List of etymologies of country subdivision names

• New South Wales: named with reference to Wales by Captain James Cook.[1] For the etymology of Wales, see below.
• Queensland: named in honour of Queen Victoria[2]
• South Australia: located in the south-central region of Australia
• Tasmania: named after Abel Tasman, who sighted the island in 1642; originally named by Tasman as Van Diemen's Land, after Anthony van Diemen, the colonial governor who commissioned Tasman's voyage
• Victoria: named in honour of Queen Victoria[3]
• Western Australia: comprises the western third of Australia

• Australian Capital Territory
• Northern Territory: territory in north-central Australia
• Jervis Bay Territory: bay named by Lieutenant Bowen in 1791 for the naval hero Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl of St. Vincent.[4]

• Ashmore and Cartier Islands: named for Ashmore Reef islets and Cartier Island
  • Ashmore Reef: first recorded sighting by a European, Captain Samuel Ashmore of the Hibernia, 11 June 1811[5]
  • Cartier Island: discovered by a Captain Nash, aboard the Cartier[6]
• Christmas Island: bestowed by Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company for its discovery on Christmas Day, 25 December 1643.[7]
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands:
  • Cocos Islands: for the plentiful coconuts (Cocos nucifera) growing there[8]
  • Keeling Islands, an alternate name: for their discovery by Captain William Keeling of the English East India Company in 1609.[9]
• Coral Sea Islands: uninhabited islands in the Coral Sea, named for its coral formations, especially the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world.[9]
• Heard Island and McDonald Islands:
  • Heard Island: discovered (first confirmed sighting) by Captain John Heard of the merchant vessel Oriental, 25 November 1853[10]
  • McDonald Islands: discovered by Captain William McDonald, 4 January 1854[10]
• Norfolk Island (Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen): discovered and named by James Cook (1774) for Duchess Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk[11][12]

• Burgenland (German; Hungarian: Várvidék; Croatian: Gradišće): originally called Vierburgenland, "Land of four Burgs (castles)", a name suggested in 1919 from the endings of the four former counties forming the state: Preßburg, Wieselburg, Ödenburg and Eisenburg. In 1922 Austria ceded Ödenburg to Hungary and dropped the numeric prefix Vier- ("four"); the remaining three counties became Burgenland.[13]
• Carinthia, German Kärnten: etymologically related to the early Slavic medieval principality Carantania (Slovenian Karantanija, German Karantanien); a suggested etymology references a Celtic term for "stone" or "crag", while a popular etymology holds that the name means "land of friends"
• Lower Austria, German Nieder-Österreich: the lower part (lower in height) of the original territory of Austria ('the eastern country'), as opposed to Upper Austria; also called Österreich unter der Enns "Austria below the (river) Enns"
• Salzburg: after the city of Salzburg (literally "salt castle"), which takes its name from the salt mines that existed there during the Middle Ages
• Styria, German Steiermark: after the castle of Steyr; in the high Middle Ages, it formed a march of the Holy Roman Empire, hence -mark
• Tirol: after the Tirol Castle near Meran
• Upper Austria, German Ober-Österreich: the upper (physically higher) part of the original territory of Austria, as opposed to Lower Austria; also called Österreich ob der Enns "Austria above the (river) Enns"
• Vienna, German Wien: from Celtic Vindobona (vindo "white" + bona "foundation, fort")
• Vorarlberg, literally "in front of the Arlberg", takes its name from the Arlberg, a mountain (German: Berg) with a high mountain pass, characterised by Arle, a local German term for "mountain pine".

• Brussels, Dutch Brussel, French Bruxelles (the capital city, outside any province; also Belgium's third region): medieval Dutch broek 'bog' + zele (in many place names in the Low Countries="habitation using thatching")
• Flanders, Dutch Vlaanderen, French Flandre(s): plural of a terrain type; or "flooded land"; or a compound Flemish vlakte "plain" and wanderen "to wander".[14] The name extended from the historical county (about half lost to French and Dutch neighbours; the rest roughly made up two administrative provinces, East Flanders and West Flanders; in French les Flandres, plural) to the whole Dutch-speaking, majority part of Belgium (French la Flandre, singular)
• Wallonia, French Wallonie: from the (Romanized (Germano-) Celtic, now Francophone) Walloon people: as in many European countries, so named by Germanic neighbours; meaning: "strangers". Compare "Wales" below.

• Liège Province: of disputed etymology. The name Liège (also used by the city of Liège) may have the same origin as the ancient name of Paris, i.e. Lutetia; the German form, Lüttich, suggests this. Liège and Lutetia would both derive from Latin lucotætia, "marsh" or "mud". Another suggestion derives the names from Latin Lætica, "colony", or Leudica, "free". Alternatively, the Latin Leudica meaning "public place" may have given rise to the Walloon Lîdje and thence to Liège. Note that the name appeared in written form as Liége (with an acute accent) until the 1950s.

• Acadia (French Acadie): origin disputed:
  • 1. Credited to Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, who first named a region around Chesapeake Bay Archadia (Arcadia) in 1524 because of "the beauty of its trees", according to his diary. Cartographers began using the name Arcadia to refer to areas progressively farther north until it referred to the French holdings in maritime Canada (particularly Nova Scotia). The -r- also began to disappear from the name on early maps, resulting in the current Acadia.[15]
    2. Possibly derived from the Míkmaq word akatik, pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as -cadie in place names such as Shubenacadie and Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.[16]
• Nunatsiavut: Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land".[17]

Roman numerals originally identified the regions in order from north to south (except Santiago). With the establishment of Arica-Parinacota and Los Ríos Region in 2007 the numbers no longer reflect the regions' positions.

