Norwegian exonyms

As a general rule, modern Norwegian does not use exonyms for names with endonyms in Latin script. Historically, several Danish/German exonyms have been in use, due to the Danish roots of the Bokmål variety of Norwegian, but these exonyms should be considered archaic, and are no longer used officially.

Albania

 Albania
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Tirana Tirana Tiranë Albanian

Austria

 Austria Østerrike
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Tyrol Tirol, Tyrol Tirol German Tirol is recommended, but the form Tyrol is resistant because the name of the musical Sommer i Tyrol and the word tyrolerhatt

Belgium

 Belgium Belgia
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Brussels Brüssel Brussel Dutch Norwegian uses the German name, tho less prominent, German is an official language of Belgium.
Bruxelles French

Cuba

 Cuba
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Havana Havanna La Habana Spanish

Denmark

Places in Denmark are in Norway spelled like in Danish. Also, for places with Aa, which during the latter half of the 20th century were spelled Å in Denmark, and then changed back to aa. Thus, Aabenraa and some more places are spelled with aa also in Norway. The same sound is spelled Å for places in Norway.

Estonia

 Estonia
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Tallinn Reval, Tallinn Tallinn Estonian Reval is a dated term for Tallinn.

Finland

Until recently, most people tended to use the official Swedish names in Norwegian. The Swedish names are not exonyms, since both Finnish and Swedish are official languages in Finland, with many towns, cities and regions having two, often very different, official names. In recent years, however, the use of Finnish place names have gained some popularity in Norwegian.

Germany

 Germany Tyskland
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Rhine Rhinen Rhein German
Stralsund Stræla Stralsund German

Greece

 Greece Hellas
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Athens At(h)en Athína Greek
Corfu Korfu Kérkyra Greek
Corinth Korint(h) Korinthos Greek
Crete Kreta Kriti Greek
Pireus Pireus Peiraias Greek
Rhodes Rhodos Rodhos Greek

Italy

 Italy Italia
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Syracuse Syrakus Siracusa Italian

Netherlands

 Netherlands Nederland
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
The Hague Haage Den Haag Dutch

Russia

 Russia Russland
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Saint Petersburg St. Petersburg Sankt Peterburg Russian

Sweden

Newspapers in Norway often, but absolutely not always, write all ä as æ (sometimes e) and all ö as ø, probably because ä and ö were historically lacking on Norwegian typewriters. For example: Göteborg (Gothenburg) is in Norway written Göteborg or Gøteborg.
Some places have genuine Norwegian names because they were originally part of Norway:

 Sweden Sverige
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Bohuslän Båhuslen Bohuslän Swedish
Härjedalen Herjedalen, Herjådalen Härjedalen Swedish
Jämtland Jemtland Jämtland Swedish

United Kingdom

 United Kingdom Storbritannia (og Nord-Irland)
English name Norwegian name Endonym Notes
Name Language
Scotland Skottland Alba Scottish Gaelic
Thames Themsen Thames English

See also

References

  • Vigleik Leira, Geografiske navn i flere språk (2006).
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