• While in the case of regions, rivers and mountains, English exonyms are the definite choice (not least of all because the features they describe often cross language borders), some lesser-known city exonyms whose difference is merely orthographic
  Orthography
  The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
  
   and does not affect pronunciation
  Pronunciation
  Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
  
   (Cassel, Coblenz) have begun to retreat in favour of the endonymic forms. The media are divided about the use of the English exonyms Basle, Berne, and Zurich. (The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
  
   Style guide
  Style guide
  A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
  
  encourages the continued use of Basle and Berne. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2941-562,00.html) Usage may also depend on context; the spelling Kleve
  Kleve
  Kleve , is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Kleve was capital of a county and later a duchy...
  
  could be used in a news story about an incident in that city, but the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England
  Henry VIII of England
  Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
  
   is always referred to in English as Anne of Cleves
  Anne of Cleves
  Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
  
  , never Anne of Kleve.
• Exonyms that are used exclusively in historical and/or ecclesiastical contexts are marked accordingly (h/e).
• The definite article is given where necessary. Please note that often the article is only correct in one of the two languages (Styria - die Steiermark).

A

• Aix-la-Chapelle - Aachen
  Aachen
  Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
  
   ^h/e
• Argovia - Aargau
  Aargau
  Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...
  
  
• Austria
  Austria
  Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
  
   - Österreich

B

• Basle - Basel
  Basel
  Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
  
   ^h/e
• Baltic Sea
  Baltic Sea
  The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
  
  , the - die Ostsee ('the Eastern Sea')
• Bavaria
  Bavaria
  Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
  
   - Bayern
• Berne - Bern ^h/e
• Black Forest
  Black Forest
  The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
  
  , the - der Schwarzwald
• Blenheim - Blindheim
  Blindheim
  Blindheim is a municipality in the Bavarian district of Dillingen in Southern Germany, consisting of several villages. Its population is roughly 1,700...
  
  
• Brunswick - Braunschweig
  Braunschweig
  Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
  
  

C

• Carinthia
  Carinthia (state)
  Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
  
   - Kärnten
• Cassel - Kassel
  Kassel
  Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
  
   ^h/e
• Cleves - Kleve
  Kleve
  Kleve , is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Kleve was capital of a county and later a duchy...
  
  
• Coblenz, Coblentz, Coblence - Koblenz
  Koblenz
  Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
  
   ^h/e
• Cologne
  Cologne
  Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
  
   - Köln
• Constance - Konstanz
  Konstanz
  Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...
  
   ^h/e
• Constance, Lake
  Lake Constance
  Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
  
   - der Bodensee

F

• Franconia
  Franconia
  Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
  
   - Franken
• Frankfort - Frankfurt am Main ^h/e
• Frisia
  Frisia
  Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...
  
   - Friesland
• East Frisia
  East Frisia
  East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
  
   - Ostfriesland
• North Frisia
  North Frisia
  North Frisia or Northern Friesland is the northernmost portion of Frisia, located primarily in Germany between the rivers Eider and Wiedau/Vidå. It includes a number of islands, e.g., Sylt, Föhr, Amrum, Nordstrand, and Heligoland.-History:...
  
   - Nordfriesland

H

• Hamelin
  Hamelin
  Hamelin is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of 58,696 ....
  
   - Hameln
• Hanover
  Hanover
  Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
  
   - Hannover
• Heligoland
  Heligoland
  Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the south-eastern corner of the North Sea...
  
   - Helgoland
• Hesse
  Hesse
  Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
  
   - Hessen
• Hither Pomerania or Western Pomerania - Vorpommern
• Holsatia - Holstein
  Holstein
  Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
  
   ^h/e

L

• Leipsic - Leipzig
  Leipzig
  Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
  
   ^h/e
• Lower Austria
  Lower Austria
  Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
  
   - Niederösterreich
• Lower Saxony
  Lower Saxony
  Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
  
   - Niedersachsen
• Lucerne
  Lucerne
  Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
  
   - Luzern
• Lucerne, Lake of
  Lake Lucerne
  Lake Lucerne is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.The lake has a complicated shape, with bends and arms reaching from the city of Lucerne into the mountains. It has a total area of 114 km² , an elevation of 434 m , and a maximum depth of 214 m . Its volume is 11.8...
  
