Eastern African Submitted Place Names

Aasiya (Region) Somali
Somali form of Asia.

Abidjan (Settlement) French, English, Afrikaans, Arabic, Bosnian, Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Malagasy, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Urdu, Uzbek
The largest city and economic capital of the Ivory Coast, meaning uncertain. It is traditionally believed to be derived from the Ebiré phrase min-chan m'bidjan meaning "I just cut the leaves", supposedly exclaimed by an old villager to a European explorer when asked the village's name... [more]

Ābikazīya (Political Subdivision) Amharic
(NOT KNOWN)

Abu Dabi (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Turkish
Form of Abu Dhabi used in numerous languages.

Addis Abeba (Settlement) Amharic, German, Italian, Spanish
Amharic, German, Finnish, Italian and Spanish form of Addis Ababa.

Afgaanistan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Afghanistan.

ʾÄfganistan (Country) Amharic
Amharic form of Afghanistan.

Afrikaa (Region) Oromo
Oromo form of Africa.

Afrika Kusini (Country) Swahili
Swahili calque of South Africa.

Afuganistani (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Afghanistan.

Aleksandria (Settlement) Coptic, Armenian, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, Polish, Swahili
Form of Alexandria used in various languages.

Aljeeriya (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Algeria.

Aljeeriyaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Algeria.

Aljeria (Country) Basque, Malagasy, Eastern African, Swahili
Basque, Malagsy, and Swahili form of Algeria.

Aman (Settlement) Amharic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Persian, Serbian, Slovene, Tagalog
Form of Amman used in multiple languages.

Angoolaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Angola.

Aserbiijaan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Azerbaijan.

Asmara (Settlement) English, Afrikaans, Albanian, Armenian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Kyrgyz, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Turkish
From Tigrinya ኣርባዕተ ኣስመራ (arbate asmera) meaning "the four (women) made them unite," referring to Tigrinya oral tradition in which four women convinced their clans to unite and defeat a common enemy... [more]

Asmera (Settlement) Tigrinya, Croatian, Georgian, Latvian, Russian, Tajik, Ukrainian, Uzbek
Form of Asmara in several languages.

Awropa (Region) Amharic
Amharic form of Europa (see Europe).

Babesh (Settlement) Ganda (Anglicized, Modern)
Babesh lost 2 balls while batting.

Bakistaan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Pakistan.

Baxrayn (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Bahrain.

Beyrut (Settlement) Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Hindi, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu
Form of Beirut used in numerous languages.

Bootiswaanaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Botswana.

Brazzaville (Settlement) English, French, Afrikaans, Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Luxembourgish, Malagasy, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Vietnamese, Zulu
Named after Italian-French explorer Pierre Savorgnan De Brazza, suffixed with ville... [more]

Burundi (Country) Afrikaans, Albanian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian
The name of the Country in East Africa. Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa, bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west.

Buruundii (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Burundi.

Butaan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Bhutan.

Bwindi (Other) Kiga, African, Eastern African
Bwindi is the name of a popular National Park in Southwestern Uganda. It means “a dark place” in the Kiga language.

Cyangugu (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Rwandan

Dar Es Salaam (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Swahili, English
Derived from Arabic دار السلام (dar as-salam) meaning "house of peace" or "abode of peace". This is the name of an administrative region and city in Tanzania.

Dimishiq (Settlement) Somali
Somali form of Damascus.

Duwoni (Mountain) Konjo, Eastern African
Duwoni is the Bakonjo name of Mt Speke.

Eeritiraa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Eritrea.

El Salvador (Country) Spanish, English, Afrikaans, Amharic, Bosnian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish
Means "the saviour" in Spanish, referring to Jesus and shortened from the original name Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesus Cristo, El Salvador Del Mundo literally meaning "Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World"... [more]

Eratareya (Country) Somali
Somali form of Eritrea.

Filibiin (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Philippines.

Finfinnee (Settlement) Oromo
Means "fountain of hot mineral water" in Oromo, used as the Oromo name for Addis Ababa.

Fiyetnam (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Vietnam.

Gaanaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Ghana.

Gayana (Country) Amharic, Armenian, Bengali, Hebrew, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Russian, Tajik, Urdu, Uzbek
Form of Guyana used in numerous languages.

Gikongoro (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Rwandan

Gini (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Guinea

Hindiya (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of India.

Ibirunga (Political Subdivision, Region & Mountain) Rwandan
Rwandan word meaning “Volcanoes” in Kinyarwanda.

Iiraan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Iran.

