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This list includes European countries and regions that were part of the Roman Empire, or that were given Latin place names in historical references. As a large portion of the latter were only created during the Middle Ages, often based on scholarly etiology, this is not to be confused with a list of the actual names modern regions and settlements bore during the classical era.

Background

Until the Modern Era, Latin was the common language for scholarship and mapmaking. During the 19th and 20th centuries, German scholars in particular have made significant contributions to the study of historical place names, or Ortsnamenkunde. These studies have, in turn, contributed to the study of genealogy. For genealogists and historians of pre-Modern Europe, knowing alternate names of places is vital to extracting information from both public and private records. Even specialists in this field point out, however, that the information can be easily taken out of context, since there is a great deal of repetition of place names throughout Europe; reliance purely on apparent connections should therefore be tempered with valid historical methodology.

Caveats and notes

Latin place names are not always exclusive to one place — for example, there were several Roman cities whose names began with Colonia and then a more descriptive term. During the Middle Ages, these were often shortened to just Colonia. One of these, Colonia Agrippinensis, retains the name today in the form of Cologne.

Early sources for Roman names show numerous variants and spellings of the Latin names.

The modern canonical name is listed first. Sources are listed chronologically. In general, only the earliest source is shown for each name, although many of the names are recorded in more than one of the sources. Where the source differs in spelling, or has other alternatives, these are listed following the source. As an aid to searching, variants are spelled completely, and listed in most likely chronology.

Superscripts indicate:

1. Latinized form of the Greek-derived name.
2. Latinized form of the Asian-derived name via Greek.
3. Altered Latinized form of the Greek-derived name.

Cities and towns in Austria

Cities and towns in Belgium

Cities and towns in the Czech Republic

Cities and towns in Denmark

Cities and towns in Estonia

Cities and towns in Finland

Cities and towns in France

Cities and towns in Germany

Cities and towns in Hungary

Cities and towns in Ireland

Cities and towns in Latvia

Cities and towns in Moldova

Cities and towns in Monaco

Cities and towns in the Netherlands

Cities and towns in Norway

Cities and towns in Poland

Cities and towns in Russia

Cities and towns in San Marino

Cities and towns in Slovakia

Cities and towns in Slovenia

Cities and towns in Sweden

Cities and towns in Switzerland

Cities and towns in Ukraine

See also

• List of Latin place names in Iberia
• List of Latin place names in the Balkans
• List of Latin place names used as specific names

References

1. "Miraculum Hyberniae sine miraculo, alter Domini praecursor, S. Patricius archiepiscopus ardmachanus consueto panegyrico honoratus ..." Helm. 17 June 2018 – via Google Books.
2. Caroline Wyndham- Quin (countess of Dunraven.) (18 June 1865). "Memorials of Adare manor. With historical notices of Adare, by the earl of Dunraven E.R.W. WyndhamQuin" – via Internet Archive.
3. ^ The Record Interpreter: A Collection of Abbreviations, Latin Words and Names Used in English Historical Manuscripts and Records. Genealogical Publishing Com. 17 June 2018. ISBN 9780806302362 – via Google Books.
4. "Turtle Bunbury – Award-winning travel writer, historian and author based in Ireland". www.turtlebunbury.com. 2 November 2021.
5. Suibhne, Peadar Mac (18 June 1976). "Carlovia 1-3". ,] – via Google Books.
6. Bingham, Joseph (17 June 2018). "Origines Ecclesiasticæ: The Antiquities of the Christian Church. With Two Sermons and Two Letters on the Nature and Necessity of Absolution". H.G. Bohn – via Google Books.
7. 2PG1: Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), Geographia; book "PG" chapter (that is, "2PG1" instead of the usual "II.1"). Ptolemy wrote in Greek, so names are transliterated back into Latin to reveal the original form
8. HLU: Hofmann, Johann Jacob (1635–1706): Lexicon Universale
9. '?' probably historical mistake
10. GOL: The standard reference to Latin placenames, with their modern equivalents, is Dr. J. G. Th. Grässe, Orbis Latinus: Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit (1861), an exhaustive work of meticulous German scholarship that is available on-line in the second edition of 1909. To use it, one must understand German names of countries, as they were in 1909. The original was re-edited and expanded in a multi-volume edition in 1972.
11. "The Name, Ballyhaunis Co. Mayo, in the West of Ireland – mayo-ireland.ie".
12. http://www.annaghmag.ie/files/Download/Annagh%201983.pdf
13. "The Irish Ecclesiastical Record". Browne and Nolan. 18 June 2018 – via Google Books.
14. "Publications". 1847.
15. "Catalogus librorum impressorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae in Academia Oxoniensi". E Typographeo Academico. 17 June 2018 – via Google Books.
16. Dimock, James Francis (1867). "Topographia hibernica et expugnatio hibernica".
17. The Record Interpreter: A Collection of Abbreviations, Latin Words and Names Used in English Historical Manuscripts and Records. Genealogical Publishing Com. 17 June 2018. ISBN 9780806302362 – via Google Books.
18. "Leixlip – Irish Place Names". www.libraryireland.com.
19. "From A to W – The Placenames of Co. Wicklow – Places – County Wicklow Heritage". www.countywicklowheritage.org.
20. "Hollywood, County Wicklow and Hollywood, California – Wicklow County Tourism". visitwicklow.ie. 25 February 2015.
21. Butler, John (1 December 2016). "The birthplace of Johannes de Sacrobosco". Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. JRSAI Vol. 144-145 (2014–15): 77-86 – via ResearchGate.
22. Lexicum nominum geographicorum latinorum Archived 2012-07-14 at archive.today

Sources

In order of likely publication:

• PNH: Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundus), Naturalis Historia; book "PNH" chapter (that is, "37PNH81" instead of the usual "N.H.xxxvii.81").
• PG: Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), Geographia; book "PG" chapter (that is, "2PG3" instead of the usual "II.3"). Ptolemy wrote in Greek, so names are transliterated back into Latin to reveal the original form.
• HLU: Hofmann, Johann Jacob (1635–1706): Lexicon Universale
• GOL: The standard reference to Latin placenames, with their modern equivalents, is Dr. J. G. Th. Grässe, Orbis Latinus: Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit (1861), an exhaustive work of meticulous German scholarship that is available on-line in the second edition of 1909. To use it, one must understand German names of countries, as they were in 1909. The original was re-edited and expanded in a multi-volume edition in 1972.

External links

• Grässe, Orbis Latinus
• Grässe, Orbis Latinus
• Hofmann: Lexicon Universale
• OHM Roman Places
• Pliny the Elder: the Natural History
• Ptolemy: the Geography

• Alternative names of European places
• Lists of Latin place names
• Lists of cities in Europe
• Lists of cities by toponymy