The Longest Place Names In the World

By Kimutai Gilbert on January 9 2019 in Society







Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu, New Zealand.

The longest place name in the world belongs to Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu, New Zealand. It is a Maori word for a hill in the country's North Island. While some place names in the world are very short, there are places with names that are exceptionally long. Often times, these place names will be shortened for both ease of reference and pronunciation. However, their original long names live on in infamy.

10. Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill, Australia

Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya is the name of a hill found in South Australia, located approximately 108.8km northwest of the small town of Marla. At 26 letters long (the same length as the English alphabet), it is the longest place name in Australia. This name is derived from the Pitjantjatjara language.

9. Bovenendvankeelafsnysleegte, South Africa

Bovenendvankeelafsnysleegte is a farm in South Africa in the Upper Karoo of Northern Cape Town. It is South Africa’s second-longest one-word place name, and at 27 letters, it is the world’s ninth-longest place name. It comes from the Afrikaans language, and it means the upper end of a throat-cut valley.

8. Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta, India

Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta is a name of a railway station in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the longest railway station name in India. However, instead of referring to the station in its full name, it is often referred to as "Sri".

7. Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik, Manitoba

Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik is the name of a lake in Manitoba, Canada. It is the longest one-worded place name in Canada. The name derives from the Cree language and means a place where fishing hooks are used to catch wild trout. This lake is located in the northeastern part of Manitoba near the border with Ontario. At 31 letters long, it is ranked as the seventh-longest single word place name in the world.

6. Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä, Finland

This 35 letter word name is the longest one worded place name in Finland and the third longest in Europe. It is the name of a bog region in Finnish Lapland. A pub owner registered his premises under this name after being frustrated in his last two attempts of trying to register with other names and failing. He decided on this long name because he knew there was no way that anybody else would have it. It is not a Finnish word and has no actual reported meaning. It is most likely gibberish.

5. Azpilicuetagaraycosaroyarenberecolarrea, Spain

At 39 letters, this is the fifth-longest name of a place in the world, the longest in Spain, and the second-longest in Europe. This name has been named from Bosque language which has been translated into English to mean “the low field of a high pen of Azpilkueta”.

4. Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein, South Africa

Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein is a the name of a farm in the North Western Province of South Africa, about 200km to the west of Pretoria. It comes from the Afrikaans language meaning a "spring where two buffaloes were killed by use of one shot". With 44 characters, it is South Africa’s longest one word place and the world’s 4th longest place name.

3. Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, United States

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is a lake found in Webster, Massachusetts in the United States. It is also referred to as Lake Webster. This name is from the Nipmuc, which is an Algonquian language. It translates to “fishing point that’s at the boundaries and which is a neutral meeting point.” The lake is found near the state's border with Connecticut. The name is made up of 45 letters and is believed to be the longest place name in the United States, as well as the third longest in the world.

2. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales

With 58 characters, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest one-word place name in both the United Kingdom and in Europe as well as the world’s second longest place name. This name is often shortened as Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG for brevity. This is the name of a large community of villages in Wales found on the Islands of Anglesey. Initially, this community was referred to as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll before its name was changed in the 1860s for promotional purposes. It was aimed at being a commercial avenue as it was assumed that tourists would come to see the community with the world’s longest name. The long name has been credited to a local cobbler although it has also been attributed to a tailor who lived in the locality.

1. Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu, New Zealand

The world's longest place name belongs to a hill near Porangahau in the southern Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand. It is a name given in the Maori language. This hill is 305 meters tall and is famously known for its long name. This name has since been shortened to Taumata for the ease of pronunciation. The meaning of the name has been translated to mean “the place where Tamatea, the man who had big knees, the climber of mountains, the slider, the land-swallower that traveled about, played the nose flute that he had to the loved ones.” With 85 characters, it is the longest place name in the world according to the Guinness World Records.

The 20 Longest Place Names in the World