Why do country/state names that start with "A" end with "A"?

[Victor Charlie]

With very few exceptions, every continent, country and U.S. state that starts with the letter "A" ends with the letter "A", at least in English. Even the one U.S. state that doesn't fit this standard is pronounced as if it does, Arkansas. What linguistic custom or convention is responsible for this. It can't be a coincidence.

[Ethilrist]

Why not? A quick search of Countries of the World only showed about a dozen countries that start with A. Of the other countries, a goodly number of them end with A as well. I don't think this is such a representative sample of How Places are Named. Have you looked at lists of cities as well?

[Smeghead]

As far as countries go, -ia is a very common ending. I assume it means "land" or somesuch in Greek or Latin. There are lots of countries that end in -ia that don't start with A, too, so there's not necessarily a link. Romania, Serbia, Mongolia, Namibia, etc. So what you're seeing there may just be a coincidence.

[Colophon]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

It can't be a coincidence.

Sure it can. Lots of country and state names end in "a".

Out of the 50 US states, 21 end in the letter "a". That's almost half. So it's hardly a huge coincidence that out of the four that start with "a", three end with "a".

Similarly with countries: I haven't counted them up, but "-ia" is a pretty common suffix for country names (Bolivia, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, and so on and so on). So again it's no surprise that most of the countries that start with "a" also end with "a". (Nine out of 11, with the exceptions being Afghanistan and Azerbaijan.)

[Victor Charlie]

Originally Posted by Ethilrist

Why not? A quick search of Countries of the World only showed about a dozen countries that start with A. Of the other countries, a goodly number of them end with A as well. I don't think this is such a representative sample of How Places are Named. Have you looked at lists of cities as well?

Only two "A" countries don't end in "A", and they're both Muslim. Considering all other nations, all continents and all U.S. states fit the mold, there must be some convention. The starting and ending letter for nations and states run the gamut, but those that start with "A" almost invariably end with "A".

[Zsofia]

Somebody lost a game on a long car trip, eh? (Psst - Azerbaijan.)

[Telemark]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

The starting and ending letter for nations and states run the gamut

But they don't. As mentioned above, of the 50 US states, 21 end in the letter A.

[friedo]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

Only two "A" countries don't end in "A", and they're both Muslim. Considering all other nations, all continents and all U.S. states fit the mold, there must be some convention. The starting and ending letter for nations and states run the gamut, but those that start with "A" almost invariably end with "A".

Arkansas.

[Telemark]

Also, you're looking at the English spelling of countries. Translate into the native language and you might not see the same results.

[ShibbOleth]

Originally Posted by Telemark

Also, you're looking at the English spelling of countries. Translate into the native language and you might not see the same results.

Austria = Oesterreich for example.

even better, the Republic of Albania becomes Republika e Shqipërisë (it's pronounced liked it's spelled)

[Victor Charlie]

Come on, folks. I addressed most of your replies in my OP.

Arkansas - Yes, as I said, it ends in an "s" but is still pronounced like an "a", actually lends credence to my point.

Azerbaijan - I referenced in my second post, along with Afghanistan.

I acknowledged that the names are the English versions.

Yes, many states and countries end in "a", but virtually ALL of them that start with "a" also end in "a", certainly not the case with any other starting letters.

For example: There's Montana, but there's also Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi and Missouri. There's Bolivia, but there's also Bhutan, Belgium, Britain, Belarus, Barbados, Brazil, etc.

A simple look at the numbers and you'll see that fully 90% of states/countries/continents that start with A end with A (the two exceptions being geographically and ethnically similar to each other.) It's not even close to that for any other starting letter. So, is it just a giant coincidence? Or is there an etyomological reason for it?

[Gary T]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

So, is it just a giant coincidence?

Yes.

Or is there an etyomological reason for it?

No.

[cjepson]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

Arkansas - Yes, as I said, it ends in an "s" but is still pronounced like an "a", actually lends credence to my point.

Well, to me it sounds like it ends with a W.

[Telemark]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

Arkansas - Yes, as I said, it ends in an "s" but is still pronounced like an "a", actually lends credence to my point.

No, it doesn't. We're talking about spelling, not pronunciation. Be consistent.

Yes, many states and countries end in "a", but virtually ALL of them that start with "a" also end in "a", certainly not the case with any other starting letters.

There are only 50 states, 21 of which end in the letter A, or 42%. There are 4 states that start with A and 3 of them end with A, or 75%. With a sample size of 50 states that's not very unlikely simply by chance. Every state that starts with F, G, L, P, S, and V ends in the letter A. Coincidence? Every state/country/province that starts with Y ends in N.

Or is there an etyomological reason for it?

As stated above, a lot of English names for countries end in "-ia". For states, I think your sample size is too small to be meaningful. In general, lots of names end in vowels.

BTW, you left out Alberta.