• Maule Region (Spanish VII Región del Maule): named after the Maule River.
• Biobío Region (Spanish VIII Región del Biobío): named after the Bío-Bío River.
• Los Ríos Region (Spanish XIV Región de los Ríos): refers to the river systems of Valdivia and Bueno and to the nickname of the city of Valdivia. The name may also reflect the name of Los Lagos Region (Spanish for Region of the Lakes) from which Los Ríos split away.
• Aisén Region, sometimes also spelled Aysén (Spanish XI Región Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo): The name Aisén may come from the Huilliche word achen, meaning "to crumble". Another theory suggests that the Chonos culture used the word to mean "going more to the interior", in reference to the Fjord of Aisén that stretches east from the Moraleda strait.
• Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region (Spanish XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena): named in honour of Ferdinand Magellan, the Strait of Magellan and the city of Punta Arenas, formerly called Magallanes.

• Anhui (安徽) – lit. "Peaceful Badge", actually abbreviates Anqing & Huizhou
• Beijing (北京) – "Northern Capital"
• Chongqing (重慶) – "Doubled Celebration"
• Fujian (福建) – lit. "Luck Builds", actually abbreviates Fuzhou & Jian'ou
• Gansu (甘肅) – lit. "Willingly Serious", actually abbreviates Ganzhou & Suzhou (肃州)
• Guangdong (廣東) – lit. "Eastern Expanses", actually contracts the earlier "Eastern Guangnan" (Guangnandong)
• Guangxi (廣西) – lit. "Western Expanses", actually contracts the earlier "Western Guangnan" (Guangnanxi)
• Guizhou (貴州) – lit. "Expensive Province", actually refers to Mount Gui
• Hainan (海南) – "South of the Sea", in reference to the Qiongzhou Strait, for the Hainan Island. Similarly, Leizhou Peninsula, which faces Hainan across the strait, is also called Haibei, meaning "North of the Sea".
• Hebei (河北) – "North of the [Yellow] River"
• Heilongjiang (黑龍江) – "Black Dragon River", the Chinese name for the Amur River, from its Manchu name Sahaliyan Ula () ("Black River")
• Henan (河南) – "South of the [Yellow] River"
• Hubei (湖北) – "North of the Lake", in reference to Lake Dongting
• Hunan (湖南) – "South of the Lake", in reference to Lake Dongting
• Jiangsu (江蘇) – lit. "The River Revives", actually abbreviates Jiangning & Suzhou (苏州)
• Jiangxi (江西) – lit. "West of the [Yangtze] River" (although it is to the Yangtze's south), actually contracts the earlier "Western Jiangnan" (Jiangnanxi, "Western Region South of the River")
• Jilin (吉林) – lit. "Lucky Forest", actually a Sinification of Manchu girin ula (吉林乌拉) meaning "Riverside"
• Liaoning (遼寧) – lit. "Distant Peace", actually refers to "Peaceful Liao", the region around the Liao River
• Inner Mongolia (內蒙古) – from the perspective of Beijing, as distinguished from "Outer Mongolia", which became independent in the 20th century (Mongolia itself from "Land of the Mongols"; Mongol from the Mongolian for "brave")
• Ningxia (寧夏) – lit. "Peaceful Summer", actually refers to the Tibetan state of Western Xia
• Qinghai (青海) – "Blue Sea", for Qinghai Lake, from Mongolian (Köke Naghur)/Хөх нуур (Höh nuur)
• Shaanxi (陜西) – "West of the Pass(es)" or "West of Shanzhou". Shanzhou is named in reference to the three former channels of the Yellow River at Sanmenxia, previously supposed to have been cleft in the rock by Yu the Great and now submerged by the Sanmenxia Dam
• Shandong (山東) – "East of the [Taihang] Mountains"
• Shanghai (上海) – "On the ocean"
• Shanxi (山西) – "West of the [Taihang] Mountains"
• Sichuan (四川) – lit. "Four Rivers", refers to the four circuits of the region during the Song Dynasty – Chengdufu, Kuizhou, Lizhou, and Zizhou; also possibly refers to the four rivers in the region—Min, Tuo, Jialing and Wu.
• Tianjin (天津) – "Heavenly Ford", in honor of the Yongle Emperor's crossing at that point
• Tibet – from Tibetan: བོད་, Wylie: Bod (Böd) in the form Mtho-Böd 'High Tibet' or Stod-Böd 'Upper Tibet', or from Old Turkic Töbäd or Töpüt 'the heights'; the modern Chinese name 西藏 Xizang means 'Western Tsang", from the Sinification of Tibetan Tsang, the central-southern region of Tibet
• Xinjiang (新疆) – "The New Frontier"
• Yunnan (雲南) – lit. "South of the Clouds", actually refers to the Yunling Mountains
• Zhejiang (浙江) – "Crooked River", a former name of the modern Qiantang River

• Hong Kong – An Anglicized transcription of the Cantonese Chinese place name 香港 (Hoeng¹gong², "Fragrant Harbor"),[18] originally the name of the small inlet now known as Aberdeen Harbour.[19] The reference to fragrance may refer to the harbor waters sweetened by the estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense factories lining the coast to the north of Kowloon which was stored around Aberdeen Harbour, prior to the development of Victoria Harbour.[18] The name was applied to the entirety of Hong Kong Island in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.[20] The Kowloon peninsula and New Territories were later added by the 1860 Convention of Peking and the 1898 Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory.
• Macau – for the Cantonese Chinese pronunciation of 媽閣 (Maa⁵gok³), the name of temple of the sea goddess A-Ma, or A-Ma Gao (阿媽澳, "Bay of A-Ma").[21] The Chinese name of Macau (澳門) means "Inlet Gates". Also the English transcription is Macao.

