Can you name the listed countries by their name origins?

created by Booger
  • Enter a country in the box below
  • Correctly named countries will show up below
  • Click any empty Named After ... or Country to answer for that location
  • Note: The origin of certain country names is disputed, alternate possible origins are included where applicable
  • Also try: Blitz: Name a Country
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Named After ...Country
Arab royal family that founded the kingdom & still rules it
Arabic for 'land of the blacks'
Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian for 'the village' or 'little settlement'
Portuguese for 'green cape'
Corruption of local name meaning 'the sun's origin' or 'land of the rising sun'
Derivation of term meaning 'land of the Franks' or 'land of the free men'
Southern Spanish city of same name
Adaptation of 'Gilbert' from former name the 'Gilbert Islands'
Diminutive form of Arabic 'kut' meaning 'fortress built near water'
Germanic for 'low lands'
King Philip II of Spain
Latin word for 'free' regarding the return of freed American slaves to Africa
Ruling family whose name in German means 'light (as in bright) stone'
Biblical name for patriarch Jacob
Probably Latin for 'to prophesy' and hill named thereafter used by fortunetellers and soothsayers
Spanish adaptation of Portuguese 'Serra-Leõa' for 'lion mountains'
Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelling, and Spanish for 'Our Lady of the Snows'
English/Sanskrit variation of name of then-ruling Qin Dynasty
The Biru River named for 'biru' or 'piru' meaning water
Spanish 'Baja Mar' meaning 'low (shallow) sea'
Proto-Celtic 'Iweriu' for 'the fertile place' or 'Place of Eire', a Celtic fertility goddess
After the indigenous Sotho people
From Portuguese for 'Saint Thomas and Prince (Islands)'
'South' or 'Southern' referring to the country's location relative to Samoa
Swahili version of name for the kingdom of the 52 clans of the Buganda people
Named After ...Country
From Latin for ‘of the south’ or 'unknown southern land'
First President Simon Bolivar
'White Russia'
Arabic 'kamar' or 'kumr' meaning 'moon' as in 'Djazair al Kamar' meaning 'Island of the Moon'
From Portuguese 'Rio de Camaroes' meaning 'River of Shrimp' or 'River of Prawns'
From Latin for 'silver' or 'land of silver'
Bengali/Sanskrit for 'Bengali country'
Name coined in 1933 by Muslim Cambridge student based on first initials of words such as 'Punjab,' 'Afghan' and 'Kashmir' and the suffix of 'Balochistan'
Malay word for 'frizzy-haired' (or possibly 'heathen') plus Spanish explorer's observation that locals resembled inhabitants of Guinea in Africa
'Northern way'/'North way' or 'North region'
Finance Minister to King Louis XV of France, Jean Moreau de Séchelles
Probably Persian for 'forty tribes', 'forty girls' or 'imperishable' plus Persian for 'place' or 'homeland'
A province in the Netherlands whose name means 'sea land'
From medieval stronghold called 'Lucilinburhuc' meaning 'little fortress' or 'little castle' and German for 'fortification', 'keep' or 'borough'
From Semitic root 'LBN' meaning 'white' or 'whiteness' referenced as far back as the Old Testament
Spanish pronunciation of the name of the city of 'Marrakesh'
Term in the Declaration of Independence and possibly Amerigo Vespucci
Italian for 'Little Venice' as named by European explorers
Nahua Aztec tribe and its capital city
Spanish for 'rich coast'
Explorer Christopher Columbus
Khmer kingdom of Kambuja
Country's largest ethnic group, the Tswana
Probably Sanskrit 'Simhapura' or 'Singhapura' for 'Lion City'
From Latin for 'Sunday', the day Columbus first landed there
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Country Name Origins Quiz

  1. by Booger
  • Created Apr 3, 2009 in History
  • Featured Apr 3, 2009
  • Game Plays 100,704

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