Names of cities in Thailand and their meaning
Have you ever wondered what all those beautiful names of Thai cities mean? It's very nice to know them. Following is a short guide.
Not all but many place names in Thailand have a certain meaning. Below I go through the meaning of various places. I write the name first as you know it on the signs and cards in the official transliteration (phonetics), then in Thai characters and then the correct pronunciation is given in brackets.
The pronounciation
The letters with a roof (â) indicate a falling tone, an upside-down roof (ǎ) a rising tone, an acute accent (á) indicates a high tone and a grave accent
(à) a low tone. After all, the letter without an above sign (a) is the middle tone.
Let me start with some terms that appear more often in place names.
Krung กรุง (krong): a Khmer word meaning 'capital, city'.
Thani ธานี (thaanie): 'City' but comes from Sanskrit.
Nakhorn นคร (nákhon): 'City', also from Sanskrit.
-buri –บุรี (bòerie): Many place names end in -buri meaning 'city' or 'fortified place', also from Indo-European Sanskrit. It's a very interesting word. In Thailand, for example, Kanchanaburi ('The Golden City'). It also occurs as -pore in Singapore ('Lion City'), as –pur in Jabalpur (India), -borough in Scarborough (England) and -burg in Middelburg. And in 'fortress'.
Now the individual names of various places and their meanings. First of all, of course, Bangkok.
Bangkok Bangkok (baang-kòk): That's what the town was called before it became the capital of Siam in 1782 under the new Chakri dynasty. 'Bang' means 'village on the water' and 'kok' is probably an abbreviation of 'makok', a kind of olive. So the real Thai name. Foreign ships had to dock there to be checked by the Siamese authorities before being allowed to proceed to Ayutthaya, which is how the name came to the west.
Krung Thep Mahanakhorn (krong-thêep má-hǎa-ná-khon) ever since So 1782. 'City of Angels, the Great City'. If you want to integrate well in Thailand, you must learn to say the full name by heart!
กรุงเทพมหานคร More information More information More information ทธิ์
Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit
These are almost all Sanskrit words. If someone recites this in India, many will know what it means. Translated:
The city of angels, the great city, the abode of the Emerald Buddha, the invincible city of the god Indra, the great capital of the world adorned with nine precious gems, the happy city, rich with a great Royal Palace perched on the heavenly abode seems where the reincarnated god reigns, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnu.
Learn the name and pronunciation of Krung Thep Mahanakhorn with a nice song here:
Pattaya พัทยา (phát-thá-yaa): Means 'the southwest rain monsoon'
Hua Hin หัวหิน (hǒewa-hǐn): 'huwa' means 'head' and 'hin' means 'rock'. So 'stone head'.
Chonburi ชลบุรี (chon-bòe-rie): 'Chon' is 'water'. The 'Water City'.
Phuket ภูเก็ต (phoe-kèt): 'Phu' means 'mountain'. But I couldn't figure out the meaning of 'ket' with certainty. Maybe 'jewel' or a tree species?
Ayutthaya อยุธยา (à-yóe-thá-yaa): The initial sound a stands for 'not, without' (as in 'anti-social'), yut (as in 'Prayut') is 'struggle'. Together it means 'The Invincible City'.
Isaan อีสาน (ie-sǎan): That is 'Northeast' in Sanskrit.
Udon Thani อุดรธานี (òe-don-thaa-nie): 'Udon' is 'north' and 'thani' is city''. 'the Northern City'
Nakhorn Phanom นครพนม (ná-khon phá-nom): Nakhorn is 'city'. 'Phanom' comes from Khmer, the most important power in Isan at the time. The word also occurs in 'Phnom Penh', the capital of Cambodia, and is translated as 'hill, mountain'. 'The Hill City'.
Buriram บุรีรัมย์ (bòe-rie-ram): 'Buri' is already mentioned above: 'city'. 'Aries' is 'happy, joyful'. 'The Joyful City'. Nice huh?
Nakhorn Ratchasima นครราชสีมา (ná-khon râat-chá-sǐe-maa): All words with 'ratcha' refer to 'royal'. Ratchadamnoen ('Royal Way'), Ratchaprasong ('Royal Wish'). 'Sima' is 'border(stone)'. 'The City on the Border of the Kingdom'. The Isan was then still a disputed area between Siam, Laos and Cambodia. Siam won. The city is also known by its shortened name Korat โคราช (khoo-râat). 'Khoo' is 'cow', these two words are related and from Sanskrit, and 'raat' is 'royal'. It won't mean 'Royal Cow', will it?
