Names of Germany

There are numerous widely varying names of Germany in different languages, more so than for any other European nation. For example:

the German language endonym is Deutschland, from the Old High German diutisc, meaning "of the people";
the French exonym is Allemagne, from the name of the Alamanni tribe;
in Italian it is Germania, from the Latin Germania, although the German people are called tedeschi, which is cognate with German Deutsch;
in Polish it is Niemcy, from the Proto-Slavic *němьcь, meaning speechless, since German is not mutually intelligible with Slavic languages;^[1]
in Finnish it is Saksa, from the name of the Saxon tribe;
in Lithuanian it is Vokietija, of unclear origin, but possibly from Proto-Balto-Slavic *vākyā-, meaning “those who speak loud, shout (unintelligibly)”.

Often language lags behind the changing society and names tend to retain references to first encounters: the Finnish first and foremost met the Saxons while the French faced the Alamanni. Comparable tendencies appear elsewhere, e.g. in names for Russia.^[1]

Each of the names for Germany has been adapted into other languages all over the world. After an overview of variants this article presents etymological and geographic context for the forms and their worldwide usage as well as names used in bureaucracy.

List of area names

In general, the names for Germany can be arranged in six main groups according to their origin:

From Old High German diutisc or similar

^[a]

Afrikaans: Duitsland
Chinese: 德意志 (pinyin: Déyìzhì), commonly 德國 (trad.) or 德国 (simp.) (Déguó; "Dé" from 德意志, and "guó" means "country")
Danish: Tyskland
Dutch: Duitsland
Faroese: Týskland
German: Deutschland
Icelandic: Þýskaland
Japanese: ドイツ (独逸) (Doitsu)
Kinyarwanda: Ubudage^[2]
Korean: 독일(獨逸) (Dogil; Korean pronunciation of Japanese name in Kanji) or 도이췰란드 (Doichwillandeu – North Korea)
Kven: Tyskä
Lojban: dotygu'e
Low German/Low Saxon: Düütschland/Duutslaand
Luxembourgish: Däitschland
Medieval Latin: Teutonia, regnum Teutonicum
Nahuatl: Teutōtitlan
Norwegian: Tyskland
Northern Sami: Duiska
Northern Sotho: Tôitšhi
Swedish: Tyskland
Tamil: இடாய்ச்சுலாந்து (idaichulandu)
Vietnamese: Đức (德; Vietnamese pronunciation of Chinese abbreviation)
West Frisian: Dútslân
Yiddish: דײַטשלאַנד (daytshland)

From the Latin Germania

Acehnese: Jeureuman
Albanian: Gjermania
Aramaic: ܓܪܡܢ (jerman)
Armenian: Գերմանիա (Germania)
Bengali: জার্মানি (jarmani)
Bulgarian: Германия (Germánija)^[b]
Burmese: ဂျာမနီ (gyamani)
Modern English: Germany
Esperanto: Germanio (also Germanujo)
Friulian: Gjermanie
Georgian: გერმანია (germania)
Greek: Γερμανία (Germanía)
Gujarati: જર્મની (jarmanī)
Hausa: Jamus
Modern Hebrew: גרמניה (germánya)
Hindi: जर्मनी (jarmanī)
Ido: Germania
Pashto: جارمنی/jarmani
Indonesian: Jerman
Interlingua: Germania
Irish: An Ghearmáin
Italian: Germania^[c]
Hawaiian: Kelemania
Kannada: ಜರ್ಮನಿ (jarmani)
Lao: ເຢຍລະມັນ (yīa la man)
Latin: Germania
Macedonian: Германија (Germanija)
Malay (incl. Malaysian and Indonesian): Jerman
Malayalam: ജർമനി (jarmani)
Manx: Yn Ghermaan
Maltese: Ġermanja
Māori: Tiamana
Marathi: जर्मनी (jarmanī)
Marshallese: Jāmne
Mongolian: Герман (German)
Nauruan: Djermani
Nepali: जर्मनी (jarmanī)
Odia: ଜର୍ମନୀ/ଜର୍ମାନୀ (jårmånī/jårmānī)
Punjabi: ਜਰਮਨੀ/جرمنی (jarmanī)
Romanian: Germania^[d]
Rumantsch: Germania
Russian: Германия (Germánija)^[e]
Samoan: Siamani
Sardinian: Germania^[f]
Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghearmailt
Sicilian: Girmania
Sinhala: ජර්මනිය (jarmaniya)
Somali: Jarmal
Sundanese: Jérman
Swahili: Ujerumani
Tahitian: Heremani
Tamil: செருமனி (cerumani), ஜெர்மனி (jermani)
Thai: เยอรมนี (yəə-rá-má-nii), เยอรมัน (yəə-rá-man) (adjective)
Tongan: Siamane
Urdu: جرمنی (jarmanī)
Uyghur: گېرمانىيە (gërmaniye)

