Wichita(Settlement)English Name of a city in Kansas, named after the Native American tribe Wichita. Possibly from Wichita We-chate hatchee, "Red Water River".
Wicklow(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish, Old Norse Town and county in Ireland. From Old Norse 'víkingalág' or 'vikinga-ló', meaning "meadow of the Vikings".
Wigan(Settlement)English A town in Northern England. Its etymology is uncertain but may represent Brittonic *wig, "a dwelling" (c.f. Welsh gwig), with the nominal suffix -an. Another possibility is that Wigan preserves a personal name corresponding to Gaulish Vicanus, Old Breton Uuicon or Welsh Uuicant.
Windhoek(Settlement)Afrikaans, Dutch, English This is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It’s unknown how this place got it’s name, most think it’s from the Afrikaans word wind-hoek, which means ''wind corner''... [more]
Windsor(Settlement)English City in Ontario, Canada, from an English surname that was from a place name meaning "riverbank with a windlass" in Old English (a windlass is a lifting apparatus). This has been the surname of the royal family of the United Kingdom since 1917.
Woodstock(Settlement)English Name of many towns and cities throughout the world. Means "wood place".
Woolhope(Settlement)English (British) Means "Wulfgifu's valley", derived from the Old English feminine given name Wulfgifu and Middle English hop meaning "small valley"... [more]
Wrexham(Settlement)English Wrexham is a city and the administrative center of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England.
Wrocław(Settlement)Polish From the Old Polish names Wrocisław, Wrócisław or Warcisław, meaning a return to glory. Cognate with Czech Vratislav. It is associated with Vratislaus I of Bohemia, the legendary founder, but the first records of the city appear decades after his death... [more]
Wryeton(Settlement)English Middle English Wry(e) may mean "bent", "twisted" combined with the "ton" ending.
Wuhan(Settlement)Chinese From a portmanteau of 武昌 (Wǔchāng) and 汉口 (Hànkǒu), the names of two of the three towns combined to form modern Wuhan. This is the name of the capital city of the Chinese province of Hubei.
Xiamen(Settlement)Chinese From Chinese 厦 (xià) meaning "mansion, large building" and 门 (mén) meaning "gate, door", itself an alteration of the older name 下门 (Xiàmén) from 下 (xià) meaning "under, below, down" and 门 (mén) meaning "gate, door"... [more]
Xi'an(Settlement)Chinese, English Means "western peace" from Chinese 西 (xī) meaning "west" and 安 (ān) meaning "peace, quiet"... [more]
Xinshan(Settlement)Chinese From Chinese 新 (xīn) meaning "new" and 山 (shān) meaning "mountain". This is the Chinese name for the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru.
Y(Settlement)French Probably from the Y family of Vermandois, who owned the district. This is the name of a commune in the Department of Somme, Hauts-de-France, France.
Yabi(Settlement)Chinese From Malay Api-Api, one of the former names of the city. This is the Chinese name of the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu.
Yala(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Derived from Malay jala meaning "net", ultimately from Sanskrit जाल (jala). This is the name of a province in southern Thailand as well as the region's capital city.
Yamoussoukro(Political Subdivision & Settlement)English, French, Danish, Portuguese In honor of Yamousso, a Baoulé queen and great-aunt of President Félix Houphouët-Boigny (1905–1993), with the addition of the suffix kro ("village"). This is the name of the de iure capital city of Côte D'ivoire, as well as the name of the district around it.
Yangon(Settlement)Burmese, English Means "end of strife" in Burmese, from ရန် (yan) meaning "enemy, danger" or "quarrel" combined with ကုန် (gon) meaning "to run out, end". This is the name of the largest city in Myanmar, which served as the country's capital until 2006... [more]
Yaoundé(Settlement)English, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Welsh, Yoruba From the outpost of Jaundo, founded between 1887 and 1889 by German explorers Lt. Richard Kund and Hans Tappenbeck and named so after the local Ewondo people, also known as Yaunde. The name could also have been a German rendition of the Ewondo expression mia wondo ("peanut farmers")... [more]
Yathrib(Settlement)Arabic Meaning uncertain, probably of Ancient North Arabian origin. This was the name of the city of Medina before the advent of Islam. Traditionally it is said that the city's name was changed due to its negative connotation with the Arabic root ث ر ب (th-r-b) meaning "to complain, to accuse, to blame".
Yazd(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Persian Derived from Middle Persian 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭲𐭩 (yzdty) meaning "god, divinity", ultimately from Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀 (yazata). This is the name of a province and city in Iran.
Yekaterinburg(Settlement)Russian Derived from the given name Yekaterina, named in honour of empress consort (later empress regnant) Catherine I of Russia. This is the name of a city in Russia.
Yên Bái(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 安 (yên) meaning "calm, peaceful" and 沛 (bái) meaning "abundant, full". This is the name of a province of, as well as a city in, Vietnam.
Yeovil(Settlement)English (British) Derived from the Celtic river name, 'gifl' meaning forked river - which was an earlier name for the River Yeo, which runs through Yeovil.