Nong Khai หนองคาย (nǒng khai): 'nong' means 'swamp' and 'khai' means 'spout'. 'The swamp that flows into the Mekong River', I don't know how to put it in shorter words.
Phitsanulok พิษณุโลก (Phíet-sà-nóe-lôok): 'Phitsanu' is a version of the Hindu god Vishnu. 'Lok' is 'world'. 'The World of Vishnu'.
Phichit พิชิต (Phíe-chít): That's easy. Phichit means 'Victory'.
Nakhorn Pathom นครปฐม (ná-khon pà-thǒm): 'Pathom' is 'the first, the original'. For example, 'Pathom suksa' (Pà-thǒm-sùk-sǎa) stands for 'primary education'. So 'The First City'.
Nakhorn Sawan นครสวรรค์ (ná-khon sà-wǎn): 'Sawan' is 'heaven'. 'The Celestial City'.
Hat Yaic หาดใหญ่ (hàat-yài): 'Hat' is 'beach', and 'yai' we all know already, right? No? Okay, it means "big, important." So 'The Big Beach'.
Surat Thani สุราษฎร์ธานี (sòe-râat thaa-nie): 'Su' stands for 'good' and can be found in many Thai words. 'Rat' is short for 'ratsadorn' (râat-sà-don) and means 'people'. A group within the recent demonstrators calls itself that. And the word appears in the name of hospitals Bumrungrad (bam-roeng-râat), 'Care for the People' and Siriraj (sìe-ríe-râat), 'Glory of the People'. So the 'City of the Good People'.
I would be glad if the dear readers could explain some other names!
For the meaning of Thai personal names see here:
https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/thaise-namen-lang/
Many thanks to Rob V. for the phonetics with the correct pronunciation. That is always a chore.
Thank you very much! And good to know that my family lives near a drained swamp…..:)
The tambon incidentally is written as ต. หนอง กอม เกาะ in which the word nong returns.
NAKOrN (from Sanskrit city) related to Dutch NEGORIJ (hamlet) via Indonesian. See Google.
Chai Nat (town between Nakhon Sawan and Ayutthaya) means Resounding Victory.. see https://wikitravel.org/en/Chainat
Wow. Cool. Learned a lot again. Also my wife, by the way.
Always nice to know those meanings. Nice! 🙂 Say, do those farang in Naklua now live in นาเกลือ (naa-kluua) or หน้ากลัว (Nâa-kloewa) ?
Good morning, Rob. หน้ากลัว should be น่ากลัว. Same pronunciation, different spelling.
I may be wrong, but Pattaya comes from Cambodia and has the same meaning there, namely House or home. But a nice story further
I now see, or rather I heard it in the song, that 'buriram' also appears in the Sanskrit name of Bangkok. There it is translated as 'Happy City'.
How beautiful the Thai language and Thai culture are! So many things from other cultures and languages!
Fun
I stay near Uttaradit city.
However, according to mom, this city used to be called Bang Pho.
Bang is City on the water is correct because it is located on the Nan River and old swamps. (now dried up).
Pho are noodles. No one can say what that relationship is.
I'm not sure because I miss the Thai letters but 'pho' is almost always โพธิ์, the tree Pho or Bodi under which the Buddha was enlightened and can be found at almost every temple. Birds eat the seeds and defecate them again. That's how a Bodi tree came up in our garden.... My ex took out that sacred tree, not allowed in an ordinary garden, she said.
follow the woman is it the waterside (a path along the river) or a harbour? so explain everything differently
Bang Pho Tah It also occurs so find out?
Hello, have your lovely wife send that to you in Thai script, okay? Should be possible.
I guess 'tha' is ท่า harbor or jetty and it อิฐ 'brick'.
According to the Thai wikipedia: อุตรดิตถ์ (òe-tà-rá-dìt) used to be บางโพธิ์ท่าอิฐ (baang-phoo-thâa-ìet) Baang = area along a waterway
Phoo = Bodi, the tree under which the Buddha came to enlightenment.
thâa = harbor or jetty
ìet = brick
“The brick dock/harbour on the bank at the Bodi tree” or something like that.
