Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
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.
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]
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, History 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]
Spokane(Settlement)English (Canadian) The history of Spokane, Washington in the northwestern United States developed because Spokane Falls and its surroundings were a gathering place for numerous cultures for thousands of years. The area's indigenous people settled there due to the fertile hunting grounds and abundance of salmon in the Spokane River... [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]
Staraya Russa(Settlement)Russian Staraya Russa is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Polist River.
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.
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'.
Surabaya(Settlement)Indonesian, Javanese From Javanese ꦯꦸꦫꦧꦪ (shurabaya), itself derived from ꦯꦸꦫ (shura) meaning "white shark" and ꦧꦪ (baya) meaning "crocodile". The name comes from 12th-century Javanese monarch Jayabaya, who supposedly saw a vision of a fight between a white shark and crocodile (which might have been a prediction of the Mongol invasion of Java in the late 13th century)... [more]
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]
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]
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)Swedish Combination of an unknown first element and Swedish fors "rapid". 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]
Tangerang(Settlement)Indonesian, Sundanese Derived from Sundanese tengger or tanggeran meaning "sign, marker". The name comes from a monument that was built in the 17th century to mark the boundary between the Sultanate of Banten and a neighbouring territory to the east controlled by the Dutch East India Company (VOC)... [more]
Tangier(Settlement)English From Latin Tingis, itself from the Punic root tng of uncertain origin. It may have been derived from Berber tingis meaning "marsh", based on the old Berber name ⵜⵉⵏⴳⵉ (Tingi)... [more]
Tashkent(Settlement)English, Russian From Uzbek Toshkent meaning "stone city", from tosh meaning "stone" combined with Turkic kend meaning "city". This is the name of the capital city of Uzbekistan.
Taunggyi(Settlement)Burmese Means "large mountain" in Burmese, from တောင် (taung) meaning "mountain" and ကြီး (gyi) meaning "big, large". This is the name of the capital of Shan State, Myanmar.
Tbilisi(Settlement)Georgian, English, Russian Derived from Georgian თბილი (tbili) meaning "warm", given in reference to the area's sulfuric hot springs. This is the name of the capital city of Georgia (the country).
Tel Aviv(Settlement)Hebrew Comes from two hebrew words: Tel, meaning mound of an old settelment, and Aviv, meaning spring. Comes from the hebrew translation of Benjamin Zeev Herzel's book altnoyland (old new land).
Tenri(Settlement)Japanese This is the name of a city in Nara prefecture which used to be (briefly) the capital of Japan under the reign of Emperor Ninken (probably reigned from 488–498).... [more]
Thebes(Settlement)English Meaning unknown. This is the name of a city in city in Boeotia, Greece, that played an important role in many Greek myths (as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others).
Thessaloniki(Settlement)English, Greek The city's name derives from the Greek words Θεσσαλός (Thessalós) referring to the region of Thessaly and νῑ́κη (nī́kē) "victory, success"; literally translating to "Thessalian victory"... [more]
Thetford(Settlement)English From the Old English þeodo "people" and "ford". The name of a town in Norfolk.
Thimphu(Settlement)Bhutanese, Tibetan, English From Bhutanese ཐིམ་ (thim) meaning "to sink" and ཕུ་ (phu) meaning "high ground, foothill, upland" or "to fly". This is the name of the capital city of Bhutan.
Thingwall(Settlement)English A town in England. From the Scandinavian 'Þingvöllr', meaning "the meeting place of the assembly".
Tipperary(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Irish Town and county in Ireland. From Tiobraid Árann, meaning "well of the Arra". The Arra is a river that flows through it.
Tiptree(Settlement)English Tiptree is a village in the East of England. Tiptree comes from Tipper's Tree.
Toluca(Settlement)Paiute From a Paiute word meaning "fertile valley" or "beautiful valley". This is the name of a neighborhood and lake in Los Angeles, California, USA, i.e., Toluca Lake.
