Geographical names index
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's (FCDO) current list of approved British English-language names for countries and territories.
Documents
Details
These are the British English-language names and descriptive terms for sovereign countries, UK Crown Dependencies and UK Overseas Territories, as well as their citizens. ‘Sovereign’ means that they are independent states, recognised under international law.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) approved these names. The FCDO leads on geographical names for the UK government, working closely with the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names.
In these lists:
- ‘country’ is the 2-letter ISO 3166-1 code for the country
- the ‘name’ is the FCDO-approved name for the country
All UK government departments and other public bodies must use the approved country and territory names in these datasets. Using these names ensures consistency and clarity across public and internal communications, guidance and services.
-
the full ‘official name’ is also provided for use when the formal version of a country’s name is needed
-
citizen names in the lists are not the legal names for the citizen, they do not relate to the citizen’s ethnicity
You can also view the Welsh language version of the geographical names index on GOV.WALES: international place-names.
Updates to this page
Last updated 25 March 2024 + show all updates
-
The official name for Libya changed to 'State of Libya'. The official name for Tunisia changed to 'Republic of Tunisia'.
-
Updated Micronesia to Federated States of Micronesia.
-
New link to Welsh language international place-names
-
Country names data updated: the official name of 'Republic of Iceland' has been changed to 'Iceland'.
-
Country names list updated: official name of Turkey changed to 'Republic of Türkiye'.
-
Update to UK Overseas Territory names list.
-
New list added: UK Crown Dependencies.
-
Country names file amended: The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal amended to Nepal
-
Country names updated.
-
New guidance added on the list of approved British English language names and descriptive terms for countries.
-
Country names updated
-
Updated country name Macedonia to North Macedonia
-
Updated list of country names
-
Country names list updated.
-
Country names and Country and Territory names (HTML) files updated.
-
Updated lists of countries and territories.
-
FCO geographical names index - updated attachment.
-
Updated with latest information.
-
Updated with amended information.
-
Update of both documents.
-
First published.
-
Updated Document.