The current อุตรดิตถ์ (òe-tà-rá-dìt) = the harbor of the north.
nice I didn't know at all thank you mart
Do you also know the Suvarnabhumi airport? That is in Thai สุวรรณภูมิ with the pronunciation 'soewannaphoem' (tones low, middle, high, middle), a name given by the late King Bhumibol. Suwan is one of many names for gold in Thai (thong, suphan, kanchana are the others) and phoem means 'land, area' as Bhum' in Bhumibol. So 'The Golden Land'. That's what the Indians used to call Southeast Asia.
Chiang Mai, new city
Khampaeng phet, diamond wall
Unfortunately I can't give any other examples Tino, but I do have a question.
Why are place names sometimes written together and sometimes separately, such as Chonburi resp. Chon Buri?
No idea Gerald. In Thai it is nicely stuck together, but then they go in all directions with the transliteration.
Listen to a song by Assanee Wasan
These are two brothers.
These sing about the full name of Bkk
na khon sà wan = city of heaven
suphan buri = gold city
buri window = city of the thunder giant ???
I live near Ubon Ratchathani city.
But I also see a lot of Ubol Ratchathani, does anyone know the meaning of that?
In Thai it is อุบลราชธานี, pronounced òe-bon-râat-chá-thaa-nie. Up the L
อุบล is letter by letter oe-bl. So you write an L at the end, but according to the speech rules you have to pronounce an N. Then you get oe-bn. You then have to fill in a vowel yourself between the last two consonants. Often an A, but can also be an O like here. So that makes oe-bon (òe-bon). That's 'lotus' or 'water lily'
ราช (râatchá) = royal
ธานี (thaa-nie = city
The royal lotus (flower) city.
็It is อุบลราชธานี Ubon (or Ubol) Ratchathani.
Ratcha is already mentioned above: royal, and thani as well as: city, together 'The Royal City'.
Ubol is how you write it in Thai, and Ubon (oebon) is the correct pronunciation. For example, the pronunciation of Bhumibol is 'phoemiphon'. (middle, high, mid tone) meaning 'The Leader of the Land'.
Ubon stands for 'lotus'.
The eldest daughter of King Vajiralongkorn is called Ubol Ratana. 'Ratana' is jewel'. 'Lotus jewel'.
What a stupid mistake on my part, sorry. Princess Ubon Ratana is not a daughter but the elder sister of the current monarch.
and what about the cities that have BURI in the name?
It's in the article...
-buri –บุรี (bòerie): Many place names end in -buri meaning 'city' or 'fortified place', also from Indo-European Sanskrit. It's a very interesting word. In Thailand, for example, Kanchanaburi ('The Golden City'). It also occurs as -pore in Singapore ('Lion City'), as –pur in Jabalpur (India), -borough in Scarborough (England) and -burg in Middelburg. And in 'fortress'.
Interesting and excellent story. I knew that the names of the cities have a meaning, but of many cities it is a guesswork for me… and yet I came across one spelling error… it is as if I am walking in a large square and I trip over that one loose stone that has just fallen somewhere. dives above:
The city of angels, the great city, the abode of the Emerald Buddha, the invincible city of the god Indra, the great capital of the world adorned with nine precious gems, the happy city, rich with a great Royal Palace perched on the heavenly abode seems where the reincarnated god reigns, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnu.
Decorates? Decorated or not?
Please don't take it too seriously… I would have made a lot more mistakes myself
I sometimes wonder whether the writers here were also so interested in an explanation of the names of the places where they lived in the Netherlands.
What about: Amsterdam, Hilvarenbeek, Thorn, Norg, Gasselternijveenschemond, Borkel en Schaft, Winterswijk, Ede, Epe, Nibbixwoud, Geervliet, Heenvliet, Dreischor, IJlst, Stavoren, Zeewolde and so on
Take a look at Nederlandblog.nl
I do, Chris. I regularly check my Etymological Dictionary. I was born in the town of Delfzijl. 'Zijl (sluice) in the Delf'.
The correct name of the city of Ayutthaya is “Phra Nakorn Sri Ayutthaya”. Popularly then "Ayutthaya" or "Phra Nakorn"
Thank you for this interesting and wonderful contribution to the meanings of Thai culture and also for the beautiful and interesting additions.
