# What is the Chinese or Japanese name for Ireland? (and other countries) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chinese-or-japanese-name-for-ireland-and-other-countries/603243 "2011-11-17T17:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chinese-or-japanese-name-for-ireland-and-other-countries/603243/21 "2011-11-18T07:50:51Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > England / UK (the two are interchangeable in Japanese) is also written in katakana: イギリス (igirisu). In practice this is true, but Japanese does have a way of speaking specifically about England: Ingurando イングランド (英蘭). This is most commonly encountered when sports are discussed. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chinese-or-japanese-name-for-ireland-and-other-countries/603243/22 "2011-11-18T14:42:03Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > According to my dictionary, there is an alternative way of writing Ireland, 愛蘭 (still pronounced “airurando”), which literally means something like “love orchid”. But the characters aren’t chosen for their meaning, just their sound (individually they are pronounced “ai” and “ran”). There’s an extra character (“er”) in the middle of the Chinese version, but the first and last characters are the same as that Japanese version. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-chinese-or-japanese-name-for-ireland-and-other-countries/603243.md?page=1)