No, Atlantis is not on this list

A country named after a drowned dog? 10 countries’ names explained

Image: Andrew Stutesman

Some things are never questioned simply because they’ve always been that way. But even countries have origins—and so do their names. Some names are quite straightforward from the beginning: The United States of America is exactly that—a union of states in America. But others, like Brazil or India, are not quite as simple. Scroll on to learn about the origin of ten countries’ names. You might just pick up a cool little fact to share with your friends.

Image: Xavier von Erlach

It might seem curious that a country so vast is named after a small settlement—but it is. The name Canada likely comes from the Huron-Iroquois word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement." The first official use of Canada as a name came in 1791, when the Province of Quebec was divided into the colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. In 1841, the two colonies were united under a single name: the Province of Canada.

Then, on July 1, 1867, the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick joined to form "one Dominion under the name of Canada."

Image: Scottsdale Mint

This South American country’s name first appeared on a Venetian map in 1536. Argentina means "(made) of silver" or "silver-colored" in Italian, derived from the Latin argentum, meaning silver. The name was originally associated with the legend of the "Silver Mountains," which was widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin.

In 1860, a presidential decree officially established the country’s name as the Argentine Republic, and that year’s constitutional amendment recognized all names used since 1810 as legally valid.

Image: Fidel Fernando

A close connection with rabbits is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Spain. But that connection plays a role in the origin of the country’s name. The earliest version, Hispania, is believed to have come from the Phoenician word i-spn-ya, which the Romans interpreted as "land of rabbits" or "region rich in rabbits."

Other theories suggest that Hispania may derive from a Punic word meaning "land of metals" or from an Iberian or Basque root referring to the region's geography, but rabbits is the widely popular theory.

Image: Vincent Guth

Norway’s name origin makes sense—it comes from the Old English word Norþweg, first mentioned around 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north." This is how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the Atlantic coast of what is now Norway. The same idea aligns with the leading theory about the origin of the country’s name in the Norwegian language.

Image: Nathan Anderson

The name India is derived from a corruption of the word Sindhu, the ancient name of the Indus River. Neighboring peoples, particularly the Persians, pronounced the "s" as "h" and referred to the land as Hindu. The Greeks later adapted this to Indos, which led to the Latin India.

The name India was known in Old English, but under French influence, it was sometimes replaced by Ynde or Inde. The form Indie appears in the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare, both from the late phase of Early Modern English.

Image: Bob Walker

Quite fittingly, the name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern," and specifically from the hypothetical _Terra Australis_—a "southern land" postulated in pre-modern geography.

The name was popularized by the explorer Matthew Flinders in 1804, and it has been in official use since 1817, replacing New Holland, an English translation of the Dutch name first given in 1643 to the continent.

Image: note thanun

The name of this Central African republic comes from the name given by the Portuguese to the Wouri River, which they called Rio dos Camarões, meaning "river of shrimps" or "shrimp river," in reference to the once-abundant Cameroon ghost shrimp. Today, the country’s name in Portuguese remains Camarões.

Image: niko photos

This beautiful country takes its name from the pau-brasil tree, which was once plentiful in its coastal forests. Pau is a colloquial Portuguese word for "wood" or "tree," and brasil comes from brasa, meaning "ember"—a reference to the tree’s reddish sap, once used for dyeing cloth. Today, the wood of the pau-brasil is prized for making cello and violin bows.

Image: Jeremy Cai

Someone who has never seen a picture of Greenland could be forgiven for thinking the country is covered in green, lush pastures—after all, the name implies just that. So how did this ice-covered island come to be called Greenland? It got its name from the Norwegian adventurer Erik Thorvaldsson, better known as Erik the Red, in 985 A.D.

The popular explanation is that the name was a kind of public relations strategy to encourage settlement. However, ice core and mollusk shell data indicate that between 800 and 1300 A.D., the island’s temperatures were considerably warmer than they are today—so perhaps Erik was simply reacting to a greener landscape that has long since vanished.

Image: Ariana Prestes

Moldavia was a historic principality along the Danube River, ruled successively by the Ottomans, the Russians, and the Romanians before becoming the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic after World War II. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it adopted the name Moldova, after the Moldova River.

