This is a list of countries and dependent territories named after people.

Sovereign countries named after people

CountrySource of name
AzerbaijanAtropates (initially Atropatene in Ancient Greek, the name evolved to Azerbaijan in Persian)
BoliviaSimón Bolívar
ColombiaChristopher Columbus
Dominican RepublicSaint Dominic
El SalvadorJesus (literally, The Saviour)
Eswatini (Swaziland)King Mswati II
Georgia (country)Saint George
Jordan (The Hashemite Kingdom of)Hashim ibn Abd Manaf (for the "Hashemite Kingdom" part), the name Jordan is derived from the Jordan River.
KiribatiThomas Gilbert ("Kiribati" is the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts")
Marshall IslandsJohn Marshall
MauritiusMaurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
MozambiqueMussa Bin Bique
NicaraguaNicarao
PeruBirú, a local ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama City, in the early 16th century.[1]
PhilippinesKing Philip II of Spain
Saint Kitts and NevisSaint Christopher
Saint LuciaSaint Lucy
Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint Vincent of Saragossa
San MarinoSaint Marinus
São Tomé and PríncipeSaint Thomas, and the Prince of Portugal to whom duties on the island's sugar crop were paid
Saudi ArabiaSaud Bin Muhammad
SeychellesJean Moreau de Séchelles
United States of AmericaAmerigo Vespucci (see Naming of America)
UzbekistanÖz Beg Khan
Venezuela (The Bolivarian Republic of)Simón Bolívar (for the "Bolivarian Republic" part), the name Venezuela is derived from Venice. See: Venezuela#Etymology

Countries named after legendary figures

CountrySource of name
AfghanistanSupposedly named after tribal chief Prince Afghana.[2]
Armenia (Hayastan)Hayk
Bangladeshfrom "Bengal", which, according to one hypothesis, is named after Bang, son of Hind, son of Ham, son of Noah[3][4][5]
BelarusRus
CambodiaSage Kambu Swayambhuva
Czech RepublicČech
DenmarkDan I of Denmark
Djibouti"Djibouti" means "Land of Tehuti" or "Land of Thoth", after the Egyptian Moon God
HungaryHunor (or Magyarország — Magor)
Bhārat (India)Dushyanta's son Bharata or Rishabha's son Bharata[6]
EgyptMisr in Arabic, Misrayim in Hebrew, named after the biblical figure Mizraim.
IsraelJacob, who was also called Israel in the Bible
Éire (Ireland)Éire (Ériu), a Celtic fertility goddess
ItalyItalus
Laospossibly after Lava
Lechia (historical and/or alternative name of Poland)Lech
NorwayNór (although other etymologies are generally more widely accepted)
Romaniafrom "Rome" (the modern capital city of Italy) / "Roman", which possibly comes from Romulus
RussiaRus
Solomon IslandsKing Solomon of Israel and Judah
SomaliaSupposedly named after Samaale.[7]

