From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of countries and dependent territories named after people .
Sovereign countries named after people
Countries named after legendary figures
Country
Source of name
Afghanistan
Supposedly named after tribal chief Prince Afghana.
[2]
Armenia (Hayastan)
Hayk
Bangladesh
from "
Bengal ", which, according to one hypothesis, is named after Bang, son of Hind, son of
Ham , son of
Noah
[3]
[4]
[5]
Belarus
Rus
Cambodia
Sage Kambu Swayambhuva
Czech Republic
Čech
Denmark
Dan I of Denmark
Djibouti
"Djibouti" means "Land of Tehuti" or "Land of
Thoth ", after the Egyptian Moon God
Hungary
Hunor (or Magyarország —
Magor )
Bhārat (
India )
Dushyanta's son Bharata or
Rishabha's son Bharata
[6]
Egypt
Misr in Arabic, Misrayim in Hebrew, named after the biblical figure
Mizraim .
Israel
Jacob , who was also called Israel in the
Bible
Éire (
Ireland )
Éire (Ériu) , a Celtic fertility goddess
Italy
Italus
Laos
possibly after
Lava
Lechia (historical and/or alternative name of
Poland )
Lech
Norway
Nór (although other etymologies are generally more widely accepted)
Romania
from "
Rome " (the modern capital city of
Italy ) / "Roman", which possibly comes from
Romulus
Russia
Rus
Solomon Islands
King Solomon of Israel and Judah
Somalia
Supposedly named after
Samaale .
[7]
Former countries named after people
Country
Source of name
Principality of Antioch , now part of Turkey
Antiochus , father of
Seleucus I Nicator
Kingdom of Dahomey and
Republic of Dahomey , now part of
Benin
Chief 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 Netherlands
Lothair II
Rhodesia (former name of
Zimbabwe )
Cecil Rhodes
Samo's Empire
Samo , a Slavic king
Seljuk Empire
Seljuk , legendary founding warlord of the Seljuk Empire
Sultanate of Rum (Saljuqiyan-i Rum)
Ottoman Empire
Osman I , founder of the empire
Umayyad Caliphate
Umayya ibn Abd Shams
Abbasid Caliphate
Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenes
Sasanian Empire
Sasan
Hamdanid state
Hamdan ibn Hamdun
Timurid Empire
Timur
Idrisid state
Idris I
Idrisid Emirate of Asir
Ayyubid Sultanate
Najm al-Din Ayyub
Mirdasid state
Mirdas ibn Idris, father of
Salih ibn Mirdas
Jabrids Emirate
Jabr ibn Mady
Arsacid Empire
Arsaces I
Usfurid Emirate
Usfur ibn Rashid
Samanid Empire
Saman Khuda
Buyid Emirate
Buya ibn Panah-Khusrow, father of
Imad al-Dawla , founder of the emirate, and his brothers
Rukn al-Dawla and
Mu'izz al-Dawla
Zirid state
Ziri ibn Manad
Aghlabid Emirate
al-Aghlab ibn Salim, father of
Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab
Hammadid Sultanate
Hammad ibn Buluggin
Marinid Sultanate
Marin ibn wartajin
Jarwanid Emirate
Jarwan ibn Nasser
Nasrid Kingdom of Granada
Nasr ibn al-Aḥmar
Safavid Empire
Safi-ad-din Ardabili
Seleucid Empire
Seleucus I Nicator
Ptolemaic Kingdom
Ptolemy I Soter
Qedarite Kingdom
Qedar, son of
Ishmael
Gupta Empire
Gupta
Mazyadid Emirate
Mazyad ibn Marthad
Artuqid State
Artuk Bey
Rashidi Emirate
Rashid ibn Hamad
Numayrid Emirate
Numayr ibn
Āmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa
Uqaylid Emirate
Uqayl ibn
Ka'b ibn Rabi'a ibn
Āmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa
Shah Mir Sultanate
Shah Mir
Dependent territories named after people
See also
References
^ Porras Barrenechea, Raúl. El nombre del Perú . Lima: Talleres Gráficos P.L. Villanueva, 1968, p. 83.
^ 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.
^ Land of Two Rivers,
Nitish Sengupta
^
Abu'l-Fazl .
Ain-i-Akbari .
^
RIYAZU-S-SALĀTĪN: A History of Bengal
Archived 15 December 2014 at the
Wayback Machine ,
Ghulam Husain Salim , The Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1902.
^ 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 .
^
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 .
^ 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 .
^
"Manannán mac Lir | Irish deity" . Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 10 November 2020 .