We have taken time to put together this Meaning And Origin Of Names of list of every country in the world – using the list of countries as determined by the United Nation.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, discover surprising and intriguing language facts from around the globe.

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1. Lesotho
   Lesotho translates approximately into ‘the land of the Sotho’.
2. Liberia
   Liberia is from the Latin liber ‘free’ – the same root of the word liberty – and is so called because it was founded in 1822 as a settlement for freed slaves from the US, and proclaimed independent in 1847.
3. Libya
   The name Libya comes from the Greek name given to Northwest Africa; Libya was the daughter of Epaphus and Memphis in Greek mythology.
4. Liechtenstein
   Liechtenstein was named after the Liechtenstein family from Liechtenstein Castle in Lower Austria. The name means ‘bright stone’.
5. Lithuania
   The meaning of Lithuania is not known, although it has been suggested that it may be derived from the Latin litus ‘shore’, a reference to the Baltic coast or from the small River Letavka.
6. Luxembourg
   Luxembourg is originally found as Luciliburhuc, meaning ‘little castle’.
7. Macedonia
   Macedonia ultimately comes from the ancient Greek root mak, ‘tall, high’, possibly describing tall people living there.
8. Madagascar
   The name Madageiscar originated with explorer Marco Polo in the 13th century as a result of hearsay and misunderstanding. He never visited the island and mistook the Italian version of the Arab name for Mogadishu, Mogadiscio, on the Somali coast to refer to the island which he called Madeigascar.
9. Malawi
   Malawi comes from Maravi people. Their name means ‘flames’, which may be taken from their habit of burning off dead grass to prepare the land for cultivation.
10. Malaysia
    Malaysia probably comes from the Tamil words malai (mountain) and ur (city).
11. Maldives
    The name probably comes from the Sanskrit mālādvīpa ‘garland of islands’ from mālā ‘garland’ or ‘necklace’ and dvīpa.
12. Mali
    Mali may come from the Malinké people, also known as the Mandinka, who are closely related to other Mande-speaking peoples who trace their ancestry to the Mali Empire. It has also been suggested that the name comes from the Mande word for ‘hippopotamus’.
13. Malta
    Malta may be derived from the ancient Greek melitta, ‘bee’
    Famous for its honey in former times, Malta may be derived from the ancient Greek melitta, ‘bee’, which produces meli, ‘honey’.
14. Marshall Islands
    The islands are named after the British explorer John Marshall, who explored them in 1788.
15. Mauritania
    The name comes from the country’s biggest ethnic group, the Mauri.
16. Mauritius
    Mauritius had various name changes before being named, in 1598, after the Dutch Prince Maurice van Nassau.
17. Mexico
    México is the simplified Spanish version of a Nahuatl name for the Aztec capital, Metztlixihtlico, said to mean ‘In the Navel of the Moon’ from mētztli ‘moon’, xictli ‘navel’ or ‘centre’, and the suffix -co ‘place’ – to give ‘Place at the Centre of the Moon’.
18. Micronesia
    Micronesia translates from the Greek for ‘small’ + ‘island’.
19. Moldova
    Moldova comes from the name of the Moldova River – which, legend has it, was named by Prince Dragoș after a dog, Molda, which drowned in the river after hunting an aurochs. It is sadly more likely that the name comes from the Gothic mulda, ‘dust’.
20. Monaco
    It was founded by the Phocaeans in the 6th century bc as Monoikos, a Greek word meaning ‘single house’ or ‘single temple’, signifying a place to rest. However, it may come from the Ligurian monegu ‘rock’
21. Mongolia
    Mongolia is named after the Mongols who took their name from mong ‘brave’ or ‘undefeated’.
22. Montenegro
    Montenegro means ‘black mountain’, said to be a reference to the dark appearance of Mt Lovćen at various times of the year and the surrounding heavily wooded areas.
23. Morocco
    Morocco is derived from marrūkus, the old Arabic version of Marrakech, the former capital.
24. Mozambique
    Mozambique is said to have come from a ruling Arab Shaikh, Musa al Biq and the town which developed here was known to medieval Arab geographers as Musanbīh and in Swahili as Musambiki.
25. Myanmar
    Myanmar changed its name from Burma in 1989, because the latter was held to be a relic of European colonialism. The current name is taken from Mranma, the local name for the Burmese people and their language. Myan means ‘swift’ and ma ‘strong’.
26. Namibia
    Namibia comes from the Nama word namib, ‘shield’.
