Norwegian exonyms

As a general rule, modern Norwegian does not use exonyms for names with endonyms in Latin script. Historically, several Danish/German exonyms have been in use, due to the Danish roots of the Bokmål variety of Norwegian, but these exonyms should be considered archaic, and are no longer used officially.

Albania

Albania
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Tirana	Tirana	Tiranë	Albanian

Austria

Austria Østerrike
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Tyrol	Tirol, Tyrol	Tirol	German	Tirol is recommended, but the form Tyrol is resistant because the name of the musical Sommer i Tyrol and the word tyrolerhatt

Belgium

Belgium Belgia
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Brussels	Brussel	Brussel	Dutch	Norwegian uses the German name, though less prominent, German is an official language of Belgium.
		Bruxelles	French

Cuba

Cuba
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Havana	Havanna	La Habana	Spanish

Denmark

Places in Denmark are in Norway spelled like in Danish. Also, for places with Aa, which during the latter half of the 20th century were spelled Å in Denmark, and then changed back to aa. Thus, Aabenraa and some more places are spelled with aa also in Norway. The same sound is spelled Å for places in Norway.

Estonia

Estonia
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Tallinn	Reval, Tallinn	Tallinn	Estonian	Reval is a dated term for Tallinn.

Finland

Until recently, most people tended to use the official Swedish names in Norwegian. The Swedish names are not exonyms, since both Finnish and Swedish are official languages in Finland, with many towns, cities and regions having two, often very different, official names. In recent years, however, the use of Finnish place names have gained some popularity in Norwegian.

Germany

Germany Tyskland
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Rhine	Rhinen	Rhein	German
Stralsund	Stræla	Stralsund	German

Greece

Greece Hellas
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Athens	At(h)en	Athína	Greek
Corfu	Korfu	Kérkyra	Greek
Corinth	Korint(h)	Korinthos	Greek
Crete	Kreta	Kriti	Greek
Pireus	Pireus	Peiraias	Greek
Rhodes	Rhodos	Rodhos	Greek

Italy

Italy Italia
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Syracuse	Syrakus	Siracusa	Italian
Sardinia	Sardinia	Sardegna	Italian

Netherlands

Netherlands Nederland
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
The Hague	Haag	Den Haag	Dutch

Russia

Russia Russland
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Saint Petersburg	St. Petersburg	Sankt Peterburg	Russian

Sweden

Newspapers in Norway often, but absolutely not always, write all ä as æ (sometimes e) and all ö as ø, probably because ä and ö were historically lacking on Norwegian typewriters. For example: Göteborg (Gothenburg) is in Norway written Göteborg or Gøteborg.
Some places have genuine Norwegian names because they were originally part of Norway:

Sweden Sverige
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Bohuslän	Båhuslen	Bohuslän	Swedish
Härjedalen	Herjedalen, Herjådalen	Härjedalen	Swedish
Jämtland	Jemtland	Jämtland	Swedish

United Kingdom

United Kingdom Storbritannia (og Nord-Irland)
English name	Norwegian name	Endonym		Notes
		Name	Language
Scotland	Skottland	Alba	Scottish Gaelic
Thames	Themsen	Thames	English

See also

• List of European exonyms

References

• Vigleik Leira, Geografiske navn i flere språk (2006).

External links

• Official spellings for names of foreign places