Countries (locations)

Sakartvelo (Georgian)

(Georgia)

(Sakartvelo (საქართველო; 'land of Kartvelians'), derived from the core central region of Kartli;

The Georgian circumfix sa-X-o is a standard geographic construction designating 'the area where X dwell', where X is an ethnonym)

Medīnat Yisrā'el (Hebrew)

Dawlat Isrā'īl (Arabic)

(“State of Israel,” Israel-occupied Palestine)

(meaning "El (God) persists/rules," refers to the patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the Angel of the Lord)

Repoblikan'i Madagasikara (Malagasy)

République de Madagascar (French)

(Republic of Madagascar)

(unknown origin and meaning and is likely foreign, having been propagated in the Middle Ages by Europeans)

Republik Singapura (Malay)

Xīnjiāpō Gònghéguó (Chinese)

Singapore Kudiyarasu (Tamil)

Republic of Singapore

(from Sanskrit Siṃhapura = "lion city," as lions were associated with power and protection in Hindu–Buddhist culture)

Də Afğānistān Islāmi Imārat (Pashto)

Imārat-i Islāmī-yi Afğānistān (Dari)

(Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan)

(“land of the Afghans / Pashtuns”; Afghān derived from the Sanskrit word Aśvakan, the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush; literally meaning "horsemen," "horse breeders," or "cavalrymen")

Republika e Shqipërisë (Albanian)

(Republic of Albania)

(Shqipëri and Shqipëria are widely interpreted to symbolize "Children of the Eagles" and "Land of the Eagles";

the eagle is linked with the legacy of the national hero Skanderbeg, an Albanian feudal lord and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire and symbolizes Christian resistance against the Ottomans)

al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash‑Shaʿbiyyah (Arabic)

Tagduda tazzayrit tamagdayt taɣerfant (Amazigh)

(People's Democratic Republic of Algeria)

(from the Regency of Algiers, itself from the capital city of Algiers, which in turn derives from the Arabic al-Jazāʾir (الجزائر, 'the islands'), referring to the islands once located off the city's coast)

Principat d'Andorra (Catalan)

(Principality of Andorra)

(possibly “big”/”giant”, a vast land which is located among mountains or a thickly wooded place, or "land covered with bushes"/"scrubland"; 

folk etymology holds that Charlemagne had named the region as a reference to the Biblical Canaanite valley of Endor or Andor (where the Midianites had been defeated))

República de Angola (Portuguese)

(Republic of Angola)

(derived by the Portuguese from the title ngola, held by the kings of Ndongo and Matamba)

Antigua and Barbuda

Aanteega an' Baabyuuda (Antiguan and Barbudan Creole)

Antigua y Barbuda (Spanish)

Waladli (Arawakan) and Wa'omoni (Kalinago/Island Carib)

(Antigua: “ancient,” possibly from Santa Maria la Antigua, an icon in the Spanish Seville Cathedral;

Barbuda = “bearded,” referring either to the male inhabitants of the island, or the bearded fig trees;

Wadadli: corrupted form of the original Arawak name for Antigua, emerging from a misspelling in a popular 1970s song;

Caribs possibly called Barbuda “Wa'omoni”)

República Argentina (Spanish)

(Argentine Republic)

(from the Latin word argentum, meaning "silver", Spanish argento for 'silver' or argentado for 'covered in silver'. European explorers around the Río de la Plata Basin became aware of the abundance of silver in the region;

became associated with the legend of the Sierra de la Plata ("Mountain of Silver"), a mythical source of silver in the interior of South America)

Hayastani Hanrapetut'yun (Armenian)

(Republic of Armenia)

(Armenian tradition connects the original native Armenian name Հայք (Hayk') with the nation's legendary eponym Հայկ (Hayk), the legendary patriarch of the Armenians and a great-great-grandson of Noah, who defeated the Babylonian king Bel in 2492 BC and established his nation in the Ararat region)

Commonwealth of Australia

Ahitereiria (Māori)

(both from the Latin Terra Australis Incognita ('unknown southern land'), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times)

Republik Österreich (German)

(Republic of Austria)

(from the Old High German Ostarrîchi ("eastern realm"/"eastern empire"/"eastern kingdom"))

