I can honestly say that I’ve never heard this question asked anywhere before and I’m pretty excited to see what folks had to say about this!
What country has the coolest name?
Check out what folks had to say on AskReddit.
Here’s a story.
“Singapore! Its name literally translates to the lion Lion City.
According to ‘legend’, it’s name came about in the 14th century when a prince was out hunting one day when he caught sight of a mysterious animal in the distance. He established a city in the place where that animal was spotted, and named it Singapura (which was later changed to Singapore), the ‘lion city.’
However according to historical reviews of the country’s wildlife around the time when the prince named it, they found that it was unlikely lions ever lived in Singapore because this isn’t a typical habitat for lions.
It is thought that the prince might have seen a tiger instead (which used to be very commonly seen in the region before they went extinct due to hunters in 1930), and that the prince had mistaken the tiger for a lion at a distance.
So basically, Singapore is called Singapore because some dude thought he spotted a lion there when in hindsight it probably was a tiger instead.”
Interesting.
“I learned only recently that the name Tanzania is just a compound of the two countries that unified to create it: Tanganyika and Zanzibar.”
You love to hear it.
“Madagascar.
Not a lot of four syllable country names just roll off the tongue.”
Very cool.
“St Vincent and the Grenadines sounds like a brass band.
Always thought it was a cool name.”
LOL.
“Tuvalu.
Not every country sounds like what a cockney says when he’s off to the bathroom…”
Wait a second…
“Seychelles.
I knew a woman named Seychelles before I knew it was a country.
I was briefly confused.”
Fun fact.
“The capital of Djibouti is Djibouti.
This is both one of my favorite facts and general things to say.”
Awesome.
“Burkina Faso sounds pretty cool.
It also has the best capital city, Ouagadougou, that’s pronounced wa-ga-doo-goo as far as i’m aware which is a very fun word.”
Oh, it’s real.
“I always think Moldova is not a real country.
Like some fake country like Genovia or Zamunda.”
Sounds great.
“I always thought Estonia was a cool name.
I had a 5th grade teacher who was Estonian, and would tell us about it all the time, sounds like a lovely place.”
Doesn’t sound real.
“Eritrea.
Sounds like a nation from a fantasy book.”
It sure does.
“Luxembourg sounds like a jewelry store.”
Put a spell on you.
“Azerbaijan.
Four syllables, has a z, could as well be the name of some demon or spell or so.”
Can’t beat it.
“Niue – a small island nation in the South Pacific whose name in the local language translates as “behold the coconut.”
Hard to improve on that in bada**ness.”
Cool.
“Aotearoa, the Māori name for New Zealand — translates to land of the long white cloud ☁️ 🐑
Sooooooooo much prettier than the English name.”
The old days.
“Zaire was a bada** name before it was changed to Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
Agreed!
“Suomi.
It’s Finland in Finnish.
Just sounds cool.”
Sounds powerful.
“Sierra Leone.
”The lion mountains” just sounds so cool.”
I like it.
“Kazakhstan.
It has a kind of jagged sense, and it sound cool, and it rolls off the tongue.”
Full of mystery.
“Montenegro is a cool name for a country, translated to English it means “Black Mountain”.
I just find the name Montenegro to seem mysterious and exciting.”
Nickname.
“I think Egypt has the coolest Nickname…
It is called in Arabic „Umm al Donia“ which means „Mother of the world“ because of the many things that were invented by the Ancient Egyptians and because of how civilized they were.”
Your favorites.
“In Africa – Zimbabwe and Swaziland
In the Americas – Colombia, The Bahamas, and El Salvador
In Asia – Thailand and Pakistan
In Europe – Montenegro and Transylvania.”
Got ’em!
“Georgia simply because when you inform an American you visited the country of Georgia, 99.9% of the time they’ll tell you in all their infinite wisdom that Georgia is a state, not a country.
It’s hilarious.”
My pick: Zanzibar!