What are the countries of the world named after? (English names)
Posted by the_boerk
What are the countries of the world named after? (English names)
Posted by the_boerk
32 Comments
How does Pakistan qualify?
The origin of England is unknown? It was named after the Germanic Angles who had settled there. In French it is angleterre, literally angle land.
I wonder what Belarus is named after. I guess it can’t be named after the people, Belarusians, according to OP?
Who is China names after?
Brazil’s the only county named after a tree. Argentina is the only county named after a metal
Poland should be blue and yellow. The Polans aren’t confirmed, we only get sources on them once Poland is formed. And even if they existed and used that name, it still comes from “fieldy land” (“Ziemia Polska”).
Barbados should be gold. It’s from the bearded trees.
How is “The United Arab Emirates” labeled as “uncertain”?
Who tf is China named after?
Bangladesh should be blue since it literally means ‘Land of the Bangla’ so it’s named after an ethnic group.
OP, the striped ones are too close together. They’re making it look like different colors. I thought the UK was green and I was spending a few minutes trying to figure out why Saudi Arabia was purple. Maybe it looks better on desktop, but they should be wider stripes! So it doesn’t combine into new colors
Cool map though
What is Canada named after? I never knew it was a landmark thinf6
Though the name America was from a person, I think that the country’s name came from the geological location. So USA should be yellow. Unless you use the same logic with each country, which you didn’t.
Edit. Mexico (United Mexican States) should also be yellow, though for a different reason than USA.
Estonia/Estland literally comes from the the Germanic word for east. It referred to modern day Estonia during the Northern Crusades, then came to mean only the north of the country, and was reappropriated by Estonians in the 18th century, during the national awakening.
The Estonians also started calling themselves Estonians (Eestlased) during the 18th century. Before this, people either called themselves by the region from where they were from (Virulane/Vironian, Saarlane/Oselian), or by the collective term “Maarahvas” (Land people).
The English cleric Samuel Purchas, who wrote down accounts of travellers, even called the Estonians “Momese” in the 17th century. This probably came from “Maamees” (Land man).
Argentina shouldn’t be green. It’s named after the precious metal silver. It should be yellow for being named after a natural feature.
Why is Malaysia yellow, its literally named after the Malay ethnic group
Argentina is somewhat yellow because it’s rich in silver ore and the Spanish literally named it silver land
For their native names, India (Bharat) and China (Zhongguo) should be blue and yellow respectively, if I understand correctly.
Also, Libya, both Sudans and Ethiopia should be yellow I think, these names are mainly regions in origin and usage. Ethiopia used to have a “blue” name, and it was Abyssinia.
I’m confused, why is USA colored red? United States of America should be “named after a geographical feature” why is it “named after a person”?
The United States are named after a person 🤷🏽
What about the Gambia? Should be yellow I think..
Thailand is wrong. The word “Thai”, ไทย is a word for “free”. There is no such ethnicity as Thai, the country is a melting pot of Siamese, Lao, Khmer, Chinese, and indigenous peoples. Before 1939, the country was known as Siam (สยาม), and was renamed to reflect the ethnic diversity.
I’m from New South Wales which apparently is similar to South Wales, very original right.
What person is Azerbaijan named after
There is no accepted consensus on origin of Armenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Armenia
Could easily be blue and if we go by Armenian mythology it should be red. Don’t know how or why you chose yellow.
Mexico is wrong. It is named that way because of the region known as Mexico, what is now Mexico City and the State of Mexico.
Uzbekistan must be blue. It means «land of Uzbeks». I get why you made it read, Özbeg Khan is surely where the ethnonym originated. Still, it is «land of Uzbeks» as an ethnic group, not «land of Özbeg».
Isn’t Venezuela properly the “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”? Additionally, it’s named after Venice if I’m not mistaken, which is in turn named after a group of people. Should maybe be a blue/red split, depending on your rule for degrees of separation between people and geography.
Why is Malaysia yellow? Its named affer an ethnic group.
The name of Mexico is “the moon’s belly button”
I don’t even understand what’s supposed to implied in that map. That Mexico is named Mexico because Mexicans live in it?
The heck?
Great Britain isn’t that uncertain. It’s because it was bigger than Brittany
Portugal is named after the Porto region, which was itself named Porto because of the port (it’s by the sea)- therefore a geographic location