Azərbaycan Respublikası (Azerbaijani)

(Republic of Azerbaijan)

(from Atropates, a Persian satrap/governor under the Achaemenid Empire, meaning "Protected by the (Holy) Fire" or "The Land of the (Holy) Fire")

Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn (Arabic)

(Kingdom of Bahrain)

("the two seas," although it remains disputed which two seas the name originally refers to)

Gôṇôprôjātôntrī Bāṅlādēś (Bengali)

(People's Republic of Bangladesh)

(Bengali for "Bengali country", "Land of Bengal", or "Country of Bengal"; from বাংলা (baṅla, “Bengali”) + দেশ (deś, “country”))

Barbados

Ichirouganaim (Arawakan)

(Barbados (Portuguese or Spanish) = "the bearded ones", referring either to 1. the long, hanging roots of the bearded fig tree, 2. to the allegedly bearded Kalinago (Island Caribs) who once inhabited the island, or 3. to a visual impression of a beard formed by the sea foam that sprays over the outlying coral reefs;

Ichirouganaim = “redstone island with white teeth (reefs)”)

Respublika Bielaruś (Belarusian, Russian)

(Republic of Belarus)

(“White Russia” or “White Ruthenia”, with “white” referring to either 1. the Christianized Slavs, as opposed to the pagan “Black” Ruthenia; 2. the white clothing the local Slavic population wears; 3. the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by the Tatars; or 4. the color white was associated with the west, and Belarus was the western part of Rus' in the 9th to 13th centuries)

Koninkrijk België (Dutch)

Royaume de Belgique (French)

Königreich Belgien (German)

(Kingdom of Belgium)

(from Proto-Celtic belgos (“swollen (with anger)”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰelǵʰ- (“to bulge, swell”), thus meaning "People who swell (with fury/anger)."

Bileez (Belize Kriol English)

Belice (Spanish)

Belize (Kekchí)

Belice (Yucatec Maya)

(from the Rio Balis (Belize River), possibly from the Mayan phrase "bel Itza", meaning "the way to Itza")

République du Bénin (French)

(Republic of Benin)

(after a Marxist–Leninist military coup, the country was renamed after the Bight of Benin, since the previous name Dahomey is exclusively associated with the Fon who inhabited the southern half of the country.

The bight takes its name from the Kingdom of Benin, located in present-day Nigeria; appears Benin was always used as an exonym, possibly from Yoruba ilẹ̀ ìbínú (“land of anger”), which emerges from a folk myth regarding purported founder of the Benin empire, Oranmiyan, a Yoruba prince who referred to the region by this phrase because of his frustration in ruling the land)

Druk gyal khab (Dzongkha)

(Kingdom of Bhutan)

("country of the Drukpa Lineage" or "the Land of the Thunder Dragon," a reference to the country's dominant Buddhist sect;

The terms for the Kings of Bhutan Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King"), and the Bhutanese endonym Drukpa, "Dragon people", are similarly derived)

Wuliwya Walja Ayllunakana Marka (Aymara)

Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (Spanish)

Tetã Hetate'ýigua Volívia (Guarani)

Puliwya Achka Aylluska Mamallaqta (Quechua)

(Plurinational State of Bolivia)

(after Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan leader in the Spanish American wars of independence;

from Basque Bolibar, from bolu (“mill”) +‎ ibar (“valley”))

Bosna i Hercegovina (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian)

(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

(Bosnia from the river Bosna, possibly from Illyrian Bass-an-as, possibly from the Proto-Indo-European root bʰegʷ-, meaning 'the running water');

Herzegovina = “herzog’s/duke’s [land]”)

Republic of Botswana

Lefatshe la Botswana (Tswana)

(“Land of the Tswana”, the dominant ethnic group;

Tswana of unknown etymology)

República Federativa do Brasil (Portuguese)

(Federative Republic of Brazil)

(from brazilwood, brasil = "red like an ember")

Negara Brunei Darussalam (Malay) ("Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace")

ngara boroni darossalam (Jawi)

(Brunei Darussalam)

(legend: when Awang Alak Betatar, later to be Sultan Muhammad Shah and founder of Brunei, landed in Brunei he exclaimed, "Baru nah!" (loosely translated as "that's it!" or "there!"), from which the name "Brunei" was derived. Renamed Barunai in the 14th century, possibly influenced by the Sanskrit varuṇ (वरुण), meaning "seafarers")