• Czechia, geographic name of the Czech Republic (Česko in Czech). From old Czech Czech (nationality), later written Čech. Until 19th century referred predominantly to Bohemia only, later the meaning has been extended to all Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia). Traditionally traced to a Forefather Čech, who brought the Czechs into Bohemia.
• Bohemia: "Land of the Boii", a Celtic tribe of the region. The ultimate etymology of Boii is uncertain, but has been connected to Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "cow" and "warrior"
• Moravia: "Land of the Morava"
• Silesia – from the holy Silesian mountain of Ślęża
• Sudetenland – from the Sudeten mountains

Most modern French départements take their names from local geographical features: usually rivers, occasionally mountain ranges or coasts. Thus most such names have a self-evident immediate origin: even non-speakers of French can deduce them with a minimum of geographical knowledge. The traditional provinces and regions (of any period) often bear names with richer but more obscure histories.

• Alsace – from Latin Alsatia, a Latinised form of the Germanic name that also yields Old High German El-sasz, allegedly meaning "foreign settlement" (according to the OED article on "Alsatia"[28]); or "settlement on the Ill River"
• Artois – from Latin Atrebatensis, adjectival form derived the Belgic tribe Atrebates, whose name comes from *ad-treb-ates, meaning 'inhabitants', based on the Celtic root treb- 'building', 'home' (cf. Old Irish treb 'building', 'farm', Welsh tref 'building', Middle Breton treff 'city', toponyms in Tre-, Provençal trevar 'to live in a house or in a village').[29] According to Alexander MacBain (d. 1907),[30] the name Atrebates parallels the Irish aitreibh, 'building,’ Early Irish aittreb, 'building,’ and Welsh adref, 'homewards'. McBain states that the Celtic root treb corresponds to Latin tribus, 'tribe', and to English thorpe, 'village'.[30] MacBain reconstructs *ad-treb- as the Proto-Celtic form of Early Irish aittreb.[30] The name of the main city of Artois, Arras (Atrecht in Dutch) derives directly from the tribe's name Atrebates, so Artois properly means "territory of Arras".
• Basque Country (French: Pays Basque, Basque: Euskal Herria) – derived from the ancient tribe of the Vascones via the medieval Duchy of Vasconia and a County of Vasconia, split from it. The Basque name derives from Euskara (the autochthonous name of the Basque language).
  • Labourd (Lapurdi): from the Roman city of Lapurdum (modern Bayonne).
  • Lower Navarre (French: Basse Navarre, Basque: Nafarroa Behera, Benafarroa). From the medieval Kingdom of Navarre, itself of disputed etymology (either Basque nabar: "brownish, multicolor", also "ploughshare"; or Romance nava: "river bank"; or Basque naba (valley, plain) + herri (people, land)). Compare Kingdom of Navarre#Etymology
  • Soule: deformation of the original Basque name Zuberoa or Xiberue
• Brittany (Bretagne) – area occupied by refugee Britons from Roman Britain (Britannia) circa 500 AD
• Burgundy (Bourgogne) – part of the land settled by the East Germanic Burgundians, who possibly originated on the island now known as Bornholm. Speakers of Old Norse knew the island as Borgundarholm, and in ancient Danish especially the island's name appears as Borghand or Borghund; these names relate to Old Norse borg "height" and bjarg/berg "mountain, rock", as the island rises high from the sea.[31] Other names known for the island include Burgendaland (9th century), Hulmo / Holmus (Adam of Bremen), Burgundehulm (1145), and Borghandæholm (14th century).[32] Alfred the Great uses the form Burgenda land.[33] Some scholars[34] believe that the Burgundians take their name from the island of Bornholm; they comprised a Germanic tribe which moved west when the western Roman Empire collapsed, and occupied and named Burgundy in France in the 5th century CE.
• Champagne – from the Latin campania (plain, open country, battlefield)
• Corsica (Corse) – possibly from the Phoenician Korsai, which means something like "forest-covered"
• Dauphiné – from the nickname and coat of arms of former ruler Guy VIII of Vienne: "dolphin"
• Franche-Comté – in French, literally the "Free County" of Burgundy (as opposed to the Duchy of Burgundy)
• Gascony (Gascogne) – from the Duchy of Vasconia (also Wasconia), itself derived from the ancient tribe of the Vascones. In Latin and Romance languages in medieval times, Vascones came to apply to all the Basque-speaking peoples.
• Languedoc – the region speaking the langue d'oc (as opposed to the regions whose language (langue d'oïl) developed into modern French)
• Limousin – from an adjective referring to the local centre, Limoges
• Lorraine – from the Mediaeval Latin coining Lotharingia, meaning the lands granted as a kingdom in 855 AD to Lothair, son of the Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I
• Maine (province/county), from the Maine River, considered a variant/continuation of the Mayenne River, whose early French name suggests "middle river"
• Normandy (Normandie) – land settled by Viking Northmen in the early 10th century
• Occitania, from Occitània in Occitan. From medieval Latin Occitania (approximately since 1290). The first part of the name, Occ-, is from Occitan [lenga d']òc or Italian [lingua d']oc (i.e. "Language of Òc"), a name given to the Occitan language by Dante according to its way of saying "yes" (òc). The ending -itania is probably an imitation of the old Latin name [Aqu]itania.
• Provence – from Latin provincia (province), short for Provincia Narbonensis, the Roman province located in present-day southern France.
• Savoy – of unknown origin, but dating to the days of the Kingdom of Burgundy