[brazil84]

A more interesting question is why the cartographer Martin Waldseemueller in 1507 named the New World (actually, just South America) America rather than Vespucciland--although I guess to ask the question is to answer it. Amerigo's first name was a lot more euphonious than his last name, and (no small matter) could be latinized into a word that started and ended with the letter A, just like Asia and Africa before it.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...erigo-vespucci

[Enginerd]

Originally Posted by Telemark

Every state that starts with F, G, L, P, S, and V ends in the letter A.

Must be a silent A in Vermont.

[Exapno Mapcase]

There is a partial pattern. Take a look at the derivations from etymonline.com.

America
1507, in Cartographer Martin Waldseemüller's treatise "Cosmographiae Introductio," from Mod.L. Americanus, after Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) who made two trips to the New World as a navigator and claimed to have discovered it. His published works put forward the idea that it was a new continent, and he was first to call it Novus Mundus "New World." Amerigo is more easily Latinized than Vespucci. The name Amerigo is Germanic, said to derive from Goth. Amalrich, lit. "work-ruler." The Old English form of the name has come down as surnames Emmerich, Emery, etc. The Italian fem. form merged into Amelia.

The Latinization of words probably does favors endings in "a" because that is the first nominative declension. Those nouns are usually feminine, and the names of countries are often feminized. Germans are unusual for thinking of the Fatherland rather than the Motherland or equivalent. America is also known as Columbia, and is personified by a female image. France also has one, known as Marianne. Liberty is also personified as female, as in Statue of. Therefore the -a ending shows up frequently in Latinized names, but more because it's a subset of the female naming convention than anything else.

Arkansas and Kansas both follow this, since the "s" indicates a plural, of Kansa.

Kansas
named for the river, which is named for the native people, from French variant of Kansa, native name of the Siouan people who lived there (1722). It is a plural (see Arkansas).

Most other such names also go back to Latin or Greek.

Algeria
North African country, named for Algiers, city chosen by the French as its capital when they colonized it in 1830 + Latinate "country" suffix -ia.

Asia
c.1300, from L. Asia, from Gk. Asia, speculated to be from Akkad. asu "to go out, to rise," in reference to the sun, thus "the land of the sunrise."

Albania
Medieval Latin name of the country called by its inhabitants Shqipëri (lit. "land of eagles," from shqiponje "eagle"), from Medieval Greek Albania, possibly from a pre-IE word *alb "hill" (also proposed as the source of Alps) or from the IE root *alb "white."

Argentina
South American nation, from L. argentinus "of silver" (see argent); a Latinized form of (Rio) de la Plata, from Sp. plata "silver."

The route is not as direct in other names, so it may be that the tradition in Latin-derived languages of forcing an ending in -a influenced them, or it may be a coincidence to make them sound mellifluous. Alaska, Alabama, and Arizona are all from Indian names. Several other states end in a vowel (or vowel sound), or an "s" that is probably a plural and not pronounced: Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Hawaii, Kentucky, Utah, Illinois. Texas is also probably a plural that kept the ending sound.

So now we are over 30 states that have a vowel sound for an ending. That makes the -a sounds something less amazing. I wouldn't go any farther than saying that there is a partial pattern but too many exceptions and unknowns to read anything more into it.

[Victor Charlie]

Okay, since it's not obvious enough, we'll run the numbers: Below are the percentages of starting letters that end in A, counting states, countries and continents:

A: 90%
B: 22%
C: 48%
D: 25%
E: 37%
F: 25%
G: 50%
H: 0%
I: 36%
J: 33%
K: 25%
L: 50%
M: 33%
N: 30%
O: 50%
P: 25%
Q: 0% (only Qatar)
R: 75% (only 4 examples)
S: 27%
T: 16%
U: 40%
V: 33%
W: 0% (only 3 examples)

Obviously, some letters are more numerously represented than others. But, however you want to slice it, the pattern is clear.

[Telemark]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

Obviously, some letters are more numerously represented than others. But, however you want to slice it, the pattern is clear.

What is the pattern? You have one outlier, which isn't particularly unusual.

[Victor Charlie]

Exapno Mapcase,

I appreciate your post. I started my pedantic statistical breakout before your post appeared. It seems fair to assume that since we're already predisposed to end names in "a", when we start with "a" it's that much more aesthetically pleasing to end that way.

[Victor Charlie]

Originally Posted by Telemark

What is the pattern? You have one outlier, which isn't particularly unusual.

Which pattern? The pattern that shows a clear propensity to end with an "a" any state or country name that begins with an "a". It happens at a rate double or more than any other starting letter. There are more than enough "a" to "a" examples (20) to reasonably demonstrate the pattern. It's not like I asked why every country that starts with a "q" ends with an "r".

And, yes, "a" to "a" is an outlier, which is kind of my point.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by Colophon

(Nine out of 11, with the exceptions being Afghanistan and Azerbaijan.)

And all those countries that end in -istan or -stan: that's an ending meaning roughly 'land of the'. So Afghanistan is 'land of the Afghans', Pakistan is ;land of the Paki's (pure)', etc.

[Kimstu]

The smallness of your sample size, coupled with the tendency for country names to end in "a", is distorting your perception.

