South American Submitted Place Names

South American names include those from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
type
usage
Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
Santa Catarina (Political Subdivision & Island) Portuguese
Portuguese form of "Saint Catherine (of Alexandria)", through Santa Catarina Island. This is the name of a state of Brazil.
Santa Clara (Settlement) English, Spanish
Name of a city in California, named for Saint Claire (Spanish for “Saint Claire”)
Santa Fe (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Spanish
The name of several places in the Spanish-speaking world, derived from Spanish Santa Fe meaning "Holy Faith".
Santa Lúcia (Country & Island) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Saint Lucia.
Santa Lucía (Country & Island) Spanish
Spanish form of Saint Lucia.
São Paulo (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Portuguese, English, French, German, Norwegian
Portuguese form of Saint Paul. This is the name of a city and a state in Brazil.
Saraievo (Settlement) Italian, Portuguese
Italian and Portuguese form of Sarajevo.
Sardenha (Region & Island) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Sardinia.
Schapong (Country) Hunsrik
Hunsrik form of Japan
Seicheles (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Seychelles.
Sergipe (Political Subdivision) Portuguese (Brazilian)
Union of the Tupi words siri (the local name for the Callinectes genus of crabs) 'y ("river") and pe ("in"), thus "in the river of the siri". This is the name of a state of Brazil.
Serra Leoa (Country) Galician, Portuguese
Galician and Portuguese form of Sierra Leone
Seúl (Settlement) Spanish, Icelandic, Asturian, Galician
Spanish, Icelandic, Asturian and Galician form of Seoul.
Sevilha (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Seville.
Sevilla (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Bosnian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Galician, German, Hungarian, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish
Spanish form of Seville, as well as the form used in numerous other languages.
Seychelles (Country) French, English, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Maltese, Romanian, Spanish, Tagalog
From the name of Jean Moreau de Séchelles (1690-1761), a French politician who served as Minister of Finance during the reign of King Louis XV. This is the name of an East African island country in the Indian Ocean.
Sião (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Siam.
Sibéria (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Siberia.
Siberia (Region) English, Albanian, Italian, Korean, Romanian, Spanish
From Russian Сибирь (Sibir) of uncertain origin and meaning. This is the name of a region in North Asia.
Sicília (Political Subdivision & Island) Catalan, Portuguese, Slovak
Catalan, Portuguese and Slovak form of Sicily.
Sicilia (Political Subdivision & Island) Ancient Roman, Italian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Spanish, Tagalog
Ancient Roman (i.e. Classical Latin) form of Sicily, which some modern countries have adopted as their name for the island.
Siero (Political Subdivision) Asturian, Spanish
Name of a "council" (municipality) in Asturias. It could have been formed from a name of the person possessing the land at some historical moment, perhaps SIARIUS or SEGARIUS or SIGERIUS... [more]
Sinai (Region & Mountain) Biblical, Hebrew, Albanian, Danish, English, German, Italian, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish
Biblical place name, both the mountain upon which Moses receives the Ten Commandments from God and the desert where it is located, found between Canaan and Egypt.... [more]
Sinaí (Region & Mountain) Catalan, Spanish
Catalan and Spanish form of Sinai.
Sinaloa (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Derived from Mayo sinalobola meaning either "round pitaya" or "cut corn". This is the name of a state of Mexico.
Sinkiang (Political Subdivision & Region) Albanian, Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish
Albanian, Finnish, Portuguese, and Spanish form of Xinjiang.
Síria (Country) Catalan, Portuguese
Catalan and Portuguese form of Syria
Sitônia (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Sithonia.
Sofía (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Sofia.
Somália (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Somalia.
Sonoma (Political Subdivision) Spanish
County and town in the American state of California, the meaning of which is uncertain.
Sri Lanka (Country & Island) Afrikaans, Albanian, Basque, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
From Sinhalese ශ්‍රී ලංකාව (ś‍rī laṁkāva) meaning "holy island", derived from Sanskrit श्री (śrī) meaning "holy, sacred" and लङ्का (laṅkā) meaning "island"... [more]
Suazilândia (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Swaziland
Suazilandia (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Swaziland
Sucre (Settlement) Spanish
This is the constitutional capital city of Bolivia, it was named after Venezuelan revolutionary leader Antonio José de Sucre in 1839.
