This article lists the various etymologies (origins) of the names of rivers around the world.
from Afrikaans meaning "little apes".
from Afrikaans meaning "mountain".
from the Battle of Blood River, where 600 voortrekkers fought off 20,000 attacking Zulu troops. No voortrekkers were killed, but the dead Zulus (3,000 died) stained the nearby river with blood, and so the name stayed.
from Afrikaans meaning "wide".
from Portuguese meaning "slaves".
from Portuguese meaning "forked".
probably derived from a Khoikhoi clan whose name was given by early Dutch settlers as "Gamtousch".
from siSwati meaning "cow".
named after a small river in the Netherlands.
from Afrikaans meaning "mud".
from the Tuareg phrase gher n gheren meaning "river of rivers", shortened to ngher.
from Greek Neilos (Νεῖλος), sometimes derived from the Semitic Nahal "river."
from Khoikhoi meaning "black river".
from Zulu meaning "reed".
from Afrikaans meaning "elephants".
from Yoruba meaning "waters of the spirit-goddess Ọṣun".
from Afrikaans "Oranje", meaning Orange, which was named after William V, Prince of Orange.
from Sotho meaning "one that inundates".
from Afrikaans meaning "dull".
name is from the opening passage in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, Kubla Khan[1]
so named because of the relationship of the 15th, 14th, 25th and 24th letters of the alphabet in Onyx[2]
Mongolian "rest"
Buryat angarkhai "the mouth of a wild beast"
Persian "fast river"
Sanskrit "son of Brahma"
Thai เจ้าพระยา "river of kings"
Chinese "east river" (東江)
Sanskrit Ganga
Sanskrit Sindhu generically means "river, stream, ocean"[3]
Hebrew Yarden, Arabic Urdunn from the root .י.ר.ד / وَرَدَ meaning "to go down".
Thai Mae Khong (แม่ โขง), "mother of all rivers"
Komi "snow, snowdrift, place of snow"
from Chinese 珠江 (Mandarin: Zhu Jiang; Cantonese: Zyü Gong) named after a sandy or stony island in the middle of the river called "Sea Pearl" (now reduced to a bank in the river)
Persian "White river"
Mongolian "for swimming"
Sumerian "running water"
From Thai วังทอง, "Gold Palace"
Chinese "long river" (長江), from jiang 江 (Old Chinese: kˁrong), argued to be from earlier Proto-Austroasiatic *krung "river"?
See also: Old European hydronymy.
from Celtic *abon- 'river': OIr. ab, aub, MW afon, MBret auon, (PIE: *h2ep-h3on- 'river').
from Greek or maybe Thracian arges = "bright"
from Celtic *abon- 'river': OIr. ab, aub, MW afon, MBret auon, (PIE: *h2ep-h3on- 'river').
Irish meaning "small river"
Irish meaning "big river"
Irish meaning "small river"
from Slavic "bistra" = "fast, quick"
likely from the Illyrian Bosona = "flowing water". Eponymous of Bosnia.
from Irish river goddess Boann, "white cow"
from Celtic kambo 'bend, coocked', Brythonic cam "crooked"
from Turkish "kara" = "black", "dark"
Irish meaning "harbour of the king"
Welsh meaning "hurdle"
Latin Danuvius, Dacian: Donaris, from Iranian (Scythian or Sarmatian) dānu- 'river', of Indo-European origin
from Old East Slavic Дънѣпръ (Dŭněprŭ), with further origins disputed
from Celtic *dubro 'dark': MIr. dobur 'black, unclean', MW dwfr 'water', MBret. dour (PIE *deubh-).
in Latin "Dravus", of Thracian or Illyrian origin, probably from PIE *dhreu = "to flow, to fall".
Estonian meaning "mother river"
Irish after the name of the mythical princess, Éirne
Irish meaning "estuary of the lip"
from Arabic wadi al-kabir, or "great river"
from Cornish Heyl "estuary"
Slavic "jalov" = "infertile"
from Old Finnish kymi, "huge river"
Irish meaning "river of the low-lying district"
from Latin Rubricatus "red river"
Anglo-Saxon meaning "boundary river"
Veps after "rapid" or "falls"
Slavic "prag"="waterfall" or "prah"="dust"
Irish meaning "the narrow"
from the archaic German Rhine, which in turn comes from Middle High German: Rin, from the Proto-Indo-European root *reie- ("to flow, run").[4]
Latin "Sabrina" from an Old British river goddess of that name, becoming "Hafren" in modern Welsh
Irish Sionann, name of a river goddess, Old Irish Sinann, from sen 'old, ancient'[5]
from ancient Thracian "Seretos", probably from PIE *sreu = "to flow"
Irish meaning "river of health"
Celtic river goddess Tawa (Tava, Tatha, "the silent one")[6]
From Tamaris with the same root that Tamar.
