The Meanings of Country Names – a Map (Western Hemisphere)

Everyone probably knows that Ecuador has something to do with the equator, right? (It’s just the Spanish for that.) In a similar manner, you can probably figure out than Costa Rica means “rich coast” and Puerto Rico means “rich port.” You probably don’t need to be fluent in Spanish to figure those out.

But how about all those other countries? You might know that the US of A was named after one Amerigo Vespucci. But where did Amerigo come from? Yeah, Bolivia’s from Simon Bolivar, but what does his name mean? And God only knows where Guatemala and Uruguay come from.

So, here are a couple of maps that show what the Western Hemisphere would like if the countries’ names were all translated into English, from whatever their ultimate sources might be.

More maps:

• US states
• Eastern Hemisphere

North America

By the way, America is the Latin version of Amerigo, which is the Italian version of Emmerich, which means “rich house” (among other possibilities). Vespucci, on the other hand, means “little wasp.” 


Central America & the Caribbean

An alternate source of Belize is a native version of Wallace, after Peter Wallace, a Scottish pirate who established the first settlement in the country. Wallace, in turn, means “Welshman.”


South America

Venezuela means “little Venice,” and was named by none other than Amerigo Vespucci (I tell you, the guy got around). The native houses on stilts above Lake Maracaibo reminded him of the Italian city. 

Venice itself is traced back to a tribe called the Veneti. Their name, in turn, traces back to an Indo-European root meaning “love.” And all that probably means is that the tribe was friendly.