Sudáfrica (Country) Spanish
Form of South Africa used in Spanish speaking countries.
Sudáfrica (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of South Africa.
Sudão Do Sul (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of South Sudan
Sudetes (Mountain) English, Spanish
A mountain range in Central Europe, which in the Anglosphere is also known under its German name Sudeten.
Sudetos (Mountain) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Sudetes.
Sujumi (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Sukhumi.
Surabaia (Settlement) Belarusian, Georgian, Portuguese
Belarusian, Georgian and Portuguese form of Surabaya.
Suriname (Country) English, Dutch, Afrikaans, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Portuguese
From the name of the indigenous Surinen people combined with the place name suffix -ame derived from Arawak aima or eima meaning "river mouth, creek mouth". This is the name of a country in South America.
Suwisa (Country) Quechua, Tagalog
Quechua and Tagalog form of Schweiz via the Spanish form Suiza, used as the Quechua and Tagalog name for Switzerland.
Tailândia (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Thailand
Taipé (Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Taipei.
Taipéi (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Taipei.
Taiwán (Country & Island) Spanish
Spanish form of Taiwan.
Tajiquistão (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Tajikistan.
Tallin (Settlement) Armenian, Azerbaijani, Hindi, Kazakh, Korean, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Russian, Spanish, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek
Form of Tallinn used in multiple languages.
Tallinn (Settlement) Estonian, English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish
Meaning uncertain, but probably derived from Estonian Taani-Linn(a) meaning "Danish town" (originally "Danish castle"). This is the capital of Estonia.
Tamaulipas (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Uncertain, possibly derived from Huastec Tamaholipa perhaps meaning "place of high hills". Alternately it may come from the phrase ta ma ho'lipam meaning "place where the Lipan Apache prey"... [more]
Tánger (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Tangier.
Tânger (Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Tangier.
Tayikistán (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Tajikistan.
Teerã (Settlement) Portuguese (Brazilian)
Brazilian Portuguese form of Tehran.
Teerão (Settlement) Portuguese
European Portuguese form of Tehran.
Tegucigalpa (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Capital of Honduras, possibly from the Nahuatl word Taguz-galpa, which means "hills of silver".
Teherán (Settlement) Czech, Hungarian, Slovak, Spanish
Form of Tehran used in various languages.
Teide (Mountain) Spanish
Meaning uncertain, but possibly derived from a Guanche term referring to a powerful being living inside the volcano. Teide is a volcano on the Spanish island Tenerife... [more]
Tenerife (Island) Spanish, English
Means "snow mountain" or "white mountain" in Guanche, probably referring to the volcano Teide. Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands, Spain.
Tesprócia (Political Subdivision & Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Thesprotia.
Tesprotia (Political Subdivision & Region) Polish, Spanish
Polish and Spanish form of Thesprotia.
Tibás (Political Subdivision) Spanish (Latin American)
Canton of Costa Rica.... [more]
Tíbet (Region) Spanish
Spanish form of Tibet.
Tibete (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Tibet.
Tiflis (Settlement) Crimean Tatar, English (Archaic), German, Spanish, Turkish, Turkmen
Crimean Tatar, German, Spanish, Turkish, and Turkmen form of Tbilisi as well as a historical English name for the city.
Tijuana (Settlement) Spanish
Derives from the rancho that Santiago Argüello Moraga established in 1829 on his Mexican land grant, naming it Rancho Tía Juana.... [more]
Timbu (Settlement) Macedonian, Serbian, Spanish
Macedonian, Serbian, and Spanish form of Thimphu.
Timbu (Settlement) Korean, Macedonian, Serbian, Spanish, Tagalog
Form of Thimphu used in various languages.
Timor Leste (Country) Portuguese, English
Portuguese form of East Timor as well as an English variant (often spelled Timor-Leste).
