Names of Germany

There are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, more so than for any other European nation. For example:

• the German language endonym is Deutschland, from the Old High German diutisc, meaning "of the people";
• the French exonym is Allemagne, from the name of the Alamanni tribe;
• in Italian it is Germania, from the Latin Germania, although the German people are called tedeschi, which is a cognate with German Deutsch;
• in Polish it is Niemcy, from the Proto-Slavic *němьcь, referring to speechless, incomprehensible to Slavic speakers;
• the Finnish call the country Saksa, from the name of the Saxon tribe;
• in Lithuanian it is Vokietija, of unclear origin, but possibly from Proto-Balto-Slavic *vākyā-, meaning “those who speak loud, shout (unintelligibly)”.

Often language lags behind the changing society and names tend to retain references to first encounters: the Finnish first and foremost met the Saxons while the French faced the Alamanni. Comparable tendencies appear elsewhere, e.g. in names for Russia.

Each of the names for Germany has been adapted into other languages all over the world. After an overview of variants this article presents etymological and geographic context for the forms and their worldwide usage as well as names used in bureaucracy.