If you look at a bigger sample including other types of toponym, for example names of counties, you'll see that the vast majority of ones that begin with "a" do NOT end in "a".

Small sample size + random fluctuations + tendency of country names to end in "a" + confirmation bias = spurious conclusion.

[GreasyJack]

Originally Posted by Kimstu

If you look at a bigger sample including other types of toponym, for example names of counties, you'll see that the vast majority of ones that begin with "a" do NOT end in "a".

Yeah, they all end in "y" (or "h" in Louisiana).

Counties are kind of a bad example because the vast majority of counties are just someone's name, as opposed to a word specifically devised to be a place name. Just skimming that list, it looks to me like "a" endings are indeed over-represented among the county names that aren't named after a specific person.

[Little Nemo]

Okay, okay, okay, we'll say it! It's all part of the Illuminati's Secret Master Plan! And now that it's out in the open, they're going to have to kill all of the penguins to get things back on track! That's right, little dead penguins! Are you happy now?

[Smeghead]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

Okay, okay, okay, we'll say it! It's all part of the Illuminati's Secret Master Plan! And now that it's out in the open, they're going to have to kill all of the penguins to get things back on track! That's right, little dead penguins! Are you happy now?

You mean the penguins that live in....ANTARCTICA??!!

[dtilque]

Originally Posted by Telemark

Every state/country/province that starts with Y ends in N.

Oh, come on! You probably thought of 2 or 3 examples and thought that covered the entire world. Well, it obviously doesn't.

Here's a list of those that do end in N:

Yemen
Yerevan, Armenia
Yangon, Burma
Yunnan, China
Yucatan, Mexico
Yukon, Canada
Yilan, Taiwan
Yunlin, Taiwan
Yasothon, Thailand

And here's a list where they don't:

Yardimli, Azerbaijan
Yevlax, Azerbaijan
Yambol, Bulgaria
Yomou, Guinea
Yoro, Honduras
Yazd, Iran
Yamagata, Japan
Yamaguchi, Japan
Yamanashi, Japan
Yanggang, N Korea
Ysyk-Kol, Kyrgyzstan
Yap, Micronesia
Yobe, Nigeria
Yaroslavl', Russia
Yala, Thailand
Yalova, Turkey
Yozgat, Turkey
Yumbe, Uganda
Yaracuy, Venezuela
Yen Bai, Vietnam


Note that both lists contain things usually labeled prefectures, districts, regions, oblasts, and a few other synonyms of state/province. I didn't discriminate on that basis -- any 1st level administative division was included. Names were taken from this page of the CIA World Factbook.

[Telemark]

Thank you for that link. Up until now we were apparently just using the American states; I added Canada (but I missed Vermont). Since that was what the OP was using, I continued in that vein. I never intended to cover the whole world.

If we use provinces and districts of other countries the idea that states that begin with A always end with A is clearly just a fluke of probability:

Algeria: Adrar, Ain Defla, Ain Temouchent, Alger, Annaba
Brazil: Acre, Alagoas, Amapa, Amazonas
China: Anhui
Columbia: Amazonas, Antioquia, Arauca, Atlantico
El Salvador: Ahuachapan

Those are few quick examples from the first few countries.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Smeghead

You mean the penguins that live in....ANTARCTICA??!!

Not after next Tuesday.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

Or is there an etyomological reason for it?

There is an ethymological reason why many place names end in -a, but it's got nothing to do with how they start. As mentioned in one of the first posts, the -ia suffix comes from one meaning "land of the...", so you get lots of People-ias which end in, tadaaaaa... A! --- but only for places which got originally named in Latin or in a Romance language, many of which do not have an -a in English but do have one in some Romance languages (not necessarily in all of them).

[RedSwinglineOne]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

It can't be a coincidence.

It most certainly can.

It may or may not be, but it can be.

E.T.A. whats up with H?!!

H: 0%

[Victor Charlie]

Originally Posted by RedSwinglineOne

It most certainly can.

It may or may not be, but it can be.

I'll assume you realize I wasn't speaking literally.

Originally Posted by RedSwinglineOne

E.T.A. whats up with H?!!

0% of countries/states that start with h end with a.

[RedSwinglineOne]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

I'll assume you realize I wasn't speaking literally.

Your reluctance to accept that this may have happened by chance suggests that you were speaking literally.

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

0% of countries/states that start with h end with a.

I understand. I was drawing attention to your lack of surprise at this fact.

[Victor Charlie]

Originally Posted by RedSwinglineOne

I understand. I was drawing attention to your lack of surprise at this fact.

Ah. Another incident of light sarcasm not always translating through the keyboard.

[Smeghead]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

0% of countries/states that start with h end with a.

Hungaria?

[Telemark]

Originally Posted by Victor Charlie

0% of countries/states that start with h end with a.

Only if you restrict yourself to US states:

Columbia: Huila
Estonia: Harjumaa, Hiiumaa

Look at the bigger picture; in any small data set there are bound to be statistical anomalies.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Smeghead

Hungaria?

Hibernia? Hispaniola? Hollandia?