Local lore attributes the name to a Transylvanian prince whose favorite hunting dog, Molda, drowned in the river. While this makes for a charming origin story, the name more likely derives from a Proto-Indo-European root, melh, meaning "dark," or from the Gothic word mulda, meaning "dust."

Dictionary spotlight

From "Truthiness" to "Bushlips": 10 words of the year through history

Image: Pisit Heng

Each year, dictionaries and linguistic societies worldwide select a "word of the year" to capture a part of the essence of global conversations, trends, or cultural shifts. Often serving as a snapshot of society’s biggest preoccupations or passions at that point in time, these words can be fun, poignant, and sometimes even controversial. Here are ten selected choices from past years, ranging from strange numeronyms like Y2K to whimsical verbs like "to be plutoed."

Image: Roman Kraft

Coined by comedian Stephen Colbert, "truthiness" describes things that feel true, even when they aren’t. The satirical concept highlights how dishonest media often appeals to emotion and "gut feelings" over rational thinking and actual facts.

The term became so popular that it won the American Dialect Society’s "Word of the Year" in 2005 and Merriam-Webster’s in 2006. Interestingly, some linguists noted that a similar word already existed in English literature, although with a meaning closer to "truthfulness" or "faithfulness."

Image: Markus Spiske

The supposed Y2K "millennium bug" caused widespread panic as the year 2000 approached, with predictions of technological catastrophes due to a theoretical software error related to the date change after 1999.

Selected by various language authorities, Y2K captured millennial anxieties. Fortunately, despite intense fears, the Y2K bug resulted in minimal actual disruption.

Image: NASA

After Pluto’s reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006, the whimsical verb "to be plutoed" emerged, essentially meaning "to be demoted." The American Dialect Society selected it to humorously mark Pluto’s abrupt change in status.

As a unique instance where planetary reclassification and public discourse converged, the term became a metaphor for any reduction in rank. It also captured a bit of the public’s emotional response to Pluto’s unexpected downgrading.

Image: Mohamed Nohassi

What’s worse than a dumpster full of trash? A dumpster full of trash on fire. A descriptor for something disastrously out of control, "dumpster fire" was the American Dialect Society’s choice for 2016.

Originally used in sports, the term "dumpster fire" quickly gained broader popularity that year, becoming a go-to phrase for chaotic situations—a usage that remains popular today.

Image: Liana Mikah

Originating from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s description of the Gulf War as "the mother of all battles," the term quickly became a widely used phrase to emphasize something as the ultimate or most significant of its kind. It was used for all sorts of exaggerated statements.

Technically an idiom, "mother of all –" demonstrates how easily language can adopt new meanings and ideas from almost any source, from global politics to scientific endeavors, leading to expressions that take on a life beyond their original context.

Image: Daria Nepriakhina

Ever had your phone die on you right when you needed it most? You might have experienced a bit of "nomophobia." This curious term, coined in 2009 in the UK, is a shortened form of "no-mobile-phone-phobia."

As smartphone dependence has soared in recent years, the term has gained increasing prominence, reflecting a new anxiety of the digital era.

Image: Hudson Graves

The word "homer" (a baseball term for a home run) became a sensation after appearing in The New York Times' popular Wordle game. Frustrated players had their lucky streaks interrupted when they encountered the word, bringing it into the spotlight.

Worldwide searches for "homer" highlighted not only the influence a game can have on language but also the public's growing interest in exploring the vast depths of our shared vocabulary.

Image: Hugo Clément

As fashion shifted toward more sustainability-focused trends, the term "upcycling" became a buzzword, referring to the process of transforming waste into items of higher value. It is the opposite of downcycling, which is another part of the recycling process.

This intriguing concept encourages people to repurpose materials that would typically go to waste in both creative and useful ways.

Image: Izzy Gerosa

Selected by Collins Dictionary, "photobomb" describes the act of unexpectedly appearing in someone’s photo, often with humorous results.

As selfies and casual photography grew in popularity, photobombing became an art of surprise and comedy, evolving into a topic of conversation and even competition across social media.

Image: Library of Congress

This term, chosen by the American Dialect Society, referred to President George H.W. Bush’s famous "Read my lips: No new taxes" pledge during his 1988 Republican nomination—a promise he later broke, frustrating many of his supporters.

"Bushlips" became popular as it encapsulated public disappointment in political promises and became shorthand for unkept pledges. The term is also a wordplay on a less polite expression that can refer to something untrue.