Tirana (Settlement) Albanian, English, Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Kyrgyz, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Thai, Turkmen, Uzbek
Perhaps derived from Doric Greek Τυρσανοί (Tursanoi) meaning "Tyrrhenians", which was an exonym for non-Greek inhabitants of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This is the name of the capital city of Albania.
Tlaxcala (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Spanish
From Nahuatl Tlaxcallān either derived from tlaxcalli meaning "tortilla" or texcalli meaning "crag" or "oven" combined with the suffix -tlan. This is the name of a state of, as well as a city in, Mexico... [more]
Tocantins (Political Subdivision & River) Portuguese (Brazilian)
Union of Tupi words tukana ("toucan") e tim ("beak"), thus "toucan's beak". This is the name of a river and a state of Brazil.
Togo (Country) Afrikaans, Albanian, Basque, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Means "land where lagoons lie" from Ewe to meaning "water" and go meaning "shore". Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north.
Toledo (Settlement) Spanish
Tombuctu (Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Timbuktu.
Trafalgar (Region, Other & Settlement) Spanish, English
The name of both a small Spanish peninsula and a beloved British city square, which is most likely derived from Taraf al-Ghar (طرف الغار 'cape of the cave/laurel') or Taraf al-Gharb (طرف الغرب 'extremity of the west'), both of which are of Arabic origin.
Transcarpátia (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Transcarpathia.
Transcarpatia (Region) Romanian, Spanish
Romanian and Spanish form of Transcarpathia.
Transcáspia (Political Subdivision) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Transcaspia.
Transcaspia (Political Subdivision) English, Italian, Spanish
Means "beyond the Caspian Sea", derived from Latin trans meaning "across, beyond" combined with Latin Caspia meaning "Caspian Sea".... [more]
Transcaucásia (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Transcaucasia.
Transcaucasia (Region) English, Italian, Spanish
Means "beyond the Caucasus", derived from Latin trans meaning "across, beyond" combined with the latinized Greek noun Caucasia meaning "the Caucasus" (both the mountains and their namesake region)... [more]
Transdanubia (Region) English, Finnish, Norwegian, Romanian, Spanish
Means "beyond the river Danube", derived from Latin trans meaning "across, beyond" combined with the Latin noun Danubius meaning "the river Danube".... [more]
Transilvânia (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Transylvania.
Transnístria (Political Subdivision & Region) Catalan, Portuguese
Catalan and Portuguese form of Transnistria.
Transnistria (Political Subdivision & Region) Basque, English, Estonian, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Spanish
Means "beyond the river Dniester", derived from Latin trans meaning "across, beyond" combined with the Romanian noun Nistru meaning "the river Dniester".... [more]
Trentino-alto Adige (Political Subdivision) Italian, English, Portuguese
Union of the names Trentino, the Italian-speaking area surrounding Trento, and Alto Adige (known as Südtirol in German), the German-speaking area surrounding Bolzano.... [more]
Trípoli (Settlement) Portuguese, Spanish
Portuguese and Spanish form of Tripoli.
Tripolitânia (Region) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Tripolitania.
Túnez (Country & Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of both Tunisia and Tunis.
Tunicia (Country) Aragonese, Asturian, Spanish
Aragonese and Asturian form of Tunisia as well as a Spanish variant.
Túnis (Country & Settlement) Icelandic, Portuguese (Brazilian)
Icelandic and Brazilian Portuguese form of Tunis. The Icelandic name refers to both the country of Tunisia and the city of Tunis, while the Portuguese name refers only to the city.
Tunísia (Country) Catalan, Portuguese
Catalan and Portuguese form of Tunisia.
Turim (Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Turin.
Turín (Settlement) Czech, Galician, Slovak, Spanish
Czech, Galician, Slovak and Spanish form of Turin.
Turkiya (Country) Arabic, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Quechua, Sinhalese, Tagalog, Tajik, Uzbek
Form of Turkey used in various languages. It can also be an alternate transcription of Arabic تركيا (see Turkiyya).
Turkmenistán (Country) Czech, Spanish
Czech and Spanish form of Turkmenistan.
Turquemenistão (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Turkmenistan.