Ijiipti (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Egypt.

Indunisiya (Country) Arabic, Somali, Tausug
Arabic, Somali, and Tausug form of Indonesia.

Ingiriiska (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of England.

Itiyoophiyaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Ethiopia.

Itoobiya (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Ethiopia.

Ityopya (Country) Amharic
Alternate transcription of Amharic ኢትዮጵያ (See Ityoppya).

Jabaan (Country) Somali
Somali form of Japão (see Japan).

Jabuuti (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Djibouti.

Japani (Country) Finnish, Icelandic, Swahili
Finnish, Icelandic and Swahili form of Japan

Jeejniya (Political Subdivision) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Chechnya.

Juba (Settlement) English, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Slovak, Somali, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Uzbek
Of uncertain origin, from the Nilotic Bari language of South Sudan. It is the name of the capital and largest city of South Sudan, as well as the former village on its site.

Kaameruun (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Cameroon.

Kabale (Political Subdivision, Settlement & Other) Kiga, Nkore
Kiga word for “Small Stone”.

Kalifornia (Political Subdivision) Albanian, Armenian, Basque, Faroese, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Somali
Form of California.

Kamboja (Country) Armenian, Georgian, Indonesian, Swahili, Tajik, Turkmen
Form of Cambodia used in various languages.

Kanungu (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Kiga

Kasakhstan (Country) Danish, Norwegian, Eastern African, Somali
Danish, Norwegian, and Somali form of Kazakhstan.

Kaskazini (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of America.

Khartoum (Settlement) English, Danish, French, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Swahili, Swedish, Welsh
Most likely from Arabic قرطم‎ (qurṭum), meaning "safflower", or possibly خرطوم (ḵurṭūm), meaning "elephant's trunk". This is the name of the capital city of Sudan.

Kisoro (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Rwandan

Kiyanja (Mountain, Other & Settlement) Konjo, Eastern African, Obscure
Kiyanja is the Bakonjo name of Mt Baker.

Kolombiya (Country) Amharic, Bengali, Kurdish, Nepali, Persian, Turkish
Form of Colombia used in various languages.

Kolombo (Settlement) Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Czech, Georgian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Macedonian, Mongolian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Tajik, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek
Form of Colombo used in numerous languages.

Komoros (Country) Bengali, Hindi, Maltese, Eastern African, Hausa
Bengali, Hindi, Maltese, and Hausa form of Comoros.

Koonfur Afrika (Country) Somali
Somali calque of South Africa.

Kuruweshiya (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Croatia.

Lilongwe (Political Subdivision, Settlement & River) English, Chewa, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Swahili
From Chewa Lilongwe, of uncertain meaning. This is the name of a river and the capital city of Malawi, as well as the district around it.

Lubnaan (Country) Somali
Somali form of Lebanon.

Madagaskar (Country & Island) Afrikaans, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Swedish, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek
Form of Madagascar.

Magrib (Region) Catalan, Estonian, Russian, Eastern African, Somali
Catalan, Estonian, Russian, and Somali form of Maghreb, referring to the region.

Makka (Settlement) Arabic, Hindi, Swahili, Tajik, Thai, Urdu, Uzbek
Arabic alternate transcription of Makkah as well as the form of Mecca used in various languages.

Male (Settlement) Dhivehi, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Georgian, Greek, Hindi, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latvian, Macedonian, Mongolian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Slovak, Tajik, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek
Dhivehi form of Malé as well as the form used in various other languages.

Marekani (Country) Swahili
Derived from English American, used as the Swahili name for the United States.

Marooko (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Morocco.

Masar (Country) Hausa, Somali
Hausa and Somali form of Misr.

Mediterranean (Region & Body of Water) English, Ganda, Scots
From the Latin term Mediterrāneum meaning "in the middle of land", composed of Latin medius "middle", terra "land, earth" and āneus "having the nature of". The Mediterranean Sea is located between Europe, Africa and a small part of Asia... [more]

Mezfin (Other) American (Rare), Ethiopian (Rare)
Mezfin (English: Mez-fin) means Emperor: is a male name of American National multiracial origination. ... [more]

Mikeno (Mountain) Rwandan
Mikeno is the name of a Mountain in the DRC’s east. Its name comes from a word which means “poor”.

Mokadisho (Settlement) Eastern African, Amharic
Amharic form of Mogadishu.

Moroko (Country) Korean, Swahili, Tigrinya
Korean, Swahili and Tigrinya form of Morocco.