Republika Bŭlgariya (Bulgarian)

(Republic of Bulgaria)

(from the Bulgars, a tribe of Turkic origin that founded the First Bulgarian Empire; itself possibly from the Proto-Turkic word bulģha ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and bulgak ("revolt", "disorder"); may be extended to "rebel", "incite" or "produce a state of disorder", and so, in the derivative, the "disturbers")

Burkina Faso

("land of the honest (incorruptible) men";

"Burkina" from Mooré language ("upright", showing how the people are proud of their integrity)

"Faso" from the Dyula language ("fatherland", literally, "father's house")

The "-bé" suffix added onto "Burkina" to form the demonym "Burkinabé" comes from the Fula language and means "women or men")

République du Burundi (French)

Repuburika y’Uburundi (Kirundi)

Republic of Burundi

(from the precolonial Kingdom of Burundi/Urundi;

one of the few countries in Africa (along Rwanda, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini) to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state)

Preăh Riachianachăk Kămpŭchia (Khmer)

(Kingdom of Cambodia)

(from the Sanskrit name Kambujadeśa (Kambuja (lit. 'the sons of Kambu') + Deśa (lit. 'land of')) = "the land of the sons of Kambu", refers to the legendary sage Kambu Swayambhuva from whom the Khmer kings claimed descent)

République du Cameroun (French)

Republic of Cameroon

(after Portuguese name for the Wouri River, Rio dos Camarões = "river of shrimps", referring to the then abundant Cameroon ghost shrimp (Lepidophthalmus turneranus))

Canada

(from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata = "village" or "settlement";

In 1535, Indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona.)

República de Cabo Verde (Portuguese)

Repúblika di Kabu Verdi (Cape Verdean Creole)

(Republic of Cabo Verde)

(after the Cap-Vert peninsula on the Senegalese coast. The name Cap-Vert, in turn, comes from the Portuguese language Cabo Verde ('green cape'))

Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka (Sango)

République centrafricaine (French)

(Central African Republic)

(Barthélemy Boganda, the first prime minister, favored the name "Central African Republic" over Ubangi-Shari (the country’s name under French colonial rule), reportedly because he envisioned a larger union of countries in Central Africa)

Jumhūriyyat Tshād (Arabic)

République du Tchad (French)

(Republic of Chad)

(after Lake Chad, which itself is from the Kanuri word tsade meaning "lake")

República de Chile (Spanish)

(Republic of Chile)

(possibly: from the Incan name for the valley of the Aconcagua, “Chili,” by corruption of the name of a Picunche tribal chief (cacique) called Tili, who ruled the area at the time of the Incan conquest; after a town and valley named Chili in the Casma Valley in Peru; from the Mapuche word chilli, which may mean 'where the land ends'; from the Quechua chiri, 'cold', or tchili, meaning either 'snow' or "the deepest point of the Earth"; or the onomatopoeic cheele-cheele—the Mapuche imitation of the warble of a bird locally known as trile)

Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó (Chinese)

(People's Republic of China)

(Zhōngguó = “central state,” “central region,” or “Middle Kingdom”; from zhōng ('central') and guó ('state'))

República de Colombia (Spanish)

(Republic of Colombia)

(after Christopher Columbus)

Udzima wa Komori (Ngazidja Comorian)

Union des Comores (French)

Jumhuriyat al-Qumur al-Muttaḥida (Arabic)

(Union of the Comoros)

(from the Arabic Jazr al-Qumr (Arabic: جزر القمر), "Islands of the Moon"; Qumr may have referred to a general southern region where Arab sailors would have observed the bright Magellanic Clouds (two dwarf galaxies))

República de Costa Rica (Spanish)

(Republic of Costa Rica)

(“Rich Coast,” referencing its richness of gold)

Republika Hrvatska (Croatian)

(Republic of Croatia)

(from Hr̀vāt (“Croat”), itself from Proto-Slavic *xъrvatъ; further derivation is unknown and uncertain)

República de Cuba (Spanish)

(Republic of Cuba)

