15 Countries with Surprising Names in Their Own Language

Dear Duolingo: How does a country’s name change?

Many countries have more than one name! Where did they come from, and who uses which?

Welcome to another week of Dear Duolingo, an advice column just for learners. Catch up on past installments here.

Hi again! I’m Olivia Thayer, and I’m back this week to answer your great follow-up questions about endonyms and exonyms. Even if you don’t know those words, you probably know some examples of what they mean! Let’s get started 🚀

Our question this week:

It’s true that many of the words we have for countries, regions, cities, languages, and ethnic groups sound nothing like what they call themselves. While some differences aren’t that big (it’s easy to see the similarities between “Spain” and “España,” or between “Madagascar” and “Madagasikara”), some are so different that they clearly came from completely different sources!

This question is all about exonyms (what other people call a country) and endonyms (what the people call themselves), and these terms come from Greek, just like the example in your question!

Let’s explore some of the most interesting… and surprising!

In this post:

Why can endonyms and exonyms be different?

A place’s endonym and exonym aren’t always different from each other (compare the English word France, and the French name France), but it’s common for there to be differences between them. A single country can also have many endonyms—names for themselves—especially in multilingual or multicultural places.

There are many different reasons why a place might have multiple names, but the ones we’ll focus on today include:

  1. Historical reasons: Political borders and governments change considerably over time, and exonyms in particular don’t always keep up to date—you’ll see many that refer to a former region, kingdom, or dynasty… or even to a mythological place associated with the country!
  2. Linguistic reasons: Language is constantly changing, and words and names can change even more drastically when they’re being borrowed through multiple languages. Like a game of telephone, that can often lead to plenty of changes in spelling and pronunciation over time!
  3. “Me vs. you” mentality: In the ancient world, it was natural for groups to consider themselves the default—which made everyone else foreign, different, or peripheral. As a result, many endonyms come from words just meaning “people,” “central,” or a generic term for “country,” while some exonyms come from words meaning something like “unintelligible,” “weird,” or “different.”

Let’s take a look at some examples!

Endonyms and exonyms around the world

🇦🇱 Albania/Shqipëria

English exonym: From a Greek word borrowed into Latin, probably from an ancient Illyrian tribe known as the Albanoi.

Albanian endonym: Shqipëria, from the verb shqiptoj, meaning “to speak intelligibly”… Albanians were the only ones who made sense to other Albanians (which is pretty logical, when you think about it!).

🇦🇲 Armenia/Հայաստան (Hayastán)

English exonym: Originally Armina from Old Persian, which was later adopted into Ancient Greek and then Latin. It’s said to come from the name of an ancient kingdom near present-day Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Iran.

Armenian endonym: Հայաստան ( Hayastán) likely comes from the name Hayk, a legendary figure in Armenian mythology known as the nation’s founder. The ‑stan ending is common in the region, and it comes from the Persian word for “place” or “land”!

🇧🇹 Bhutan/འབྲུག་ཡུལ (Druk Yul)

English exonym: Bhutan is likely related to Tibet’s endonym, Böd, possibly from Sanskrit Bhoṭa (“Bhutan”) + anta (“end”), since it’s on the southern end of Tibet.

Dzongkha endonym: In Bhutan’s national language, Dzongkha, འབྲུག་ཡུལ ( Druk Yul) is related to Drukpa, the dominant branch of Buddhism practiced in Bhutan. Since Druk can be translated as “Thunder Dragon” and Yul means “land,” another name for Bhutan is “Land of the Thunder Dragon”!

🇨🇳 China/中国 (Zhōngguó)

English exonym: The name China came into English from Portuguese and before that from Persian, which may have ultimately borrowed the term from Sanskrit. The name itself probably comes from the Qin dynasty, known for unifying China in the 3rd century BCE…

Chinese endonym: The character 中 means “middle” or “center,” while 国 means “country,” and while this name has been used with many different connotations over the millennia, it is often thought to be another example of using your own homeland as the default: “We’re in the middle, and everyone else is on the outside.”

🇭🇷 Croatia/Hrvatska

English exonym: Croatia is actually related to the country’s endonym Hrvatska! Both are thought to have come from the proto-Slavic Xъrvátъ ( Xurwātu) .

Croatian endonym: If you know a bit about Slavic writing and sounds, you might see how Xurwātu could become both Croat and Hrvat!

🇪🇬 Egypt/مصر (Misr or Masr)

English exonym: From Greek Αἴγυπτος ( Aígyptos), said to come from the Ancient Egyptian name for Memphis, the former capital of Egypt.

Arabic endonym: مصر (pronounced Misr or Masr depending on your dialect of Arabic) comes from a word meaning “frontier” or “outpost,” and has also been said to mean “civilization.”

🇫🇮 Finland/Suomi

English exonym: Finn appears to come from Old Norse, but its original meaning is unclear.

Finnish endonym: Some think Suomi is related to the Sámi, an ethnic group from the northernmost regions of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and western Russia…

🇬🇪 Georgia/საქართველო (Sakartvelo)

English exonym: Georgia may have initially referred to St. George or to the agriculturalists working the land.

Georgian endonym: საქართველო or Sakartvelo literally means “land of the Georgians.”

🇬🇷 Greece/Ελλάδα (Elláda)

English exonym: From the Latin Graecia, which comes from the Greek Γραικοί ( Graikoí)

Greek endonym: Ελλάδα ( Elláda) used to be Ελλάς.

🇭🇺 Hungary/Magyarország

English exonym: Refers to the people who conquered the area we know today as Hungary,

Hungarian endonym: Magyarország is a combination of Magyar, which refers to the Hungarian people, and ország, meaning “country.”

🇮🇳 India/भारत (Bhārat) + many others!

English exonym… and endonym: The English name for India is both an exonym and an endonym, since English is one of India’s official languages!

Hindi endonym: भारत ( Bhārat) comes from Sanskrit…

🇯🇵 Japan/日本 (Nihon or Nippon)

English exonym: Believed to come from Marco Polo’s attempt at writing the Chinese pronunciation of “Nippon.”

Japanese endonym: 日本 (pronounced as Nippon or Nihon) denotes “the sun’s origin.”

🇳🇿 New Zealand/Aotearoa

English exonym (and endonym): “New Zealand” came from Dutch cartographers…

Māori endonym: Aotearoa is usually said to mean “land of the long white cloud.”

🇰🇵 North Korea/조선 (Joseon)

English exonym: The “North” part of North Korea’s English exonym comes from its location relative to South Korea...

Korean endonym: The name 조선 ( Joseon) includes both North and South Korea…

🇰🇷 South Korea/한국 (Hanguk)

English exonym: South Korea’s exonym…

Korean endonym: 한국 ( Hanguk) represents a shortened version of 대한민국 ( Daehanminguk)

What’s in a name, anyway?

You might be wondering what you should call a country that has multiple names 😅 The simplest answer is to choose the name that your intended audience is most likely to understand and appreciate!

For more answers to your language and learning questions, get in touch with us by emailing dearduolingo@duolingo.com.