Former countries named after people

CountrySource of name
Principality of Antioch, now part of TurkeyAntiochus, father of Seleucus I Nicator
Kingdom of Dahomey and Republic of Dahomey, now part of BeninChief Dan, who was killed by Chief Dakodonu in a dispute after sarcastically saying "shall I open up my belly and build a palace inside it?"; Dan=chief, xo=Belly, me=Inside of[8]
Lotharingia (Lorraine), now part of Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the NetherlandsLothair II
Rhodesia (former name of Zimbabwe)Cecil Rhodes
Samo's EmpireSamo, a Slavic king
Seljuk Empire Seljuk, legendary founding warlord of the Seljuk Empire
Sultanate of Rum (Saljuqiyan-i Rum)
Ottoman EmpireOsman I, founder of the empire
Umayyad CaliphateUmayya ibn Abd Shams
Abbasid CaliphateAl-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Achaemenid EmpireAchaemenes
Sasanian EmpireSasan
Hamdanid stateHamdan ibn Hamdun
Timurid EmpireTimur
Idrisid state Idris I
Idrisid Emirate of Asir
Ayyubid SultanateNajm al-Din Ayyub
Mirdasid stateMirdas ibn Idris, father of Salih ibn Mirdas
Jabrids EmirateJabr ibn Mady
Arsacid EmpireArsaces I
Usfurid EmirateUsfur ibn Rashid
Samanid EmpireSaman Khuda
Buyid EmirateBuya ibn Panah-Khusrow, father of Imad al-Dawla, founder of the emirate, and his brothers Rukn al-Dawla and Mu'izz al-Dawla
Zirid stateZiri ibn Manad
Aghlabid Emirateal-Aghlab ibn Salim, father of Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab
Hammadid SultanateHammad ibn Buluggin
Marinid SultanateMarin ibn wartajin
Jarwanid EmirateJarwan ibn Nasser
Nasrid Kingdom of GranadaNasr ibn al-Aḥmar
Safavid EmpireSafi-ad-din Ardabili
Seleucid EmpireSeleucus I Nicator
Ptolemaic KingdomPtolemy I Soter
Qedarite KingdomQedar, son of Ishmael
Gupta EmpireGupta
Mazyadid EmirateMazyad ibn Marthad
Artuqid StateArtuk Bey
Rashidi EmirateRashid ibn Hamad
Numayrid EmirateNumayr ibn Āmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa
Uqaylid EmirateUqayl ibn Ka'b ibn Rabi'a ibn Āmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa
Shah Mir SultanateShah Mir

Dependent territories named after people

TerritorySource of name
Baker IslandMichael Baker
BermudaJuan de Bermúdez
Bouvet IslandJean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier
Clipperton IslandJohn Clipperton
Cocos (Keeling) IslandsCaptain William Keeling
Cook IslandsCaptain James Cook
Falkland IslandsAnthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland
GibraltarTariq ibn Ziyad (from Jabal Ṭāriq, meaning 'Mountain of Tariq')
Jan MayenJan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout
Jarvis IslandEdward, Thomas and William Jarvis
Johnston AtollCaptain Charles J. Johnston
Kingman ReefCaptain W. E. Kingman
Isle of ManManannán mac Lir[9]
MontserratOur Lady of Montserrat (Virgin Mary)
Norfolk IslandWife of Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk
Northern Mariana IslandsMariana of Austria
Peter I IslandPeter the Great
Queen Maud LandMaud of Wales
Pitcairn IslandsRobert Pitcairn (midshipman)
Saint BarthélemySaint Bartholomew
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Helena of Constantinople and Tristão da Cunha
Saint MartinMartin of Tours
Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Peter and Saint Michael
Sint MaartenMartin of Tours
South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsGeorge III of the United Kingdom and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
Virgin IslandsSaint Ursula and her 11,000 virgins
Wake IslandWilliam Wake
Wallis and FutunaSamuel Wallis

See also

References

  1. Porras Barrenechea, Raúl. El nombre del Perú. Lima: Talleres Gráficos P.L. Villanueva, 1968, p. 83.
  2. India and the Afghans: a study of a neglected region, 1370-1576 A.D., Amrendra Kumar Thakur, Janaki Prakashan, 1992 - 231 pages, Covers the history of Bihar during the Afghan rule in India. Page 2 & 9.
  3. Land of Two Rivers, Nitish Sengupta
  4. Abu'l-Fazl. Ain-i-Akbari.
  5. RIYAZU-S-SALĀTĪN: A History of Bengal Archived 15 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Ghulam Husain Salim, The Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1902.
  6. Roshen Dalal (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books India. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.
  7. Lewis, Ioan M. (1961). A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 9780852552803.
  8. Monroe, J. Cameron (2011). "In the Belly of Dan: Space, History, and Power in Precolonial Dahomey". Current Anthropology. 52 (6): 769–798. doi:10.1086/662678. S2CID 142318205.
  9. "Manannán mac Lir | Irish deity". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
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