• Clipperton Island, a territory: From the French Île de Clipperton, for the English mutineer and pirate John Clipperton who hid there in 1705.
• Europa Island, a territory: For the British ship Europa, which visited the island in 1774. For the etymology of Europe, see List of continent etymologies.
• French Guiana, a territory: See France and Guiana at List of country-name etymologies.
• French Polynesia, a territory: Polynesia formed from the Greek polynesia ("many islands"), a compound of polý- (πολύ, "many") and nēsos (νῆσος, "island").
• French Southern and Antarctic Lands, a territory: Self-descriptive. See France at List of country-name etymologies and List of continent-name etymologies.
  • Bassas da India, part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands: Cartographic errors misspelling original name Portuguese Baixo da Judia ("Jewess Shoal") from the name of a Portuguese ship that ran aground on the reef.[35]
• Glorioso Islands, a territory: Presumably from their glorious appearance.
• Guadeloupe, a territory: From Spanish Guadalupe, bestowed by Christopher Columbus in 1493 in honor of Santa María de Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain.
• Juan de Nova, a territory: For João da Nova, a 15th-century Portuguese explorer-navigator.
• Martinique, a territory: Bestowed by Christopher Columbus in honor of Saint Martin of Tours in 1502
• Mayotte, a territory: A French corruption of the native Maore or Mawuti, sultanates on the island around the year 1500.
• New Caledonia, a territory: "New Scotland" from the Latin Caledonia, bestowed by British captain James Cook in 1774 after a supposed resemblance. For further etymology of "Caledonia", see Scotland below.
• Réunion, a territory: Selected in 1793 to commemorate the union of revolutionaries from Marseille with the French National Guard in Paris on 10 August 1792. (For earlier names, see History of Réunion.)
• Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (French: Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon), an overseas collectivity:
  • Saint Pierre: From the French for "Saint Peter", patron of fishermen.
  • Miquelon: From the Basque for "Michael", possibly for Saint Michael, published by Martin de Hoyarçabal's pilot in 1579 as Micquetõ and Micquelle, after which it evolved over time into Miclon, Micklon, and finally Miquelon.
• Tromelin Island: From the French Île Tromelin in honor of the Chevalier de Tromelin, a French Royal Navy officer who commanded the French corvette La Dauphine which visited the island in 1776.[36]
• Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (French: Territoire des îles Wallis et Futuna), an overseas collectivity:
  • Futuna: From an endonym derived from the local futu ("Fish-poison tree")[37]
  • Wallis: for the British explorer Samuel Wallis, who sailed there in 1797.

• Baden-Württemberg: formed by combining the names of the former states of Baden and of Württemberg.
  • Baden: after the city of Baden-Baden, formerly Baden, the name became reduplicated to distinguish it from the state (as in "Baden in Baden"). The name means "baths", after the springs in the city.
  • Württemberg: after Württemberg Castle, which stood on the Württemberg, a hill in Stuttgart, formerly Wirtemberg, further origin uncertain (-berg means "mountain")
• Bavaria (German Bayern): the state of Bavaria developed out of the tribe of the Baiuvarii, who probably gained their name from the land of Bohemia
• Brandenburg: after the city of Brandenburg. The earlier Slavic name of the castle (Burg) of Brandenburg appears as Branibor (Slavic for "Branim's forest", where bor means "a dense forest").
• Hamburg: from the 9th-century name Hammaburg, where Hamma has multiple conflicting interpretations, but burg means "castle".
• Hesse: after the tribe of the Chatti
• Lower Saxony (German Niedersachsen): after the tribe of the Saxons. "Lower Saxony" became differentiated in modern times from the state of Saxony to its southeast. The word "lower" reflects Lower Saxony's location in the lowlands of the North German Plain, as opposed to Saxony, which has a higher elevation. See below for etymology of "Saxony".
• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern): formed geographically by joining Mecklenburg with the western part of Pomerania, also called Hither Pomerania.
  • Mecklenburg takes its name from Mecklenburg Castle in Dorf Mecklenburg (Burg means "castle" in German, the first part means "big": compare Middle Low German mekel, cognate with English mickle—"big castle").
  • Pomerania (German Pommern) comes from Slavic roots meaning "near the sea" (in Slavic languages more means "sea"): the standard modern Polish name for the region, Pomorze, demonstrates this well.
• North Rhine-Westphalia (German Nordrhein-Westfalen)—geographically formed by joining the northern part of the Rhineland (after the River Rhine) with Westphalia.
  • The name of the Rhine derives from Gaulish Renos, and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *reie- ("to move, flow, run"); words like river and run share the same root.[38] The Reno River in Italy shares the same etymology. The spelling with -h- suggests a borrowing from the Greek form of the name, Rhenos,[38] seen also in rheos, "stream", and rhein, "to flow".
  • Westphalia formed the westernmost subdivision of the Saxon tribe; the origin of the second part (-falen in German) remains unknown
• Rhineland-Palatinate (German Rheinland-Pfalz): formed geographically by joining parts of the Rhineland (see above under North Rhine-Westphalia) with the Rhenish Palatinate, formerly a palatine county located near the Rhine, meaning that its count administered a palace of the Holy Roman Emperor.
  • The word Palatinate derives from Latin palatinus "imperial", from palatium "palace", after the location of the palace of the Roman Emperor Augustus on the Palatine Hill in Rome
• Saarland: after the Saar River
• Saxony (German Sachsen): land of the Saxons (possibly the "sword-folk"). The state of Saxony developed out of the Saxon tribe, which principally inhabited present-day Lower Saxony; during the Middle Ages and early modern times, the name migrated to the current location of the state of Saxony
• Saxony-Anhalt (German, Sachsen-Anhalt): formed geographically by joining the Prussian Province of Saxony (see above under Saxony) with Anhalt
  • Anhalt takes its name from Anhalt Castle near Harzgerode; the origin of the name of the castle remains unknown
• Schleswig-Holstein: created by joining Schleswig and Holstein.
  • Schleswig takes its name from the City of Schleswig, which in turn derives its name from the Schlei bay and the Low German word wig for "trading place".
  • "Holstein" comes from a Saxon subtribe named, in Latin, Holcetae, whose means "dwellers in the wood" (Northern Low Saxon: Hol(t)saten; German: Holzsassen).
• Thuringia (German Thüringen) – after the tribe of the Thuringii.