27. Nauru
    Nauru may be derived from anáoero, ‘I go to the beach’
    The island’s name may be derived from anáoero, ‘I go to the beach’.
28. Nepal
    The origin of Nepal has been disputed: it may mean ‘Beginning of a New Era’, ‘Home of Wool’, ‘Holy Place’, ‘to fly down’ and ‘house’, or be named after a king or kings called Nepa.
29. Netherlands
    Netherlands or ‘Low Lands’ is the literal English translation of Nederlanden, itself a translation from the Latin inferior terra.
30. New Zealand
    The name New Zealand comes from the Dutch province of Zeeland, ‘sea land’.
31. Nicaragua
    Nicaragua may come from the name of a local 16th-century chief, Nicarao, and agua, ‘water’ in Spanish. Alternatively, it has been suggested that some Spaniards heard the name Nicaragua, perhaps meaning ‘Here, near the Lake’.
32. Niger
    The land-locked country takes its name from the Niger River that flows through Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.
33. Nigeria
    Nigeria is also named after the Niger River; Niger, in the river’s name, may come from the Berber phrase ger-n-ger, ‘river of rivers’.
34. Norway
    The name means ‘The Way North’ or ‘The Northern Way’ from the Old Norse Norrevegr, a reference to one of the routes taken by the Vikings.
35. Oman
    A number of theories exist as to the origin of Oman. Sumerian tablets mention a country called Magan, possibly a reference to Oman’s copper-mining industry.
36. Pakistan
    Pakistan is an acronym deriving from Punjab, Afghan Frontier, Kashmir, and Baluchistan
    Pakistan is an acronym deriving from Punjab, Afghan Frontier, Kashmir, and Baluchistan: lands where Muslims predominated.
37. Palau
    The origin of the name Palau is unknown, but it should not be confused with Pulau, an Indonesian word meaning ‘island’.
38. Panama
    Panama is named after the capital, Panama City, which is said to mean ‘(Place with) an Abundance of Fish’ – though some believe it comes from a Cuna phrase panna mai, ‘far away’.
39. Papua New Guinea
    The name comes from the Malay papuah ‘frizzy-haired men’.
40. Paraguay
    The country takes its name from the Paraguay River whose name comes from para (‘river’ or ‘water’) and guay (‘born’). This name may be connected with the Payaguá tribe, perhaps meaning ‘(People) born (along) the River’.
41. Peru
    The name comes from the River Birú or Perú, itself from the Guaraní biru or piru, ‘water’ or ‘river’.
42. Philippines
    The Philippines were named after Philip II, King of Spain in the 16th century; Philippines is an Anglicization of Filipinas.
43. Poland
    The country is named after the Polanie ‘People of the Fields, or Plain’ from pole ‘field’.
44. Portugal
    Portugal is derived from the Latin portus cale, ‘warm harbour’, which referred to a Roman settlement, now Oporto, at the mouth of the River Douro and the fact that the port was never ice-bound.
45. Qatar
    There is no certainty as to the origin of the name. Qatara means ‘to fall’, ‘drip’, or ‘trickle’, or ‘to line up camels in single file and connect them with halters’, while qutr means ‘region’ and qutra ‘drop’. Thus the name could have been inspired by the presence of well-water or a camel park.
46. Romania
    The name, perhaps unsurprisingly, comes from the Romans – as some members of the Roman legions settled in Dacia.
47. Russia
    Russia comes from ‘Land of the Rus’’; it has been suggested that Rus’ comes from Ruotsi, the Finnish word for the Swedes, and therefore means ‘Swedish Vikings’; or that it is a Viking word meaning ‘oarsman’
48. Rwanda
    The country takes its name from its indigenous people, the Vanyarwanda.
49. St Kitts and Nevis
    St Kitts is an abbreviation of St Christopher, chosen by Christopher Columbus after his patron saint. Nevis also comes from Columbus, who thought that the island’s summit, often wreathed in cloud, looked like las nieves, ‘the snows’.
50. St Lucia
    Saint Lucia is thought to have been discovered by Christopher Columbus, possibly on 13 December, the feast day of St Lucy.
51. St Vincent and the Grenadines
    The island of St Vincent was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 22 January 1498, the feast day of St Vincent of Saragossa, a martyr who died from torture in 304.
52. Samoa
    Samoa is said to mean ‘Sacred Centre’ because, according to legend, this is where Tagaloalagi created the world. It may, however, mean the ‘Place of the Moa’, an extinct bird, in the Samoan language.