Udmúrtia (Political Subdivision) Catalan, Portuguese
Catalan and Portuguese form of Udmurtia.
Ulán-Udé (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Ulan-Ude.
Uruguai (Country) Basque, Catalan, Galician, Japanese, Portuguese
Form of Uruguay used in several languages.
Uruguay (Country & River) Spanish, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish, Finnish
From Guaraní, either urugua meaning "shellfish" or uru, referring to a type of bird, and gua meaning "from" combined with y meaning "water."... [more]
Uvalde (Settlement) Spanish
named after Juan de Ugalde, governor of Coahuila (a part of Texas).... [more]
Uzbequistão (Country) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Uzbekistan.
Vaduz (Settlement) German, English, Afrikaans, Bosnian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish
Derived from Rhaeto-Romance auadutg meaning "aqueduct", ultimately from Latin aquaeductus. This is the name of the capital city of Liechtenstein.
Valência (Region & Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Valencia.
Valeta (Settlement) Albanian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Greek, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Portuguese, Serbian
Form of Valletta used in multiple languages.
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]
Valonia (Region) Georgian, Spanish
Georgian and Spanish form of Wallonia.
Varsovia (Settlement) Aragonese, Basque, Breton, Galician, Greek, Spanish, Filipino, Tagalog
New Latin form of Warsaw, which some countries have adopted as their name for the Polish city.
Veneza (Settlement) Portuguese
Portuguese form of Venice.
Victorica (Settlement) Spanish (Latin American)
Town in La Pampa Province in Argentina.
Viena (Political Subdivision & Settlement) Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian, Catalan, Cebuano, Basque, Filipino, Galician, Ladin, Lithuanian, Occitan, Lombard, Papiamento, Portuguese, Romanian, Tagalog, Venetian
Form of Vienna in various languages.
Viena (Settlement) Bulgarian, Catalan, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Tagalog
Form of Vienna used in multiple languages.
Vientián (Settlement) Hungarian, Spanish
Hungarian and Spanish form of Vientiane.
Villarreal (Settlement) Spanish
Villarreal is a city in the province of Castelló, in the Valencian Community, Spain.
Villaviciosa (Settlement) Spanish, Filipino
Combination of villa meaning "small town" and viciosa meaning "vigorous; abundant" (usually "vicious, profligate").... [more]
Vilna (Settlement) Finnish, Italian, Slovene, Spanish
Form of Vilnius.
Vizcaya (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Spanish form of Biscay.
Vosgos (Mountain) Spanish, Portuguese
Spanish and Portuguese form of Vosges.
Wayakil (Settlement) Quechua
Quechua form of Guayaquil.
Wuliwya (Country) Aymara, Quechua
Aymara and Quechua form of Bolivia.
Xangai (Settlement) Catalan, Portuguese
Catalan and Portuguese form of Shanghai.
Xeresa (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Xeresa is a municipality in the comarca of Safor in the Valencian Community, Spain.
Xiraz (Settlement) Basque, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese
Basque, Catalan, Galician and Portuguese form of Shiraz.
Yamena (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of N'djamena.
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.
Yeniséi (River) Spanish
Spanish form of Yenisey.
Yibuti (Country) Spanish
Spanish form of Djibouti
Yuba (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Juba.
Yucatán (Political Subdivision & Region) Spanish
Most likely from Chontal Maya Yokot'an either meaning "I do not understand you" or "hear how they talk!", both phrases supposedly uttered by the Mayans when questioned by Spanish explorers. Alternately it may mean "land of yucas", referring to the edible tuber... [more]
Zacatecas (Political Subdivision) Spanish
Derived from Nahuatl zacatēcah meaning "people of the place of grass" or "where grass is abundant", ultimately from zacatl meaning "grass". This is the name of a state of Mexico.
Zagreb (Settlement) Croatian, English, Armenian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Icelandic, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek
Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from the given name Chabrag, a pet form of Cyprian, from Proto-Slavic *grębъ meaning "hill, uplift" or from a Roman place name... [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".
Zaragoza (Settlement) Spanish
Spanish form of Saragossa.
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.