Geography Games

The Longest and Shortest Country Names

Countries have a short name (the one you use) and a long official name (the one on the treaty). The gap between them can be enormous.

Updated August 28, 2026

The Longest and Shortest Country Names

Every country has two names: a common short-form name used in conversation and on maps, and a formal long-form name used in law and diplomacy. "France" is short-form; "the French Republic" is long-form. For some countries the two are almost the same; for others the long form is a paragraph.

The longest official names

  1. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — 56 characters, the longest official name of any sovereign state.
  2. The United Republic of Tanzania.
  3. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
  4. The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
  5. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
  6. The Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
  7. The Plurinational State of Bolivia.
  8. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Historically, Libya under Gaddafi held the record with "the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya".

The shortest names

By common name, the shortest are Chad, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Mali, Oman, Peru and Togo — all four letters. Three-letter forms are informal (UAE, USA, UK). By official name, the shortest are those where the short and long forms coincide or nearly do: Ireland, Jamaica, Canada, Georgia, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Tuvalu, Ukraine — countries whose constitutions simply use the plain name with no "Republic of" or "Kingdom of".

One-syllable country names

Very few country names are a single syllable in English: Chad, France, Greece, Spain. "Laos" is one or two depending on pronunciation. This is a favourite trivia question, and the answer people forget is Chad.

Names with the definite article

A small set of countries conventionally take "the" in English: the Bahamas, the Gambia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Maldives, the Comoros, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, the Seychelles, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates. Most are plurals, island groups, or descriptive phrases. The Gambia insists on the article to distinguish itself from the Gambia River and from Zambia.

Each country fact page lists both the common name and the official long-form name.

Every country's full name →

FAQ

What country has the longest name?
By official name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, at 56 characters. Historically, Libya's official name under Gaddafi was longer.
What are the shortest country names?
By common name, Chad, Cuba, Fiji, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Mali, Oman, Peru and Togo — all four letters.
Which country names are one syllable?
In English: Chad, France, Greece and Spain. Chad is the one people usually forget.
Why does 'the Gambia' have 'the' in front of it?
The government adopted the definite article to distinguish the country from the Gambia River and to avoid confusion with Zambia. A few other countries — the Bahamas, the Netherlands, the Philippines — conventionally take 'the' as well.

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