Topanga(Settlement)Indigenous American Topanga is a community in western Los Angeles County, California, United States located in the Santa Monica mountains. The name is given by the Native American indigenous Tongva tribe, and may mean "where the mountain meets the sea" or "a place above".
Toronto(Settlement)English The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto, meaning "place where trees stand in the water". This refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish... [more]
Tranent(Settlement)Scottish A town in East Lothian, east of Edinburgh, Scotland. It's name derives from the Brythonic-Celtic *traf-, meaning 'town, village' (Welsh treff) and *-neint, meaning 'stream, small river' (Welsh nant).
Trang(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Either from Malay terang meaning "bright, light, clear" or from Sanskrit तरंग (taranga) meaning "wave, ripple". This is the name of a province and city in Thailand.
Tredegar(Settlement)Welsh A town in South-East Wales. Its name derives from the Old Welsh tref, which means 'town' or traditionally 'farm, estate', and degewr, which meant 'ten acres'.
Trelleborg(Settlement)Swedish Derived from the word trelleborg meaning "ring fort" or "Viking ring fortress", referring to a type of circular forts built during the Viking Age. The word trelleborg itself might be a combination of Old Norse þræll "slave" or trel "wooden staves" and borg "fortress, castle".
Trewellard(Settlement)Cornish Trewellard is a small village on the north coast road between St Just and St Ives in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
Trieste(Settlement)Italian The name of a city in north-eastern Italy, bordering the Balkans. From old Venetic Tergeste, a combination terg, "market", and a typical place-name venetic suffix, -este.
Tripoli(Settlement)English Derived from Italian Tripoli, which is from Latin Tripolis, ultimately from Ancient Greek Τρίπολις (Trípolis) meaning "three cities"; a combination of τρι- (tri-) meaning "three" and πόλις (pólis) meaning "city"... [more]
Tromsø(Settlement)Norwegian From the name of an island, Tromsøya (Old Norse: Trums), whose name is derived from Old Norse straumr possibly meaning "stream, strong current". Tromsø is a city in northern Norway. See also: Troms
Trondheim(Settlement)Norwegian Trondheim is the third largest city in Norway. It was originally named Nidaros but known colloquially as kaupangr "marketplace" or kaupangr í Þróndheimi "the marketplace in Trondheim/Trøndelag" which was later shortened to just Þróndheimr... [more]
Tsu(Settlement)Japanese Means "port" in Japanese; tsu is the Japanese kun reading of jīn. This is the name of the capital city of Mie Prefecture, Japan.
Turin(Settlement)English, French, German, Piedmontese, Russian From Latin Augusta Taurinorum, itself from Taurini, the name of a tribe. This is the name of the capital city of Piedmont, in northern Italy.
Turku(Settlement)Finnish From Old East Slavic търгъ (tǔrgǔ) meaning "market place". Turku is the 3rd largest urban area in Finland.
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.
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)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]
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.
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".
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]
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]
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]
Vadstena(Settlement)Swedish Probably a combination of Old Swedish *vazt "place to fish" and sten "stone". Vadstena is a city in Sweden that had an important role in Sweden's early Christian history. Saint Bridget (Heliga Birgitta) founded the Bridgettine Order here at the Vadstena Abbey in the 14th centry.
Vallejo(Settlement)Spanish, English The name of a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, which was founded by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-1890), a Californio military leader and landowner... [more]
Valletta(Settlement)Maltese, English From the name of 16th century French nobleman Jean de Valette. This is the name of the capital city of Malta.
Van(Settlement)English Derived from the surname Vance. Van is a town Texas, USA.
Vancouver(Settlement & Island)English (Canadian) City and Island in Canadian province British Columbia, named after the explorer George Vancouver.
Vavylon(Settlement)Ukrainian, Greek Ukrainian form of Babylon as well as the modern Greek transcription of the name. However, in modern Greece, Vavylona is typically the form used to refer to the capital city of ancient Babylonia.