37 Cities Whose Names Differ in Spanish
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Note: This article is the same as the one on the previous page, except that the city names have been alphabetized in Spanish rather than in English.
It's obvious why the American city of Philadelphia is spelled Filadelfia in Spanish: the spelling change helps make certain that the city's name is pronounced correctly. Less obvious is why the British capital of London is Londres to Spaniards or, for that matter, why Americans think of the German city of München as Munich.
In any case, numerous major and noteworthy cities worldwide are known by different names in Spanish than in English. With the Spanish names in boldface, here are some of the most common ones:
Addis Abeba — Addis Ababa
Adelaida — Adelaide
Alejandría — Alexandria
Argel — Algiers
Atenas — Athens
Bagdad — Baghdad
Belén — Bethlehem
Belgrado — Belgrade
Berlín — Berlin
Berna — Berne
Bogotá — Bogota
Bucarest — Bucharest
Calcuta — Calcutta
Ciudad del Cabo — Cape Town
Copenhague — Copenhagen
Damasco — Damascus
Djakarta — Jakarta
Dublín — Dublin
El Cairo — Cairo
Estambul — Istanbul
Estocolmo — Stockholm
Filadelfia — Philadelphia
Ginebra — Geneva
la Habana — Havana
Jerusalén — Jerusalem
Johanesburgo — Johannesburg
La Haya — The Hague
La Meca — Mecca
Lisboa — Lisbon
Londres — London
Los Ángeles — Los Angeles
Luxemburgo — Luxembourg
Moscú — Moscow
Nueva Delhi — New Delhi
Nueva Orleans — New Orleans
Nueva York — New York
París — Paris
Pekín — Beijing
Pittsburgo — Pittsburgh
Praga — Prague
Reikiavik — Reykjavik
Roma — Rome
Seúl — Seoul
Tokio — Tokyo
Túnez — Tunis
Varsovia — Warsaw
Viena — Vienna
This list shouldn't be viewed as inclusive. Not included are cities that use "City" in their English names, such as Panama City and Mexico City. Note also that practices vary among Spanish writers in placing accented vowels within foreign names. For example, the U.S. capital is sometimes written as Wáshington, but the unaccented version is more common.
Spellings in this list are those that appear to be the most commonly used. However, some publications may use alternate spellings of some names.
Note: This article is the same as the one on the previous page, except that the city names have been alphabetized in Spanish rather than in English.
It's obvious why the American city of Philadelphia is spelled Filadelfia in Spanish: the spelling change helps make certain that the city's name is pronounced correctly. Less obvious is why the British capital of London is Londres to Spaniards or, for that matter, why Americans think of the German city of München as Munich.
In any case, numerous major and noteworthy cities worldwide are known by different names in Spanish than in English. With the Spanish names in boldface, here are some of the most common ones:
Addis Abeba — Addis Ababa
Adelaida — Adelaide
Alejandría — Alexandria
Argel — Algiers
Atenas — Athens
Bagdad — Baghdad
Belén — Bethlehem
Belgrado — Belgrade
Berlín — Berlin
Berna — Berne
Bogotá — Bogota
Bucarest — Bucharest
Calcuta — Calcutta
Ciudad del Cabo — Cape Town
Copenhague — Copenhagen
Damasco — Damascus
Djakarta — Jakarta
Dublín — Dublin
El Cairo — Cairo
Estambul — Istanbul
Estocolmo — Stockholm
Filadelfia — Philadelphia
Ginebra — Geneva
la Habana — Havana
Jerusalén — Jerusalem
Johanesburgo — Johannesburg
La Haya — The Hague
La Meca — Mecca
Lisboa — Lisbon
Londres — London
Los Ángeles — Los Angeles
Luxemburgo — Luxembourg
Moscú — Moscow
Nueva Delhi — New Delhi
Nueva Orleans — New Orleans
Nueva York — New York
París — Paris
Pekín — Beijing
Pittsburgo — Pittsburgh
Praga — Prague
Reikiavik — Reykjavik
Roma — Rome
Seúl — Seoul
Tokio — Tokyo
Túnez — Tunis
Varsovia — Warsaw
Viena — Vienna
This list shouldn't be viewed as inclusive. Not included are cities that use "City" in their English names, such as Panama City and Mexico City. Note also that practices vary among Spanish writers in placing accented vowels within foreign names. For example, the U.S. capital is sometimes written as Wáshington, but the unaccented version is more common.
Spellings in this list are those that appear to be the most commonly used. However, some publications may use alternate spellings of some names.
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