• Brunswick (German: Braunschweig): from the town of Brunswick, possibly originating as "Bruno's wik" (Bruno's marketplace) (with reference to the legendary founder Bruno, Duke of Saxony, died 880, or another Bruno) or as "burnt wik"); the High German form Braunschweig is an erroneous translation of the original Low German Brunswick
• Franconia (German: Franken): from the traditional designation "Franks", referring especially to the Kingdom of the East Franks. The name refers to those areas east of the Rhine that were first occupied by the Franks, as opposed to areas that were held by the Swabians, Bavarians or Saxons.
• Hohenzollern: ultimately from the names of Hohenzollern Castle and its location, Mount Hohenzollern (known locally as Zoller or Zollern). The lexeme hoh/hohen in German means "high/height".
• Oldenburg, after the city of Oldenburg, first recorded in 1108 as the town of Aldenburg, subsequently also a county, duchy, grand duchy and republic, meaning "old castle"
• Prussia (German: Preußen) – (at times historically connected with Germany or with parts thereof): from the people known as the Prussians, a grouping of western Balt peoples whose collective name (German: Prussen or anciently Pruzzen) may possibly derive from an Indo-European root meaning "swamp": see Old Prussians; for political reasons, the electors of Brandenburg decided to name themselves kings of Prussia in the 18th century; in this way, they transferred the name of the remote eastern region to a major German state
• Swabia (German: Schwaben or Schwabenland): after the tribe of the Suebi whose name may come from Proto-Germanic *swēbaz based on the Proto-Germanic root *swē- meaning "one's own" [people],[39] from an Indo-European root *swe-,[40] the third-person reflexive pronoun.

• Honshu: "Main Province" in Japanese
• Kyushu: "Nine Provinces" in Japanese, in reference to the Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Buzen, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma provinces of 7th-century Saikaidō (See: Gokishichidō)
• Shikoku: "Four States" in Japanese, in reference to the Awa, Tosa, Sanuki and Iyo provinces of 7th-century Nankaidō (See: Gokishichidō)
• Hokkaido: "Northern Sea Circuit" in Japanese, a compromise archaism selected by bureaucrats during the Meiji Restoration (See: Naming of Hokkaido)

• Aruba: Uncertain. One etymology derives from Spanish Oro Hubo ("there was gold"); another cites the Arawak oibubai ("guide").
• Curaçao: Uncertain. One etymology derives from Portuguese curaçao ("healing"); another from Portuguese coração ("heart"); another that it is a local endonym.[41]
• Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland): "Lowlands".[42] See List of country name etymologies#Netherlands.
• Sint Maarten: Southern part of the island of Saint Martin, which was named for Saint Martin of Tours, as it was first sighted by Christopher Columbus on St. Martin's Day (11 November), 1493.

• Drenthe (Dutch Low Saxon: Drentie): first mentioned in a Latin document of 820 as pago Treanth. Treanth probably finds its origin in the number three, as the area was then divided in three jurisdictions.
• Flevoland: from Latin Lacus Flevo (Lake Flevo), a name used in Roman sources to refer to a body of water at what would later become known as the Zuiderzee. The Netherlands government established the province in 1986 on lands reclaimed from the Zuiderzee in the 1950s and 1960s.
• Friesland (West Frisian: Fryslân): land of the Frisians.
• Gelderland (also English: Guelders): Named after the modern city of Geldern, Germany.
• Groningen (Gronings: Grönnen or Grunnen). Named after its capital city. The origin of the city name is uncertain; theories include an original meaning of "people of Groni" (a man's name) or "green fields".
• Limburg: Derived from the castle-fortified town of Limbourg which in turn was derived from "lint" "dragon" and burg "fortress".
• North Brabant (Dutch: Noord-Brabant). The name in Carolingian times appeared in Latinised form as pagus Bracbatensis, from bracha "new" and bant "region".
• North Holland (Dutch: Noord-Holland): Northern part of the region of Holland. See List of country name etymologies#Netherlands for the etymology of "Holland".
• Overijssel: Dutch for "[Lands] across the IJssel river" (also Latin: "Transiselania")
• South Holland (Dutch: Zuid-Holland): Southern part of the region of Holland. See List of country name etymologies#Netherlands for the etymology of "Holland".
• Utrecht: named after the city of Utrecht, the name of which derives from Latin Ultraiectum ad Rhenum, meaning "place to cross the Rhine river".
• Zeeland (also English: Zealand): Dutch for "sea land".

• Alkmaar: from Aelcemaer, meaning 'lake of auks', due to the fact that lakes formerly surrounded the core of Alkmaar—all of them now drained and thus turned into dry land
• Amsterdam: from Amstelredam, which means "dam over the Amstel" (the river Amstel flows through present-day Amsterdam)
• Batavia (Germanic): "arable land" (derived from the regional name "Betuwe", as opposed to the other regional name "Veluwe" meaning "fallow" or "waste" land). Alternatively: the people known as the Batavians (Latin: Batavi) inhabited the island of Betawe between the Waal and the Rhine. The name of the island probably derives from batawjō ("good island", from Germanic bat—"good, excellent" and awjō—"island, land near water"), referring to the region's fertility.
• Bonaire: Uncertain, but thought to have been originally derived from the Caquetio word bonay. Later Dutch and Spanish colonists modified it, first to Bojnaj and finally to its current name of Bonaire (French: "good air").
• Holland (part of the Netherlands; but the term often refers to the country as a whole): Germanic "holt (i.e. wooded) land" (often incorrectly regarded as meaning "hollow [i.e. marsh] land")
• Netherlands Antilles, a territory: From their Dutch owners and from a mythical land or island (Antillia), west of Europe, or a combination of two Portuguese words ante or anti (possibly meaning "opposite" in the sense of "on the opposite side of the world") and ilha ("island"), currently the name for these Caribbean Islands.
• Rotterdam: meaning 'dam over the Rotte' (the river Rotte flows through present-day Rotterdam)
• Stad en Ommelanden for the province of Groningen, meaning "city and surrounding lands" and referring to the city of Groningen and the medieval Frisian lordships west, north and east of the city.
• Twente (region in the east of the province of Overijssel): from Latin tvihanti; or after the Germanic tribe the Tubantii as described by Tacitus; or an early form of the current Twents-language word for a 2-year-old horse: Tweanter.