53. San Marino
    San Marino is amed after a Christian stonemason and later saint, Marinus, who is alleged to have fled Dalmatia to escape persecution by Diocletian (245–316), Roman emperor (284–305), and who founded a hermitage on Mount Titano.
54. São Tomé and Príncipe
    São Tomé and Príncipe translates from Portuguese as ‘St Thomas and Prince’.
55. Saudi Arabia
    Saudi refers to the name of the dynasty whose eponym is Sa’ūd ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin, while Arabia refers to the geographic region, principally the Arabian Peninsula.
56. Senegal
    Senegal may be named after the Zenaga Berbers. There is another apocryphal explanation that an explorer pointed to the Senegal River and asked what its name was. Il sunu gaol was the reply – meaning ‘our canoe’.
57. Serbia
    Serbia is named after the Serbs; it declared independence in 2006, having previously been part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and, later, Serbia and Montenegro.
58. Seychelles
    The French laid claim to the islands in 1756 and named them after Jean Moreau de Séchelles (1690–1761), the French controller-general of finance (1754–6); the islands became independent in 1976.
59. Sierra Leone
    Sierra Leone means ‘Lion Mountains’ from the Portuguese sierra, ‘mountain chain’, and leão, ‘lion’. However, there are no lions here, even if there once were.
60. Singapore
    Singapore is derived from the Sanskrit Sim̄hapura meaning ‘Lion City’
    Singapore is derived from the Sanskrit Sim̄hapura meaning ‘Lion City’, from sim̄ha, ‘lion’, and pur, ‘city’.
61. Slovakia
    Slovakia is named after the Slovaks, a Slav tribe which probably came from Silesia in the 6th or 7th century.
62. Slovenia
    The country is named after its indigenous inhabitants, the Slovenes.
63. Solomon Islands
    The islands were named by the Spaniard Àlvaro de Mendaña de Neira (1542–95), inspired by Inca stories of islands 600 leagues to the west of Peru that had been the source of the gold that adorned the court of King Solomon.
64. Somalia
    Somalia is named after its indigenous inhabitants, the Somalis, or Soomaali, who may have taken their name from a legendary ancestor, Soma or Samale; it has also been suggested that their name may come from so ‘go’ and mal ‘milk’, a reference to their pastoral lifestyle.
65. South Africa
    South Africa is, of course, the southernmost country in Africa; the word Africa may come from the Berber word afar, ‘dust’, or perhaps the ancient Egyptian root n’fr, meaning ‘good’, ‘beautiful’, or ‘perfect’.
66. South Sudan
    See Sudan.
67. Spain
    Spain may come from the Punic span or tsepan, ‘rabbit’, which were numerous in the peninsula, or from the Punic sphan,‘north’, since it was north of Carthage – or it may come from the Basque ezpaña, ‘lip’ or ‘extremity’, a reference to this south-western area of Europe.
68. Sri Lanka
    Sri Lanka means ‘Blessed Island’ (also sometimes translated as ‘Resplendent Island’), and may be derived from the Sanskrit shrī, ‘holiness’, ‘happiness’, ‘prosperity’, or ‘honoured’, and lak diga, ‘land mass’.
69. Sudan
    Sudan comes from Balad as-Sūdān, ‘Land of the Blacks’, from balad, ‘land’, as, ‘the’, and sūdān, the plural of aswad, ‘black’.
70. Suriname
    The name Suriname is said to come from a local tribe called the Surinas or Surinen, its earliest inhabitants.
71. Swaziland
    The country is named after the Swazis. The Swazis were a Nguni clan, taking their name from Ngwane III, who led them to this region of southern Africa.
72. Sweden
    Sweden is named after a powerful Germanic people, the Svear or Suiones (the Roman name), who inhabited the area around Lake Mälaren.
73. Switzerland
    Switzerland takes its name from Schwyz, a German-speaking forest community that joined with Uri and Unterwalden in signing a agreement of mutual assistance as the Everlasting League.
74. Syria
    The origin of the name Syria is not known, but it may be associated with the ancient Kingdom of Assyria, although this lay mainly in modern Iraq.
75. Tajikistan
    Tajikistan takes its name from its indigenous people, the Tajiks, with the additional stan. The Tajiks get their name from an Arab tribal name, Taiy or Tayyi, a name widely used to describe the Arabs in pre-Islamic times.