From the name of the Alamanni tribe

Arabic: ألمانيا (ʾalmānyā)
Asturian: Alemaña
Azerbaijani: Almaniya
Basque: Alemania
Breton: Alamagn
Catalan: Alemanya
Cornish: Almayn
Extremaduran: Alemaña
Filipino: Alemanya
Franco-Provençal: Alemagnes
French: Allemagne
Galician: Alemaña
Guarani: Alemáña
Hindi: आल्मानिया (ālmāniyā)
Kazakh: Алмания (Almanïya), not used anymore or used very rarely, now using Russian "Германия".
Khmer: អាល្លឺម៉ង់ (ʾaalləɨmɑng)
Kurdish: Elmaniya
Ladino: Almania
Latin: Alemannia
Mirandese: Almanha
Occitan: Alemanha
Ojibwe ᐋᓂᒫ (aanimaa)
Persian: آلمان (ālmān)
Piedmontese: Almagna
Portuguese: Alemanha
Quechua: Alimanya
Spanish: Alemania
Tajik: Олмон (Olmon)
Tatar: Алмания Almania
Tetum: Alemaña
Turkish: Almanya
Urdu: آلمانیہ (ālmāniya)
Welsh: Yr Almaen (with preceding definite article)

From the name of the Saxon tribe

Estonian: Saksamaa
Finnish: Saksa
Livonian: Saksāmō
Romani: Ssassitko temm^[3]
Tornedalian: Saksa, also called Tyskä, influenced by the Swedish Tyskland.
Veps: Saksanma
Võro: S'aksamaa

From the Proto-Slavic **němьcь*

^[g]

Belarusian: Нямеччына (Njamjéččyna)
Bosnian: Njemačka
Bulgarian: Немско (Nemsko) (obsolete colloquial)
Croatian: Njemačka
Czech: Německo
Hungarian: Németország
Kashubian: Miemieckô
Montenegrin: Njemačka
Ottoman Turkish: نمچه (nemçe), meaning all Austrian – Holy Roman Empire countries
Polish: Niemcy
Serbian: Немачка (Nemačka)
Silesian: Ńymcy
Slovak: Nemecko
Slovene: Nemčija
Lower Sorbian: Nimska
Upper Sorbian: Němska
Ukrainian: Німеччина (Niméččyna)

From the name of Prussia

Limburgish: Pruses (mostly in derogatory meaning)
informal Luxembourgish: Preisen
informal Twents: De Pruus
Silesian: Prusacy
Tahitian: Purutia (also Heremani, see above)

Unclear origin

^[h]

Kursenieki: Vāce Zėm
Latgalian: Vuoceja
Latvian: Vācija
Lithuanian: Vokietija
Samogitian: Vuokītėjė

Other forms

Medieval Greek: Frángoi, frangikós (for Germans, German) – after the Franks.
Medieval Hebrew: אַשְׁכְּנַז (Ashkenaz), from biblical Ashkenaz, son of Japheth and grandson of Noah, thought to be the ancestor of the Germans.
Lower Sorbian: bawory or bawery (in older or dialectal use) – from the name of Bavaria.
Silesian: szwaby from Swabia, bambry used for German

[1]

[a]

[2]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[3]

[g]

[h]