   - der Vierwaldstättersee ('the four forest settlements' lake')
• Lunenburg - Lüneburg
  Lüneburg
  Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...
  
   ^h/e
• Lusatia
  Lusatia
  Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...
  
   - die Lausitz

M

• Mayence - Mainz
  Mainz
  Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
  
   ^h/e
• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Mentz - Kurmainz, but also city of Mainz
  Mainz
  Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
  
   ^h/e
• Moguntine - kurmainzisch
• Moselle
  Moselle River
  The Moselle is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rhine, joining the Rhine at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is also drained by the Mosel through the Our....
  
  , the - die Mosel
• Munich
  Munich
  Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
  
   - München

P

• Palatinate
  Palatinate (disambiguation)
  - United Kingdom :*County palatine in England*Palatinate , student newspaper of Durham University*Palatinate , student sporting award of Durham University*Palatinate , a shade of purple used in the colours of the County of Durham...
  
  , the - die Pfalz
• Pomerania
  Pomerania
  Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
  
   - Pommern
• Prussia
  Prussia
  Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
  
   - Preußen

R

• Ratisbon - Regensburg
  Regensburg
  Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
  
   ^h/e
• Rhenish - rheinisch
• Rhine, the - der Rhein
• Rhineland
  Rhineland
  Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
  
  , the - das Rheinland
• Rhineland-Palatinate
  Rhineland-Palatinate
  Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
  
   - Rheinland-Pfalz
• Rugia - Rügen
  Rügen
  Rügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
  
  
• Ruhr
  Ruhr
  The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
  
  , the - (area:) das Ruhrgebiet ; (river:) die Ruhr

S

• Saxe-Lauenburg - Sachsen-Lauenburg
• Saxony
  Saxony
  The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
  
   - Sachsen
• Saxony-Anhalt
  Saxony-Anhalt
  Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
  
   - Sachsen-Anhalt
• Silesia
  Silesia
  Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
  
   - Schlesien
• Sleswick - Schleswig
  Schleswig
  Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
  
   ^h/e
• Spires - Speyer
  Speyer
  Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
  
   ^h/e
• Styria
  Styria (state)
  Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states, covering 16,401 km². It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. ...
  
   - die Steiermark
• Swabia
  Swabia
  Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
  
   - Schwaben
• Switzerland
  Switzerland
  Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
  
   - die Schweiz

T

• Thurgovia - Thurgau
  Thurgau
  Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...
  
  
• Thuringia
  Thuringia
  The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
  
   - Thüringen
• Farther Pomerania - Hinterpommern
• Triers, Treves - Trier
  Trier
  Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
  
   ^h/e
• Tyrol
  Tyrol (state)
  Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
  
   - Tirol

W

• Western Pomerania or Hither Pomerania - Vorpommern
• Westphalia
  Westphalia
  Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
  
   - Westfalen
• Wirtemberg, Wurtemberg - Württemberg
  Württemberg
  Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
  
   ^h/e

See also

• Exonym and endonym
  Exonym and endonym
  In ethnolinguistics, an endonym or autonym is a local name for a geographical feature, and an exonym or xenonym is a foreign language name for it...
  
  
• German exonyms
  German exonyms
  Below is list of German language exonyms for formerly German places and places in non-German-speaking areas of the world :-Links to more extensive lists:Belgium* List of German exonyms for places in BelgiumCroatia...
  
  
• German names for Central European towns
  German names for Central European towns
  This article deals with the historic German language names of towns and cities in Central Europe.Many place names in Central Europe, mostly in the former German Empire and Austria-Hungary, but now located in non-German-speaking countries, have traditionally had equivalents in the German language...
  
  
• German placename etymology
  German placename etymology
  Placenames in the German language area can be classified by the language from which they originate, and by their age.- Suffixes :# -ach, . Examples: Echternach, Salzach....
  
  
• List of European exonyms
• Names for Germany
  Names for Germany
  Because of Germany's geographic position in the centre of Europe and its long history as a disunited region of distinct tribes and states, there are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, perhaps more than for any other European nation: for example, in German the country is...
  
  
• Toponomy