76. Tanzania
    Tanzania is formed by merging the names of its constituent parts, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which were united in 1964. The added –ia means ‘land’.
77. Thailand
    The country is named after the Thais whose name means ‘Free (People)’ from fra, ‘to be free’.
78. Togo
    Togo comes from Lake Togo, whose name may come from to ‘water’ and go ‘bank’ or ‘shore’. However, it has also been suggested that the name means ‘Upon the Hill’ in the language of the Ewe, the largest ethnic group in Togo.
79. Tonga
    Tonga means ‘south’
    Tonga simply means ‘south’. It is named in relation to Samoa.
80. Trinidad and Tobago
    Trinidad was named by Christopher Columbus in 1498, after the three peaks that surrounded the southern bay. Tobago either comes from the Haitian tambaku, ‘pipe’, or from the local word tabaco, a reference to its crops.
81. Tunisia
    Tunisia is named after the city of Tunis with the suffix -ia adapted from the French name for the protectorate, Tunisie.
82. Turkey
    Turkey came from the word Turks, though they themselves used the Greek name Anatolia.
83. Turkmenistan
    Turkmenistan simply means ‘Land of the Turkmen’ from the Oğuz Turks and stan. Their name may mean ‘Turk-like’ from the Persian Tork and the root of mandan ‘to resemble’ or the suffix men may indicate strength.
84. Tuvalu
    Tuvalu means ‘eight standing together’ from the Tuvaluan tu ‘to stand up’ and valu ‘eight’. The eight were the eight islands and atolls inhabited (of nine currently) when the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century.
85. Uganda
    Uganda means ‘Land of the Ganda (People)’ from the Swahili u ‘land’ and ganda, the root word and adjective for Buganda, the principle province.
86. Ukraine
    Ukraine is derived from the Russian okraina ‘(land) on the edge’, thus ‘borderland’ from u ‘beside’ and kray ‘edge’ to denote the territory between the open steppes of Russia and Asia to the east and the populated lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the west.
87. United Arab Emirates
    This one’s easy: it’s united Arab emirates. Six of them in 1971 – Abu Dhabi, ‘Ajmān, Dubai, al-Fujairah, Sharjah (ash-Shāriqah), and Umm al Qaywayn – and Ra’s al-Khaymah joined in 1972.
88. United Kingdom
    This is the united kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Great Britain, in turn, was used to signify that Britain was bigger than Brittany, in France, to which refugee Britons fled to escape Anglo-Saxon invaders.
89. United States
    The United States of America originally united 13 constituent states, when it was established in 1776; now it is 50, with Alaska and Hawaii being the most recent additions.
    As for the America bit – that was first applied to South America in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller (c.1470–c.1521), a German geographer and cartographer, in honour of an Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci (1451–1512). Vespucci had made explorations that he’d initially thought to be the east coast of Asia, but later realized he had been to a ‘New World’.
90. Uruguay
    Uruguay may have come from uruguä, the Guaraní for a species of mussel, thus ‘River of Shellfish’, or from uru, a type of bird that lived near the river, gua ‘to proceed from’, and y ‘water’.
91. Uzbekistan
    The country is named after the Uzbeks, a general name for the Turkic-speaking peoples of the region.
92. Vanuatu
    Vanuatu means ‘our land forever’, from the Polynesian/Fijian vanua, ‘land’.
93. Venezuela
    Venezuela, ‘Little Venice’, was named because it reminded the Spaniards Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci of the Italian city.
94. Vietnam
    Viet is the Vietnamese pronunciation of a Chinese character meaning ‘beyond’ or ‘far’ and referred to the peoples living in the southern reaches of the Chinese Empire and the Red River delta. Vietnam means ‘Viets of the South’.
95. Yemen
    The meaning of Yemen is disputed. Some say that it comes from the Arabic yamīn ‘on the right-hand side’ of the Ka’bah in Mecca or to the right of the Red Sea; others that it comes from yumn ‘good fortune’ or ‘prosperity’; yet others that it is named after Yamin bin Qahtan, a grandson of Noah and progenitor of the South Arabian tribes, or that it is simply al-Yaman ‘the South’.
96. Zambia
    The country is named after the Zambezi which forms its southern border with Zimbabwe.
97. Zimbabwe
    Zimbabwe means ‘stone enclosure’ or ‘stone dwelling’ from the Bantu zimba, ‘houses’, and mabwe, ‘stones’.
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