Latin "Tamesis" from Brythonic meaning "dark river"
Brythonic meaning "river"
Likely of Finnish origin, meaning "spear"[7]
Slavic влага "vlaga", волога "vologa" meaning "wetness", "humidity";[8] alternatively, Proto-Uralic *valki- "white"; alternatively, Russian velikij "great"[9] [10]
Brythonic meaning "water"
From the Woods Cree word aðapaskāw, "[where] there are plants one after another".[11]
After the reeds growing along its banks, which were used by the local Indians to make bows.
From the Spanish Los Brazos de Dios, or "the arms of God". There are several different explanations for the name, all involving it being the first water to be found by desperately thirsty parties.
The etymology is unclear. The name may have come from French-Canadian traders and hunters who traveled along the river, or early explorers may have thought that the river flowed into Canada.
from Creek cato hocce (pronounced as /mus/) "marked rock".[12]
Spanish for "red-colored; reddish."
Named for Captain Robert Gray's ship Columbia Rediviva, the first to travel up the river.[13]
Named for Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.
After the Bay, named for Thomas West, Baron De la Warre, first English colonial governor of Virginia.[14]
Named for Simon Fraser, who confirmed it was a separate river from the Columbia.
probably from Unami Delaware ahkinkèshaki, "place of sharp ground".[15]
from the Cherokee meaning "stone wall", or from an Eastern Algonquian language meaning "beyond the hill" (e.g., Abenaki awasadenek).[16]
named for Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Netherlands, who explored it in 1609.
French for "wolf", after the Pawnee "wolf people" (Skidi band).
After Alexander MacKenzie, the Scots-Canadian explorer.
Ojibwe misi-zaagi, "river with a wide mouth".
Ojibwe misi-ziibi, "big river".[17]
Named for the Missouri Indians, who lived along the banks. Their name comes from the Illinois mihsoori, meaning "dugout canoe".[18]
Named for Robert Nelson, a ship's master who died at the mouth of the river in 1612.
Named for the Ottawa people, a community of the Algonquian nation, who lived along the river until 1685.
After Peace Point, the location of the ratification of the Treaty of the Peace.
French Rivière Plate ("Flat River"), a calque of the Chiwere name ñįbraske ("flattened water").[19]
From the Patowamek tribe noted by Captain John Smith.[20]
Named for the Pawnee band known as "the Republicans".
Spanish for "big river".
French for Saint Lawrence.
From the Cree term Cree kisiskāciwani-sīpiy, meaning "swift flowing river".
from the Dutch schuil and kil, meaning "hidden river".
Derived from an S-shaped gesture the Shoshone made with their hands to represent swimming salmon. Explorers misinterpreted it to represent a snake, giving the river its present-day name.[21]
named after Estanislao
Named after the Susquehannock Indians, whose name derives from an Algonquian word meaning "people at the falls", "roily water people",[22] or "muddy current".[23]
Named for the Cherokee town of Tanasi, whose etymology is unknown.[24]
English spelling of French Ouabache, from Miami-Illinois waapaahšiiki, "it shines white".[25]
from an Athabaskan language (e.g., Koyukon yookkene, Lower Tanana yookuna).[26]
Ngiyampaa paawan, meaning "river"
named by James Burnett, explorer
named for Campaspe, a mistress of Alexander the Great
named for Charles Cooper, Chief Justice of South Australia 1856–1861
named for Richard Daintree, geologist
named for Sir Dominick Daly, Governor of South Australia 1862–1868
named for Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales 1825–1831
named for Lady Diamantina Bowen, wife of the first Governor of Queensland
named for Captain Matthew Flinders, explorer
named for Sir John Franklin, Governor of Tasmania 1836–1843
named for Captain J. Gascoyne, friend of explorer Lieutenant George Grey
named for Henry Goulburn, English statesman
named for Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (titled Baron Hawkesbury in 1789)
named for Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales 1810–1821
named for Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales 1810–1821
named for Sir George Murray, then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies[27]
from Wiradjuri, meaning "big water"
named for Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia 1877–1880
named for Colonel Robert Torrens, chairman of South Australia's colonising commission
named by explorer Charles Sturt for the nickname of his travelling companion (Rufus), the red-haired George Macleay
named for Charles Todd, Postmaster-General of South Australia 1870–1901
mistranslation from Wurundjeri term yarra yarra
from Māori, meaning "heart stood still"[28] or "heart stumble"[29]
from Māori, meaning the place where people were arranged by ranks[30] [31]
from Māori, meaning "flowing water".[32] [33]
from Māori, meaning "cold water"[34]
Derived from Greek, after the Amazons, or from Tupi Amassona, meaning "boat destroyer"[35] [36]
Derived from Mapudungun for the plant Libertia chilensis[37]
after Lord Cochrane who served in the Chilean Navy
Mapudungun for "big river"
after Carlos Ibáñez del Campo former president of Chile
after the old city of Carahue, formerly known as Imperial.
derived from the Warao term for "a place to paddle", itself derived from the terms güiri ("paddle") and noko ("place") i.e. a navigable place.[38]
Spanish for "Silver River"
after the Spanish conquistador of Chile Pedro de Valdivia