(from the Taíno language, either 'where fertile land is abundant' (cubao), or 'great place' (coabana))

Kypriakí Dimokratía (Greek)

Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti (Turkish)

(Republic of Cyprus)

(after either 1. the Greek word for the Mediterranean cypress tree (Cupressus sempervirens), κυπάρισσος (kypárissos)

2. the Greek name of the henna tree (Lawsonia alba), κύπρος (kýpros)

3. an Eteocypriot word for copper, perhaps has roots in the Sumerian word for copper (zubar) or for bronze (kubar), from the large deposits of copper ore found on the island)

Česká republika (Czech)

(Czech Republic)

(from the Slavic tribe (Czech: Češi, Čechové) and—according to legend—their leader Čech who brought them to Bohemia to settle on Říp, a 461-metre high hill.

The etymology of the word Čech is uncertain; can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning 'member of the people; kinsman'. Thus, it is cognate to the Czech word člověk ('person'))

Kongeriget Danmark (Danish)

(Kingdom of Denmark)

("Dan" from a word meaning "low ground".

mark is believed to mean woodland, borderland (see marches), or border, with probable references to the border forests in south Schleswig)

jumhuriat jibuti (Arabic)

République de Djibouti (French)

Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti (Somali)

Gabuutih Ummuuno (Afar)

(Republic of Djibouti)

(either from the Afar word gabouti, meaning "plate", possibly referring to the area's geographical features, or gabood, meaning "upland/plateau." Djibouti could also mean "Land of Tehuti" or "Land of Thoth (Egyptian: Djehuti/ Djehuty)", after the Egyptian moon god)

Commonwealth of Dominica

Komwèl Donmnik (Dominican Creole)

Kamanwel a Domineeka (Kokoy)

Wai'tu kubuli (Kalinago/Island Carib)

(after the Latin term dies Dominica = “Sunday”, the day Columbus first saw the island;

Wai'tu kubuli = "Tall is her body", likely referring to the island personified as a goddess;

some advocate for a name change to Waitukubuli, which they say would contribute to further establishing the local identity and stop mail from being wrongly sent to the Dominican Republic)

República Dominicana (Spanish)

(Dominican Republic)

(from Saint Dominic, the patron saint of astronomers and founder of the Dominican Order;

In the national anthem, the poetic term "Quisqueyans" (Quisqueyanos) is used instead of "Dominicans"; Quisqueya derives from the extinct Indigenous Ciguayo language, and means "mother of the lands", often used in songs as another name for the country)

República del Ecuador (Spanish)

Ikwayur Ripuwlika, Ikwathur Ripuwlika (Quechua)

Ekuatur Nunka (Shuar)

(Republic of Ecuador)

(Spanish for "Republic of the Equator"; Quito, the capital, is located on the equator)

Gumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʻArabiyyah (Arabic)

(Arab Republic of Egypt)

("border" or "frontier")

(stems from the Ancient Semitic name, which originally connoted "Civilisation" or "Metropolis". Classical Arabic Miṣr (Egyptian Arabic: Maṣr) is directly cognate with the Biblical Hebrew Miṣráyīm (מִצְרַיִם / מִצְרָיִם), meaning 'the two straits', a reference to the predynastic separation of Upper and Lower Egypt. The oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian mi-iṣ-ru (miṣru) related to miṣru/miṣirru/miṣaru, meaning 'border' or 'frontier')

República de El Salvador (Spanish)

(Republic of El Salvador)

("The Savior", in honor of Jesus Christ)

República de Guinea Ecuatorial (Spanish)

République de Guinée Équatoriale (French)

República da Guiné Equatorial (Portuguese)

(Republic of Equatorial Guinea)

(from Portuguese Guiné, possibly from a Berber source like Zenaga ägənwi (“black person”) or Tashelhit agnaw (“mute; stutterer”) i.e. “those who don't speak our language”)

Hagere Iertra (Tigrinya)

(State of Eritrea)

(from the ancient (originally Greek) name for the Red Sea, the Erythraean Sea (Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα Erythra Thalassa, based on the adjective ἐρυθρός erythros "red"))

Eesti Vabariik (Estonian)

(Republic of Estonia)

(possibly connected to the Aesti, referring to either the Baltic peoples or the whole eastern Baltic Sea region)