Yerevan(Settlement)Armenian, English, Russian Meaning unknown. It may be from Yervand, the name of a 3rd-century BC Armenian king (also known as Orontes IV), or from Էրեբունի (Erebuni), an ancient Urartian fortification and city... [more]
Yining(Settlement)Chinese Renamed from the former name 宁远 (Ningyuan) to avoid confusion with other places in China with the same name (such as a county in Hunan province). The name itself is literally written with the characters 伊 (yī), a third person pronoun, and 宁 (níng) meaning "peaceful, calm, serene"... [more]
Yogyakarta(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Indonesian From Javanese ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ (ngayogyakarta), itself derived from Sanskrit अयोध्या (ayodhya) meaning "unconquerable, irresistible" (also referring to the mythical city of Ayodhya mentioned in Hindu texts such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata) and कृत (krta) meaning "done, made, accomplished"... [more]
Yoichi(Settlement)Japanese This is the name of a district and town in Shiribeshi Subprefecture in south-western Hokkaidō, located in northern Japan.... [more]
Yokohama(Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 横 (yoko) meaning "sideways, horizontal" and 浜 (hama) meaning "beach, seashore". This is the name of a city in Japan.
Yokosuka(Settlement)Japanese This is from a place in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture in the east of the country. The kanji that make up Yokosuka are 横 (ou, yoko) meaning "horizontal, side, sideways, width, woof", 須 (shu, su, subekara.ku, subeshi, hige, matsu, machi.iru, mato.meru) meaning "by all means, necessarily, ought" and 賀 (ga, ka) meaning "congratulations, joy."... [more]
Yongin(Settlement)Korean Combination of 용 (yong, "dragon") and 인 (in, "benevolence"). This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Yongzhen(Settlement)Chinese Chinese form of Vientiane. This form is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
Yonkers(Settlement)English Name of the 4th most populous city in New York state, a variant of Dutch Jonkers, jonker, "young gentleman", derived from Dutch jong "young".
Yoshkar-Ola(Settlement)Mari, Russian Means "red city" in Mari, from Eastern Mari йошкар (yoshkar) meaning "red" and ола (ola) meaning "city". This is the name of the capital city of the Russian republic of Mari El.
Ypres(Settlement)French French form of Ieper, known for the battles that occurred in 1914 and 1915 during the First World War.
Ytyk-Kyuyol(Settlement)Russian, Yakut A settlement in Yakutia, Russia. It is named for a nearby lake, whose name literally means "Sacred Lake" in the Yakut language.
Yuriria(Political Subdivision, Settlement & Body of Water)Mexican Short form of Purépecha Yuririapundaro meaning "lake of blood" or "place of the bloody lake". This is the name of a lake, town and municipality in central Mexico, located in the 'Bajío', or lowlands, of Guanajuato (state)... [more]
Zalipie(Settlement)Polish Zalipie is known for being "Poland's Painted Village". The insides and outsides of the buildings, doghouses, and even bridges in Zalipie are painted in brightly colored folk art that attracts tourists from around the globe... [more]
Zamboanga(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Filipino, Chavacano, Cebuano, Tagalog, English, Spanish Spanish form of Sinama Samboangan meaning "mooring place", derived from samboang meaning "mooring pole" and the place marker suffix -an. This is the name of a peninsula in the Philippines, as well as three provinces and a city located on the peninsula.
Zamora(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Spanish The name of a Spanish city and municipality, possibly derived from Berber ⴰⵣⵎⵎⵓⵔ (azemmur) meaning "wild olive tree".
Zapopan(Settlement)Spanish (Mexican) From Nahuatl Tzapopan, from a combination of tzapotl, referring to a sapote tree, and the locative suffix -pan.... [more]
Zaragoza(Settlement)Spanish, English From Çaragoça, the medieval form of the Arabic name سرقسطة (Saraqusṭa), from the Roman name Caesaraugusta, which is the combination of two Roman names Caesar and Augusta.
Zarahemla(Settlement)Mormon The name of a prominent city in the Book of Mormon, named after a descendant of Mulek.
Zhangzhou(Settlement)Chinese From Chinese 漳 (zhāng), the name of a river, and 州 (zhōu) meaning "prefecture, province". This is the name of a city in China.
Zhengzhou(Settlement)Chinese Means "Zheng province" from Chinese 郑 (zhèng) referring to the ancient state of Zheng, which existed from the 9th to 4th centuries BC in what is now Henan province, and 州 (zhōu) meaning "province, prefecture"... [more]
Zhongshan(Settlement)Chinese From Chinese 中 (zhōng) literally meaning "middle" and named in honour of Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), who was also known by the Japanese pseudonym 中山樵 (Nakayama Kikori), and 山 (shān) meaning "mountain"... [more]
Zinkgruvan(Settlement)Swedish Means "the zink mine" in Swedish. Zinkgruvan is both a village and a mine. It is the only locality in Sweden starting with Z.
Zugdidi(Settlement)Georgian, Mingrelian Means "large hill" in Georgian and Mingrelian, from ზუგი (zugi) meaning "hill" and დიდი (didi) meaning "big, large". This is the name of a city in Georgia.