Nice subject.
I noticed that the name Chayaphum is often used in the death and cremation ceremonies.
Meaning according to wikipedia it is “land of victory”.
Just like Nakhon Sawan. The spirit of the deceased is in Nakhon Sawan; the heavenly city.
How nice Tino… thank you !!!!
Tino did you know that Dutch also has words from ancient Sanskrit? just like isaan.
Is the Netherlands the isaan of the EU? haha.
https://atlanteangardens.blogspot.com/2014/11/aryan-linguistic-tree.html
See : Indo-European (Arian) Languages.
The Dutch 'naam' is also sometimes 'naam' in Thai ('naam sakoen' surname), 'name' in Farsi and 'naaman' in Sanskrit.
Are still widely used:
ban=village
bang = ditto, but on the water
khet (although I don't know, can't immediately check the Thai spelling here) = district, that's how the 50 sub-municipalities of the big city of BKK are called 'khet', so mountain-district is plausible.
Around BKK are dozens of 'bang' = something with meaning. That so famous BangLamphu = the neighborhood around KhaoSarn rd., is the village (on water) of a kind of tree.
Pei, I hope I don't make another blunder here like the one below. I am so ashamed.
Khet is เขต in Thai script (low tone kheet), the name for the districts (amphoe in the rest of the country) in Bangkok, sorry Kring Thep.
…Krung Thep…I turned 78 yesterday. 'Birthday' means 'the day of your birthday'.
Now that I have read this article, very interesting and thank you for that.
My girlfriend and I have a cottage in Songklha…. what is the meaning of that?
It comes from Malay, a common language in Southeast Asia at the time.
Songkhla (Thai: สงขลา, pronounced [sǒŋ.kʰlǎː]), also known as Singgora or Singora (Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ).
I can't figure out what it means.
Still found:
The name Songkhla is actually the Thai corruption of Singgora (Jawi: سيڠڬورا); its original name means “the city of lions” in Malay(not to be confused with Singapura). This refers to a lion-shaped mountain near the city of Songkhla.
https://www.vivahotelsongkhla.com/blog_details.php?WP=nGI4G3PDooy34RkxoJyaM3EinJk4Lto7o3Qo7o3Q
"Sing" with a rising tone is also "lion" in Thai.
Songkhla is originally a Malay word, Singora ("City of Lions") and was corrupted by the Thai to its current name. Many places in the far south originally have a Malay name.
Thanks for your explanation. even my girlfriend couldn't explain it.
The word 'hat' in Hat Yai does not mean 'beach'. There is no beach there, so why would anyone call the city “Big Beach”?
“The name “Hat Yai” is a short version of “mahat yai”, meaning big mahat (Thai: มะหาด) tree, a relative of jackfruits in genus Artocarpus.”
“Hat Yai – Wikipedia” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat_Yai
You're absolutely right, sorry. It's so:
The name “Hat Yai” is a short version of “mahat yai”, meaning big mahat (Thai: มะหาด) tree, a relative of jackfruits in genus Artocarpus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat_Yai
The abbreviation หาด hate (low tone) or hat means 'beach'.
Our house in Thailand is close to Lopburi, one of the oldest cities in Thailand. From Wikipedia:
“The city has a long history, dating back to the Dvaravati period more than 1000 years ago. According to the northern chronicles, it was founded by King Kalavarnadish, who came from Taxila (Takkasilā) northwestern India (now Pakistan) in 648 AD. It was originally known as Lavo or Lavapura, meaning "city of Lava" in reference to the ancient South Asian city of Lavapuri (present-day Lahore).”
Of course there is a similarity between Lavapura and Lopburi, but I sometimes wonder whether the first part of the name was later deliberately changed to 'Lop'. That is also a Thai word, and means both 'pearl' and 'subtraction' (depending on the pronunciation). I hope for the first 🙂 …..or does anyone know more about this?
That history is correct. In Thai script Lopburi is ลพบุรี. I can't find the meaning of ลพ lop. My thick dictionary says it comes from Pali and means 'part, drop of water'….But it must be a corruption of 'Lava'….
Kamphaeng Phet = Diamond Wall = I think it has to do with the fact that the fortress wall was impregnable.