Umbuso weSwatini (Swazi)

Kingdom of Eswatini

(from Mswati II, the 19th-century king who expanded and unified the country/the country's founding king)

Yäʾityop̣p̣yawi Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripäblik (Amharic)

Rippabliikii Federaalawaa Dimokraatawaa Itoophiyaa (Oromo)

Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiga Federaalka Itoobiya (Somali)

Nayəʾitəyop̣əya Federalawi Demokərasiyawi Ripsäbəlikə (Tigrinya)

Itiyoppiya Federalih Demokrasih Ummuno (Afar)

(Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)

(possibly from from the name of the first King of Ethiopia, Ethiop or Ethiopis, believed to be the twelfth direct descendant of Adam;

the Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, 'an Ethiopian') is derived from the Greek words αἴθω and ὤψ (eithō "I burn" + ōps "face"); burnt-face in noun form and red-brown in adjectival form)

Matanitu Tugalala o Viti (Fijian)

Fijī Gaṇarājya (Hindi)

Republic of Fiji

(Fiji's main island, Viti Levu (“Great Fiji”), served as the origin of the name "Fiji", though the common English pronunciation is based on that of Fiji's island neighbors in Tonga)

Suomen tasavalta (Finnish)

Republiken Finland (Swedish)

(Republic of Finland)

(uncertain origins, common etymology with saame (the Sami); Suomi and sápmi may continue a common Finno-Samic self-designation;

the Old Norse element finnr behind Finland appears to have been a Scandinavian term for northern neighbors in general, denoting the Sámi in Norwegian usage and the inhabitants of south-western Finland in Swedish usage)

République française (French)

(French Republic)

("realm of the Franks/freemen"; related to the English word frank ('free'): the latter stems from the Old French franc ('free, noble, sincere') and ultimately from the Medieval Latin word francus ('free, exempt from service; a freeman, a Frank'))

République gabonaise (French)

(Gabonese Republic)

(after the Portuguese word gabão = a coat with sleeve and hood resembling the shape of the Komo River estuary)

Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German)

(Federal Republic of Germany)

(“land of the people,” originally diutisciu land ('the German lands'), from deutsch, which descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people' (from diot or diota 'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants)

Republic of Ghana

(Ghana means warrior or war chief, and was the title given to the rulers of the kingdom. Kaya Maghan (king of gold) was another title for these kings;

from Wagadu (the Ghana Empire), an empire in west Africa from the 3rd to 12th centuries; Wagadu was termed Ghana by Arab traders. Ghana is thought to originate from the title Kaya Maghan of the rulers of Wagadu, which translates as ruler of gold)

Hellinikí Dimokratía, Elláda (Greek)

(Hellenic Republic)

(from the mythological figure Hellen, founding father to all Greek tribes)

Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenlandic)

Grønland (Danish)

(Greenland, autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark)

(“land of the Kalaallit”, the principal group of Greenlandic Inuit who inhabit the territory's western region. The Greenlandic Inuit term Nunaat does not include waters and ice)

Grenada

Gwenad (Grenadian Creole French)

(likely after the Spanish city of Granada; from Arabic غَرْنَاطَة (ḡarnāṭa), originally the name of a medieval suburb that was incorporated into the city)

República de Guatemala (Spanish)

(Republic of Guatemala)

(from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān = "place of many trees," a derivative of the K'iche' Mayan word for "many trees" or, perhaps more specifically, for the Cuate/Cuatli tree Eysenhardtia.

This name was originally used by the Mexica to refer to the Kaqchikel city of Iximche, but was extended to refer to the whole country during the Spanish colonial period)

República da Guiné-Bissau (Portuguese)

(Republic of Guinea-Bissau)

(after independence, the name of its capital (Bissau) was added to the country's name to prevent confusion with Guinea.

Bissau may have come from the name of a clan, N'nssassun, in its plural form Bôssassun.)