Mroni (Settlement) Comorian
Ngazidja Comorian form of Moroni.

Muqdisho (Settlement) Eastern African, Somali, Estonian
Somali and Estonian form of Mogadishu.

Naayijeeriyaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Nigeria.

Namibia (Country) Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Danish, English, Finnish, Georgian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu
From the name of the Namib Desert, derived from Khoekhoe namib meaning "desert" or "vast place". This is the name of a country in southern Africa.

Nauru (Country & Island) English, Afrikaans, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Thai, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Uzbek
Possibly derived from Nauruan anáoero meaning "I go to the beach". This is the name of an island country in Oceania.

Nayrobi (Settlement) Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Hindi, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Russian, Tajik, Ukrainian, Uzbek
Form of Nairobi used in various languages.

Ngaliema (Region, Settlement & Mountain) Eastern African
The Konjo name of Mt Stanley.

Nyabisindu (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Rwandan, Eastern African
Another name for the Rwandan town of Nyanza.

Nyanza (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Rwandan
Diminutive of Nyabisindu.

Nyungwe (Region & Mountain) Rwandan

Nyuzilandi (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of New Zealand.

Otawa (River & Settlement) Amharic, Japanese, Korean, Sinhalese
Amharic, Japanese, Korean and Sinhala form of Ottawa.

Paragwai (Country) Korean, Swahili
Korean form of Paraguay as well as a Swahili variant.

Qaahiro (Settlement) Somali
Somali form of Qahirah.

Qargistan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Kyrgyzstan.

Qudus (Settlement) Crimean Tatar, Eastern African, Somali
Crimean Tatar and Somali form of Quds, referring to Jerusalem.

Riyad (Settlement) Amharic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uyghur
Form of Riyadh used in numerous languages.

Ruhango (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Rwandan, Eastern African

Rukungiri (Political Subdivision, Region & Settlement) Kiga
Meaning unknown.

Ruushka (Country) Somali
Somali form of Russia.

Rwenzori (Region, Settlement & Mountain) Eastern African, Konjo
Rwenzori is the name of a popular National Park in Southwest Uganda. Its name comes from a Konjo word which means “Rainmaking Mountains”.

Rwenzururu (Region & Settlement) Konjo, Eastern African
Rwenzururu means ‘The Mountains of Rain’ in the Konjo Language of West Uganda. Rwenzori is a diminutive of it.

Sana (Settlement) Albanian, Amharic, Belarusian, Bengali, Chinese, Croatian, Georgian, Hindi, Icelandic, Japanese, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Thai, Turkmen, Ukrainian
Form of Sanaa used in numerous languages. It can also be an alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji サナア (see Sanā).

Shangugu (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Rwandan
Former name of Cyangugu.

Shiinaha (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of China.

Simbaabwi (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Zimbabwe.

Singabuur (Country, Settlement & Island) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Singapore.

Singapuri (Country, Settlement & Island) Georgian, Swahili
Georgian and Swahili form of Singapore.

Somaaliyaa (Country) Oromo
Oromo form of Somalia.

Somaliya (Country) Amharic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Hausa, Hindi, Urdu
Form of Bulgaria used in various languages.

Suqadara (Island) Somali
Somali form of Socotra.

Suudaan (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Sudan.

Suuriya (Country) Eastern African, Somali
Somali form of Syria.

Tunisia (Country) Basque, English, Finnish, Galician, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Swahili, Thai
The name of a country in North Africa, named after its capital city Tunis.

Uajemi (Country) Swahili
Derived from Arabic عجم ('ajam) meaning "foreigner, non-Arab, Persian", used as the Swahili name of Iran.

Ufilipino (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Philippines.

Uhindi (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Hind.

Uingereza (Country) Eastern African, Swahili
Swahili form of England.

Urusi (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Russia.

Usbekistan (Country) Danish, Estonian, Faroese, German, Norwegian, Sami, Somali
Form of Uzbekistan.

Usbekistan (Country) Danish, Estonian, German, Norwegian, Somali, Tagalog
Form of Uzbekistan used in various languages.

Uskoti (Country) Eastern African, Swahili
Swahili form of Scotland.

Uthai (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Thai.

Uturuki (Country) Swahili
Swahili form of Turkey.

Vistula (River) English, Amharic, Indonesian, Romanian, Swahili
Borrowed from Latin, likely originating from the Indo-European root *weys- meaning "to flow". It is the longest river in Poland and has significant connections to Polish history and culture.

Yordani (Country & River) Swahili
Swahili form of Jordan.