• Auckland: in honour of George Eden, Earl of Auckland, a patron of William Hobson, who founded and named the city of Auckland. The Earl took his sobriquet from Auckland in Durham, United Kingdom, possibly deriving from the Celtic Alclet or Aclet, or "Cliffs of the Clyde". Although nowhere near the River Clyde, the locality may have had connections with the Celtic kingdom of Strathclyde; it may have borrowed the name of the Clyde for aesthetic or prestige reasons, as Alclet's river—the Gaunless—means "useless" in Old Norse; or a nearby river may have had the name "Clyde"—history does not record the name of the river Gaunless before the Norse named it
• Hawke's Bay: in honour of Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke of Towton
• Marlborough: to commemorate John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
• Nelson: in honour of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (the Admiral)
• Otago: anglicised from the Māori name Otakou, a kainga east of present-day Otago Harbour, originally meaning "one isolated village" or "place of red earth"
• Wellington: in honour of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

• Cook Islands, a territory: In honor of British captain James Cook, who discovered the islands in 1770.
• Levin: from a director of the railway company that established the town to help boost its railway
• Niue, a territory: Niu probably means "coconut", and é means "behold". According to legend, the Polynesian explorers who first settled the island knew that they had come close to land when they saw a coconut floating in the water.
• Plimmerton: from John Plimmer, Wellington pioneer, director of the railway company that created the seaside resort to help boost its railway; central Wellington has Plimmer's Steps.
• Tasman: district named from the bay name, in honour of Dutchman Abel Tasman, commander of first European expedition to sight the country; also a mountain and glacier name. Abel Tasman National Park bears a fuller version of his name.
• Tokelau, a territory: From the Tokelauan "North" or "Northern", in reference to their position relative to Samoa. The Tokelauan people traditionally suppose themselves to have originated from settlers from Samoa.
• Waikato: Named after the Waikato River. The hydronym is a Māori-language word meaning "flowing water".

• Akershus – Fortress of (the district) Aker (named after the farm Aker, meaning agriculture field)
• Aust-Agder – East Agder. Agder has a pre-Viking Age unknown meaning. Maybe meaning coast, related to English edge.
• Buskerud – after a farm Buskerud, meaning the Bishops farm (rud more specifically means clearing the wood for farming)
• Finnmark – Land of the Sami people.
• Hedmark – Hed comes from the name of an old tribe. Mark means border land or wood land.
• Hordaland – land of the Charudes, an old tribe.
• Innlandet – Inner land, the land away from the coast.
• Møre og Romsdal – Møre, and Rom valley. Møre probably means sea (land at the sea) and Roms comes from the river Rauma, unknown meaning.
• Nordland – Northern land
• Nord-Trøndelag – (Self-ruling) country of the Trønder people, northern part.
• Oppland – the Upper lands
• Oslo – disputed, maybe "the meadow beneath the ridge", see History of Oslo's name
• Rogaland – Land of the Rugii, an old tribe.
• Sogn og Fjordane – Sogn refers to Sognefjord, "the fjord with tidal stream". Og Fjordane means "and the (other) fjords".
• Sør-Trøndelag – (Self-ruling) country of the Trønder people, southern part.
• Telemark – Tele comes from an old tribe. Mark means border land or wood land.
• Troms – Unknown
• Vest-Agder – West Agder. Agder has a pre-Viking Age unknown meaning. Maybe meaning coast, related to English edge.
• Vestfold – West (side of) Fold, where Fold means fjord, here the Oslo Fjord.
• Vestland – Western land, traditional name of the west coast of Southern Norway
• Viken – the inlet; old name of the area (Viken) around the Oslo Fjord.
• Østfold – East (side of) Fold, where Fold means fjord, here the Oslo Fjord.

• Bouvet Island (Norwegian: Bouvetøya), a dependent territory: Named after the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, who discovered it in 1739.[43]
• Svalbard, a territory: A compound of Norse roots meaning "cold edge"

Map of the provinces of South Africa before 1994

• Transvaal: literally beyond the Vaal River, which acted as its southern border.
• Natal: see below at KwaZulu-Natal.
• Orange Free State: the Free State operated as an independent country (Free State) during most of the 19th century. The adjective Orange came from the Orange River to the south/south-west of the province, in turn named in 1779 by Robert Jacob Gordon (1743–1795), commander of the Cape Colony garrison (1780–1795), in honour of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau.[58]
• Cape of Good Hope: named after the Cape of Good Hope, where Cape Town stands.

Current map of South African provinces

• Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape: from the Cape of Good Hope, the site of the first European settlement in today's South Africa, which would give its name to Cape Town, Cape Colony, and the former Cape Province, of which each of the three named provinces originally formed a part.
• Free State: the popular contraction of this province's historic predecessor, the Orange Free State.
• Gauteng: The Sesotho name for the province's and country's largest city of Johannesburg. The literal meaning, "Place of Gold", refers to the area's large gold-mining industry.
• KwaZulu-Natal: a combination of the names of the two entities that merged to form the modern province:
  • KwaZulu: a bantustan formed in the apartheid era, ostensibly as a "homeland" for the Zulu
  • Natal: Portuguese for "Christmas". The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama named the area: he landed on the coast of the future KwaZulu-Natal on Christmas Day in 1497.
• Limpopo: the Limpopo River forms the province's and the country's most northern boundary.
• Mpumalanga: "east", or more literally, "the place where the sun rises", in several Nguni languages, among them Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu. Refers to the province's location in the north-east of South Africa.
• North West: From its geographic position, in the north of the country and west of the main population-centre of Gauteng.