République de Guinée (French)

hawtaandi Gine

(Republic of Guinea)

(from the Portuguese word Guiné, the lands inhabited by the Guineus, a generic term for the black African peoples south of the Senegal River, in contrast to the "tawny" Zenaga Berbers/Azengues/Moors)

Co-operative Republic of Guyana

(from the Guianas, an earlier name for a larger region, including modern-day Guyana; "land of many waters," from an Indigenous Native American language, probably Cariban or Lokono)

République d'Haïti (French)

Repiblik d Ayiti (Haitian Creole)

(Republic of Haiti)

("land of high mountains", from the Taíno language, and was the Native name for the entire island of Hispaniola)

República de Honduras (Spanish)

(Republic of Honduras)

(“depths” in Spanish, could refer either to the bay of Trujillo as an anchorage (fondura in the Leonese dialect of Spain), or to Columbus's alleged quote that "Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas honduras" ("Thank God we have departed from those depths"))

Magyarország (Hungarian)

(Hungary)

(magyar ('Hungarian') and ország ('country'). Magyar is taken from the name of the leading tribe of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes;

mogy- is likely from Proto-Ugric *mańćɜ (“man, person”); -ër (“man”) from Proto-Uralic irkä or ürkä (“man, son, boy”))

Ísland (Iceland)

(from Flóki Vilgerðarson, the first Norseman to intentionally travel to Iceland, after he climbed a mountain, despondent after a harsh winter in present-day Vatnsfjörður, and saw an ice cap)

Bhārat Gaṇarājya (Hindi)

Republic of India

(from the name of an early Vedic tribe, the Bharatas, whose name is of Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian origin, meaning "bearers" or "carriers")

Republik Indonesia (Indonesian)

(Republic of Indonesia)

(usually explained as a combination of India and the Greek word nesos, together meaning 'Indian islands')

Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân (Persian)

(Islamic Republic of Iran)

("the land of the Iranians", possibly from Iraj, a legendary king and the legendary progenitor of the Iranians)

Jumhūriyyat al-ʿIrāq (Arabic)

Komarî Êraq (Kurdish)

(Republic of Iraq)

(possibly from the Sumerian city of Uruk; or from the Middle Persian word erāg, meaning "lowlands"; or an Arabic folk etymology is "deeply rooted, well-watered; fertile")

Poblacht na hÉireann, Éire (Irish)

Republic of Ireland

(from Old Irish Ériu, which in turn comes from Proto-Celtic ɸīweriyū meaning "fertile soil"; also the name of the matron goddess of Ireland;

also called "the Republic", "Southern Ireland", "the South", "the Free State", "the 26 Counties", or "the South of Ireland")

Northern Ireland

Tuaisceart Éireann (Irish)

Norlin Airlann (Ulster Scots)

(also: North of Ireland, The Six Counties (na Sé Chontae), The Occupied Six Counties, British-Occupied Ireland)

Repubblica Italiana (Italian)

(Italian Republic)

(Hypotheses for the etymology of Italia are numerous. Possibly from Latin Italia, from Ancient Greek Ῑ̓ταλίᾱ (Ītalíā), from Oscan 𐌅𐌝𐌕𐌄𐌋𐌉𐌞 (víteliú, “land of bulls”), a name for the southwestern tip of the boot of Italy)

République de Côte d'Ivoire (French)

(Republic of Côte d'Ivoire)

("Coast of Ivory", referencing the ivory trade;

Portuguese merchant-explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries divided the west coast of Africa, very roughly, into four "coasts" reflecting resources available from each coast; the coastline of the modern state is not quite coterminous with what the 15th- and 16th-century merchants knew as the "Teeth" or "Ivory" coast)

Jamaica

Jumieka (Jamaican Patois)

(from the Taíno name for the island, Xaymaca = "Land of Wood and Water" or "Land of Springs;"

Jamaicans often refer to their home island as "yaad" – the Jamaican Patois word for yard, meaning home. Other colloquial names such as "Jamrock", "Jamdown" ("Jamdung" in Jamaican Patois), or briefly "Ja" are also widely used)

Nippon-koku, Nihon-koku

(Japan)

(the characters 日本 mean “sun origin,” which is the source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun")

Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hāshimiyya (Arabic)

(Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)

(from the Jordan River, which forms much of the country's northwestern border; most likely from the Semitic word 'Yarad' (ירד; 'flow down' or 'descend"), referring to the river's declivity;

likely from Proto-Semitic *warad-, denoting “to descend”, “to go or come down”, “to stream down”, “to come down to water”, “a place descending to water”, “a watering place”)

