცხუმ (tskhum) meaning "hornbeam"... [more]
Sunderland(Settlement)English A port city in North-East England. Derives from Old English sundor, 'separate' (c.f German sondern, 'but, instead') and land, 'land'.
Sunnyvale(Settlement)English From the English words sunny and vale meaning "valley". This is the name of a city in California.
Superior(Settlement & Body of Water)English Name of the largest of the North American Great Lake Chain as well as a city in Wisconsin bordering it. In the case of the lake, it is an Anglicization of French superieur meaning "upper" (referring to its position north of Lake Huron)... [more]
Surabaya(Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese From Javanese ꦯꦸꦫꦧꦪ (shurabaya), itself derived from ꦯꦸꦫ (shura) meaning "white shark" and ꦧꦪ (baya) meaning "crocodile". The name refers to 12th-century Javanese monarch Jayabaya, who supposedly saw a vision of a fight between a white shark and crocodile (which may have been a prediction of the Mongol invasion of Java in the late 13th century)... [more]
Surakarta(Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese From Sanskrit शूर (shura) meaning "brave, heroic" and कृत (krta) meaning "done, made, accomplished". This is the name of a city in Indonesia.
Surat(Settlement)Gujarati, English A city in India, derived from Arabic سورة (surah) meaning "surah", the name for the chapters of the Qur'an.... [more]
Surin(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai From Thai สุร (sura) meaning "brave, courageous" or "god, deity" and อินทร์ (in) referring to the Hindu god Indra... [more]
Suzhou(Settlement)Chinese From Chinese 苏 (sū) referring to Mount Gusu and 州 (zhōu) meaning "province, prefecture". This is the name of a city in China.
Svay Rieng(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Khmer Possibly from Khmer ស្វាយ (svay) meaning "mango" and រៀង (rieng) meaning "arrange, line up" or "sequential, consecutive, in order". This is the name of a province of, as well as a town in, Cambodia.
Swindon(Settlement)English Previously it was called Suindune which could have been derived from the Old English words "swine" and "dun" meaning "pig hill" or possibly Sweyn's hill which was probably the owner’s name
Sylhet(Settlement)Bengali A metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. The city is located on the right bank of the Surma River in northeastern Bengal. Sylhet is one of Bangladesh's most important spiritual and cultural centres... [more]
Taal(Body of Water, Mountain & Settlement)Filipino, Tagalog The name of a lake, volcano and municipality in the Philippines, meaning "true, genuine, native" in Tagalog.
Tabriz(Settlement)Persian The name of a city in Iran, meaning uncertain. It may be derived from Proto-Iranian tr̥Hwáns meaning "overcoming, victorious", tap-rīz meaning "causing heat to flow" (so named for the thermal springs in the area) or Classical Armenian ta-vrezh meaning "this revenge".
Taguig(Settlement & River)Filipino The City of Taguig was founded on April 25, 1587. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has an area of 53.67 km2 and has 804,915 people living in Taguig as of the 2015 census.... [more]
Taichung(Settlement)English From Chinese 台中 (Táizhōng) literally meaning "Taiwan center", from 台 (tái) referring to Taiwan and 中 (zhōng) meaning "middle"... [more]
Taipei(Settlement)English, Japanese From Chinese 臺北 (Táiběi) derived from 臺 (tái) referring to Taiwan and 北 (běi) meaning "north". This is the name of the capital city of Taiwan.
Takamatsu(Settlement)Japanese Means "tall pine tree" in Japanese; derived from a local legend, according to which a peasant who found flakes of gold while digging for potatoes. The kanji that make up the name are 高 (taka), meaning "tall", and 松 (matsu), meaning "pine tree"... [more]
Takamori(Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 高 (taka) meaning "tall" and 森 (mori) meaning "forest".
Tammerfors(Settlement)Finland Swedish Combination of an unknown first element and Swedish fors "rapid, waterfall". This is the Swedish name of Tampere.
Tampa(Settlement)English After the city of Tampa in the state of Florida. Tampa is from a Calusa word, the Calusa being the Native American tribe that once lived in the area. The exact word in unknown; it may have meant "sticks of fire", possibly referring to lightning, or "the place to gather sticks"... [more]
Tampere(Settlement)Finnish From Tammerkoski, the name of the rapids that flow through the city. The first element tammer is of uncertain etymology. The second element is koski "rapids"... [more]