Original photo by Orietta Gaspari/ iStock
While Ireland is named after the mythical goddess Éiru, there’s only one sovereign nation in the world named for a real-life woman. That distinction lies with Saint Lucia, a Caribbean island nation christened in honor of St. Lucy of Syracuse, patron saint of the blind, who died around the fourth century CE.
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It's a factMexico's official name is actually the “United Mexican States.” The name was established upon ratifying the nation's first constitution on October 4, 1824. Repeated attempts have been made to shorten the official label to just “Mexico,” but none have yet been successful.
Saint Lucia was initially called Louanalao (meaning “Island of the Iguanas”) by the Indigenous Arawak people as early as 200 CE. It was in 1502 that the origins of its current name formed, when shipwrecked French sailors dubbed the place “Sainte Alousie.” It was a common practice at the time to name islands after saints, and legend has it that the sailors reached the island on December 13 — St. Lucy’s feast day. Given the date’s significance, December 13 is now celebrated in the country as the National Day of St. Lucia. The Spanish who arrived around 1511 named the island “Sancta Lucia”; the current name formed after waves of colonization by the English and French.
While female namesakes are rare on a national level, one woman has lent her name to dozens of smaller locations. The name of Queen Victoria, the U.K.'s reigning monarch from 1837 to 1901, appears in the titles of locations around the globe, such as the provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada, and Zimbabwe’s breathtaking Victoria Falls. You'd be hard-pressed to find an American woman with influence so vast. Even in the USA, only a handful of places are named for women, including Barton County, Kansas — named after Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross — and Dare County, North Carolina, honoring Virginia Dare, the first child of English parents to be born in the New World.
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The capital of Liberia is named after U.S. President James Monroe.
Two countries have no official capital city.
Switzerland and Nauru may not appear to have much in common, but both countries share a quirk — neither has an official capital city. While Bern is considered the de facto capital of Switzerland (it’s where the Swiss parliament, also known as the Federal Assembly, meets), there’s no established capital written into the country’s laws. As for the Pacific island of Nauru, not only is there no capital, there are no real cities of any kind, since the island is instead made up of several districts. Of those districts, Yaren is considered the de facto capital — it houses important government buildings, such as Parliament House, as well as several embassies. On the flip side, South Africa has three official capitals, the most of any country. There you can find the city of Pretoria serving as the administrative capital, Cape Town as the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein as the judicial capital.
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism Media, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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