Provinces of Sweden

Sweden formerly consisted of historical provinces (Swedish: landskap), and the province-names still often serve to describe locations in Sweden. Their names often date from before the year 1000. Officially Sweden now subdivides into counties (Swedish: län), introduced in 1634.

Historical provinces:

• Blekinge: from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm".
• Bohuslän: meaning "county of Bohus Fortress".
• Dalarna: meaning "the valleys"
• Dalsland: originally Dal, meaning "the valley"
• Gotland: land of the Gutar
• Gästrikland
• Halland: the land beyond Hovs Hallar
• Hälsingland
• Härjedalen: valley of the Härje river
• Jämtland
• Lappland: land of the Lappi (the Sami people)
• Medelpad: Unclear. "Medel" means "in the middle". One theory is "the land between the river valleys" (Ljungan and Indalsälven)
• Norrbotten: from Norrbotten County
• Närke
• Skåne
• Småland: "small lands", given for a combination of several smaller provinces.
• Södermanland: "south men's land"
• Uppland "up land" (north of Stockholm, used after the foundation of Stockholm, was before that three independent provinces)
• Värmland
• Västmanland: "west men's land"
• Västerbotten: West Bothnia (west side of the Gulf of Bothnia). In old Nordic "botten" meant inner part of a bay/gulf, see the etymology of Bothnia. Compare Ostrobothnia (Österbotten / East Bothnia) in Finland, formerly a Swedish province, and Norrbotten above.
• Västergötland: means Western Gothia/Götaland.
• Ångermanland: from the Old Norse "anger", which means "deep fjord" and refers to the deep mouth of the river Ångermanälven.
• Öland
• Östergötland: means Eastern Gothia/Götaland

• Stockholm: from Stockholm, the city. From stock (timber log) and holm (small island). (Somewhat disputed.)
• Uppsala: from Uppsala, the city. (Ultimate etymology disputed.)
• Jönköping: from Jönköping, the city. Jön comes from the creek Junebäcken; "köping" means "merchant place".
• Kronoberg: from Kronoberg Castle. Kronoberg means "the Crown's mountain".
• Kalmar: from Kalmar, the city. (Ultimate etymology disputed.)
• Västra Götaland: means "Western Gothia/Götaland".
• Örebro: from Örebro, the city, the name of which means "bridge over gravel banks".
• Gävleborg: from Gävle, the city, and borg (fortress), referring to Gävle Castle.
• Västernorrland: means "Western Norrland". At the time Norrland meant North Sweden including North Finland, and Western Norrland excluded Finland. Now Västernorrland is located in Eastern Norrland.
• Norrbotten: North Bothnia (originally northern part of Västerbotten County)
• Blekinge, Dalarna, Gotland, Halland, Jämtland, Skåne, Södermanland, Värmland, Västerbotten, Västmanland and Östergötland are named directly after the historical province they match. See previous chapter.

• England: "Land of the Angles", from Old English Englaland,[63] for the Germanic tribe first attested in 897.[64] The Angles themselves were first attested as the Latin Anglii in Tacitus's 1st-century Germania and the name was extended to cover the other Germans in Britain after the ascension of the Kentish Egbert to the Saxon thrones.[65] Their etymology is uncertain: possible derivations include Angul (the Angeln peninsula of eastern Jutland),[66] the "people of the Narrow [Water]" (from the proposed proto-Indo-European root *ang-, "narrow", or *angh-, "tight") in reference to the Angeln's Schlei inlet, "people of the meadows" (cf. Old High German angar),[65] the god *Ingwaz – a proposed Proto-Germanic form of Freyr's earlier name Yngvi, – or the Ingaevones who claimed their descent from him. See Etymology of England.
  • Anglia, a former name: As above, in its Latin form.
  • Angelcynn, a former name: "Folk of the Angles", from Old English, name used by Alfred the Great.
• Northern Ireland: Northern part of the island of Ireland; see List of country-name etymologies: Ireland for the etymology of the name "Ireland".
• Scotland: "Land of the Scots", attested in the 11th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of Abingdon, Worcester and Laud.[67][68] "Scot" from Old English Scottas, from Late Latin Scoti or Scotti, of ultimately uncertain origin, but used in Latin to reference Gaels raiding Roman Britain from a region (Scotia) in Ireland.[69] and whose colinguists established the realm of Dál Riata in the vicinity of Argyll.
  • Alba, Albania, or Albany, former endonyms: Uncertain etymology, presumed to derive from Albion or its antecedents. See also "Albion" at List of country-name etymologies: United Kingdom.
  • Caledonia, a former name: "Land of the Caledonii" in Latin, from a Latin name for a local tribe, of uncertain etymology. Possibly related to the Welsh caled ("hard", "tough").
• Wales: From Proto-Germanic word Walhaz, meaning "Romanised foreigner"; through Old English welisċ, wælisċ, wylisċ, meaning "foreigner", with the more specific "Brytwylisc" referring directly to Brittonic speaking people (literally "British Welsh/Foreigners");[70] to Modern English Welsh. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (British Library MS. Cotton Tiberius B) glosses Bede's Ecclesiastical History, citing Brytwylsc as one of the fif geþeodu, or "five languages", of the island of Brytene, along with the Ænglisc, Scottysc, Pihttisc, and Boclæden (English, Scottish, Pictish, and Latin).[71] The same etymology applies to Cornwall in Britain and to Wallonia in Belgium.[72] See Etymology of Wales.
  • Brythoniaiad, a former name: "Britons" in Old Welsh. See "Britain" under List of country-name etymologies: United Kingdom. More inclusive than "Cymru", its use predominated until around the 12th century.
  • Cambria: Latinized version of Cymru below. Geoffrey of Monmouth related the traditional pseudoetymology of this name from an eponymous King Camber.
  • Cymru (endonym): "Land of Compatriots" from Old Welsh kymry ("compatriots"), first attested in an encomium to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633,[73] from Brythonic combrogi.[72] Its use during the post-Roman era amounted to a self-perception that the Welsh and the "Men of the North" were one people, distinguished from the invaders and even from the Cornishmen and Bretons.[74]

• Jersey: The Norse suffix -ey means "island" and is commonly found in the parts of Northern Europe where Norsemen established settlements. (Compare modern Nordic languages: øy in Norwegian, ø/ö in Danish and Swedish.) The meaning of the first part of the island's name is unclear. Among theories are that it derives from Norse jarth ("earth") or jarl ("earl"), or perhaps a personal name, Geirr, to give "Geirr's Island". American writer William Safire suggested that the "Jers" in Jersey could be a corruption of "Caesar".[75]
• Isle of Man: The island's name in both English and Manx (Mannin) derives from Manannán mac Lir, the Brythonic and Gaelic, equivalent to the god Poseidon.