Qazaqstan Respublikasy (Kazakh)

Respublika Kazakhstan (Russian)

(Republic of Kazakhstan)

(qazaq (Kazakh) derives from a Turkic root meaning "free", "independent", or "wanderer", + stan, meaning settlement;

possibly from the Turkic word qaz-, 'to wander', reflecting the Kazakhs' nomadic culture)

Jamhuri ya Kenya (Swahili)

Republic of Kenya

(after Mount Kenya; either from Kikuyu kere nyaga (“white mountain”) (because it is snow-capped); from Kamba kii nyaa (“ostrich mountain,” probably because the pattern of black rock and white snow on its peaks looks like the feathers of the male ostrich); or from Kikuyu kĩrĩma (“mountain”))

Ribaberiki Kiribati (Gilbertese)

Republic of Kiribati (Kiribass, -ti in the Gilbertese language represents an [s] sound)

(Gilbertese rendition of Gilberts, the plural of the English name of the nation's main archipelago, the Gilbert Islands. It was named îles Gilbert (French for 'Gilbert Islands') after the British captain Thomas Gilbert)

Republika e Kosovës (Albanian)

Republika Kosovo (Serbian)

(Republic of Kosovo)

(the Serbian neuter possessive adjective of kos (кос), 'blackbird', an ellipsis for Kosovo Polje, 'Blackbird Field', the name of a karst field situated in the eastern half of today's Kosovo and the site of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo Field)

Dawlat al-Kuwayt (Arabic)

(State of Kuwait)

(from كوت (Kut or Kout) = "fortress built near water")

Kırgız Respublikası (Kyrgyz)

Kırgızskaya Respublika (Russian)

(Kyrgyz Republic)

(Kyrgyz possibly means "forty tribes" which may refer to the 40 clans of Manas, a legendary hero who united regional clans. The Persian suffix -Stan means "place of")

Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao (Lao)

(Lao People's Democratic Republic)

(after the most common ethnic group, the Lao people;

either from the Pali word lābu, referring to the bottle gourd, a central element in traditional Lao origin myths from which humanity emerged; from Tai-Lao tribes migrating southwards from Yunnan, originally known as Kao Long (referring to nine dragons or legendary chieftains); or a folk etymology suggests that indigenous valley dwellers referred to high-altitude migrants as Dao (ດາວ, 'star') due to their proximity to the sky)

Latvijas Republika (Latvian)

(Republic of Latvia)

(from the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes;

The initial element Lat- may itself have come from an old river name *Lata, perhaps from Proto-Baltic *lat-, from Proto-Indo-European *lat-, *let-, *lot- (“to flow”))

al-Jumhūriyyah al-Lubnāniyyah (Arabic)

(Republic of Lebanon)

(from Mount Lebanon, in turn from the Phoenician root lbn (𐤋𐤁𐤍) meaning "white", referring to its snow-capped peaks)

Naha ea Lesotho (Sotho)

Kingdom of Lesotho (lih-SOO-too)

(Sotho for “Land of the Basotho (Sotho people)”;

from Sotho motho (“person”), from Proto-Bantu mʊ̀ntʊ̀ (“person”), from Proto-Atlantic-Congo -nintu (“person”))

Republic of Liberia

(From Latin līber (“free”) + English -ia (“place”). The name was applied to the West African territory settled under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, from which the modern republic developed.)

Dawlat Lībiyā (Arabic)

(State of Libya)

(from a generalized identity given to a large confederacy of ancient east "Libyan" berbers, African people(s), and tribes who lived around the regions of Cyrenaica and Marmarica)

Fürstentum Liechtenstein (German)

(Principality of Liechtenstein)

(German for "bright stone"; from the Liechtenstein family, which takes its name from Liechtenstein Castle in Lower Austria)

Lietuvos Respublika (Lithuanian)

(Republic of Lithuania)

(possibly from Lietava, a small stream near Kernavė—the core area of the early Lithuanian state and a possible first capital;

or relates to the word leičiai (plural of leitis), a distinct warrior social group of the Lithuanian society subordinate to the Lithuanian ruler or the state itself; used historically as an ethnonym for Lithuanians (but not Samogitians))