Weybourne(Settlement)English The name Weybourne is derived from the Old English elements "wæge" (meaning "ford" or "shallow crossing") and "burna" (meaning "stream" or "brook"). The name likely refers to a stream or crossing in the area... [more]
Why(Settlement)English (American) Small community in Arizona State, US. Arizona law stated that a settlement's name must have at least 3 letters, so the towns founders named the town, which was situated on a Y-section, "Why" instead of "Y"... [more]
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".
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.
Wildomar(Settlement)English (American) A city in California. The name is derived from the first syllables of the names William Collier and Donald Graham (the city's founders), and Margaret Collier Graham (Graham's wife and Collier's sister).
Willimantic(Settlement)English (American) Various cities in the United States. Of either Mohegan-Pequot or Narragansett origin, probably meaning "place near the evergreen swamp".
Willmar(Settlement)English Transferred use of the Belgian surname Willmar. The city in Minnesota is named for Leon (Chadwick) Willmar, an agent for the European bondholder of the St... [more]
Wiltshire(Political Subdivision)English The name of a county in southwest central England, earlier Wiltonshire, derived from Wilton (once the county's principal town) and Old English scir meaning "shire, administrative division".
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.
Winkler(Political Subdivision & Settlement)German, English The city of Winkler was named after Valentin Winkler, a German land agent who helped settle the area. The surname Winkler is of German origin, derived from "Winkel", meaning "corner" or "angle", which could refer to a geographical feature or a person living in such a place... [more]
Winnebago(Political Subdivision & River)English (American) A river and county in Iowa. From Ojibwe Wiinibiigoo ("Winnebago, Ho-Chunk"), an exonym for the Ho-Chunk people who lived in the area.
Winnemucca(Settlement & Body of Water)English (American) A dry lake and city in Nevada, both named for Chief Winnemucca, a leader of the Northern Paiute people who are indigenous to the area.
Winnetka(Settlement)English (American) A city in Illinois. The name is said to be derived from a Potawatomi term meaning "beautiful place".
Winnibigoshish(Body of Water)English (American) A lake in Minnesota. From Ojibwe wiinibiigoonzhish meaning "filthy water, brackish water".
Winnipeg(Settlement)English Name of a city in Manitoba, Canada Ojibwe wiinibig "dirty waters", from wini "dirty" + nibi "water".
Winooski(Settlement & River)English (American) A river and multiple settlements in the United States. The name is derived from the Abenaki word winoskik meaning "at wild onion land".
Wisconsin(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, from French Ouisconsin, likely from the Miami word Meskonsing "it lies red".
Wisley(Settlement)English It is a small village in Surrey, England.
Wrexham(Settlement)English Wrexham is a city and the administrative centre 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... [more]
Wryeton(Settlement)English Middle English Wry(e) may mean "bent", "twisted" combined with the "ton" ending.
Württemberg(Political Subdivision & Region)German, English Etymology uncertain. Originally referred to a castle near Stuttgart, and increased its scope as the owners increased their possessions. Scholars have rejected the derivation Wirth am Berg, meaning "innkeeper/host on the hill/mountain"... [more]
Wyoming(Political Subdivision)English (American) Name of a state in the United States, from Algonquian chwewamink "at the big river flat," from xw "big" + e:wam "river flat" + enk "place".
Xi'an(Settlement)Chinese, English Means "western peace" from Chinese 西 (xī) meaning "west" and 安 (ān) meaning "peace, quiet"... [more]
Yakutia(Political Subdivision)English From Russian Якутия (Yakutiya), which is from the name of the Yakut people. The ethnic name ultimately comes from Yаkо, the Evenki name for the Yakuts, which was eventually transferred to Russian... [more]
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]
Yankton(Settlement & Body of Water)English (American) The city in South Dakota was named for the Yankton tribe of the Western Dakota, who are indigenous to the area; Yankton itself is derived from Dakota Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ, meaning "village at the end".
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]
Yarmouth(Settlement)English The name Yarmouth is derived from the town of Yarmouth in Norfolk, England. The name is thought to be a combination of "Yare", the name of a nearby river, and "mouth", which refers to the mouth of the river... [more]
Yellowstone(River)English (American) The name of a major tributary of the Missouri River. The name Yellowstone derives from translations of several indigenous names for the river that refer to the sulfur-containing yellow rocks the river has carried out of the Yellowstone Caldera, an active supervolcano that powers the hydrothermal features of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming... [more]
Yenisey(River)Russian, English, Turkish, Azerbaijani The name of a river in northern Mongolian and the Siberian federal district of Russia. It may be derived from either Evenki Ионэсси (Ionəssi) meaning "big water" or Old Kyrgyz Эне-Сай (Ene-Sai) meaning "mother river."
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]
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".
Yorkshire(Region)English Newer form of Old English Eoferwicscir, a combination of Eoferwic "York" and scīr "shire, district".
Yorkton(Settlement)English Yorkton was named in 1882 by members of the York Farmers' Colonization Company, a group of settlers from Toronto (then called York). The name "York" honors York, England, and follows a common British colonial tradition of naming places after locations in the United Kingdom... [more]
Yosemite(Other)English (American), Indigenous American (Anglicized, Rare) A national park and a valley located in Mariposa County, California, the name is derived from the Southern Sierra Miwok joh-heˀ-HmetiH-, meaning "warriors, killers, those not afraid to die"... [more]
Youngstown(Political Subdivision)English Youngstown is a city in Ohio, USA.
Ypsilanti(Settlement)English (American) Derived from the Greek surname Ypsilantis. The city in Michigan is named for Demetrios Ypsilantis, a Greek officer known for his role in the Greek War of Independence.
Yucaipa(Settlement)English (American) A city in California. From Serrano yukaipa't meaning "green valley".
Yugoslavia(Country)English From Serbo-Croatian Jugoslavija meaning "land of the South Slavs", derived from jug meaning "south" and slavija meaning "land of Slavs". This was the name of a European country that existed from 1918 to 1941 (as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), from 1943 to 1945 (as the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia), from 1945 to 1992, and from 1992-2003 (as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).
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.
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.
Zealand(Island)English English form of Danish Sjælland. Zealand is the largest island in Denmark (excluding Greenland).
Zzyzx(Settlement)English The name of a place in Southern California, in the Mojave Desert, which was the site of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa from 1944 to 1974, run by self-proclaimed medical doctor and Methodist minister Curtis Howe Springer (1896-1985)... [more]