• Anguilla: "eel", for its elongated shape, from either Spanish anguila, Italian anguilla, or French anguille, as it is uncertain whether the island was first sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1493 or by French explorers in 1564.[76]
• Bermuda: "Land of Bermúdez", from the Spanish La Bermuda, from the Spanish captain Juan de Bermúdez who sighted the island in 1505 while returning from Hispaniola.[77]
• British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT): See List of country-name etymologies for etymologies of Britain and India
• British Virgin Islands: bestowed by Christopher Columbus from Saint Ursula and her 11,000 virgins, on account of the seemingless endless number of islands
• Cayman Islands: From the Spanish name Caymanas, from the Carib for "caiman", a kind of marine alligator.
• Falkland Islands: From the Falkland Sound between the two main islands, bestowed by English captain John Strong in 1690 in honor of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, First Lord of the Admiralty. Falkland Palace was the Caries' ancestral home in Scotland.
  • Islas Malvinas, its Spanish name: "Malovian Islands", from the French Malouines describing the Breton sailors from St. Malo in Brittany who frequented the islands in the 1690s.
  • Sebald Islands, a former name now applied in Spanish to the Jason Islands: From a Dutch name commemorating Sebald de Weert, the captain usually credited with first sighting the archipelago in 1598.
• Gibraltar: A corruption of the Arabic words Jebel Tariq (جبل طارق) which means "Tariq's Mountain", named after Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Berber who landed at Gibraltar in 711 to launch the Islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.
• Montserrat: From the Spanish name Santa Maria de Monterrate bestowed by Christopher Columbus in 1493 in honor of the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrate in Spain. "Montserrat" itself means "jagged mountain".
• Pitcairn Islands: A member of the English Captain Philip Carteret's crew in his ship HMS Swallow first sighted the remote islands in July 1767. Carteret named the main island "Pitcairn's Island" after the man who first saw land: the son of Major Pitcairn of the Marines.
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha:
  • Saint Helena: bestowed by Portuguese explorer João da Nova in honor of Saint Helena, the mother of Roman emperor Constantine the Great, for its discovery on Saint Helena's Day, 21 May 1502.
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI):
  • South Georgia: "Land of George", from the original "Isle of Georgia" bestowed by British captain James Cook in honor of King George III on 17 January 1775. "South" distinguished it from the other colony of Georgia, which became an American state in 1782.
  • South Sandwich Islands: Bestowed by British captain James Cook in honor of John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, who at the time was First Lord of the Admiralty and helped fund Cook's voyages. "South" distinguished them from the other Sandwich Islands, now known by their native name Hawaii.
• Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI):
  • Turks Islands: for the indigenous Turk's-cap cacti (Melocactus communis)
  • Caicos Islands: from the indigenous Lucayan caya hico, meaning "string of islands".

• Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge, an unincorporated territory: for American captain Michael Baker of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who claimed to have discovered it in 1832 or 1834, despite being the third to have done so.[78]
• Guam, a territory: From the native Chamorro word guahan, meaning "we have".
• Howland Island, a territory: Bestowed by Capt. George E. Netcher in honor of the lookout who sighted it from his ship, the Isabella, on 9 September 1842.
• Jarvis Island, a territory: Bestowed by the British Captain Brown in honor of Edward, Thomas, and William Jarvis, the owners of his vessel the Eliza Francis.
• Johnston Atoll, a territory: For British captain Charles J. Johnston, commander of HMS Cornwallis, who discovered the atoll on 14 December 1807.
• Kingman Reef, a territory: For Capt. W.E. Kingman, who discovered the reef aboard the Shooting Star on 29 November 1853.
• Midway Islands, a territory: For their geographic location, perhaps from the islands' situation midway between North America and Asia, or their proximity to the International Date Line (halfway around the world from the Greenwich Meridian).[79]
  • Middlebrook Islands or the Brook Islands, former names: For their discoverer, Captain N.C. Middlebrooks.
• Navassa Island, a territory: From the Spanish Navaza (nava- meaning "plain" or "field"), bestowed by members of Christopher Columbus's crew who discovered the island while attempting to return to Hispaniola from Jamaica
• Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth: From its position and the Spanish name Las Marianas bestowed by the Jesuit missionary San Vitores in 1668 in honour of Mariana of Austria, widow of King Felipe IV and regent of Spain.
• Palmyra Atoll, a territory: Named after the boat Palmyra, which belonged to the American Captain Sawle. He sought shelter on the atoll on 7 November 1802, and became the first person known to land on it.
• Puerto Rico, a territory with commonwealth status: Christopher Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista in honour of Saint John the Baptist in 1493. The Spanish authorities set up a capital city called Puerto Rico (meaning "rich port"). For now unknown reasons, the island and capital city had exchanged names by the 1520s.
• United States Virgin Islands, an insular area: See British Virgin Islands above.
• Wake Island, an unincorporated territory: for British Captain William Wake, who sighted the island in 1796, despite the Spanish explorer Mendaña having probably sighted it in 1568.