I find that place names in Thai are quite difficult to remember. Well, I should say that I find names of any kind difficult to remember and it isn’t just because of the language or my advancing age. You can tell me your name and 2 minutes later I will have forgotten. I have always had that problem.
I believe that the gene for remembering names was not passed on to me. But no problem, I have found a way, a sort of mnemonic, to remember Thai place names.
It turns out that most place names have a meaning. Here is the trick I have been using lately. When I hear a name I try to translate it in my head as someone is telling it to me (or later when I get back to my dictionary). If I can figure out what it means then I can usually remember it later when I have to.
Geographical place names
As is true with many western names, Thai place names often mean something. In the U.S. place names are frequently named directly for individual people.
New York is named after the Duke of York; San Francisco after Saint Francis. But there are many other names with less familiar etymology. Chicago is named after the Chicago Indian tribe. Florida has the Spanish root word “flor” meanng “flowers”. Los Angeles is Spanish for “The Angels”, the same meaning as Krunthep. Philadelphia is the city of “philo”, Greek for “loving”. And my favorite American city, Seattle, was named after a local Indian Chief.
Likewise, there are lots of Thai place names with quite esoteric or ancient meanings, but the ones easiest to figure out are names using the following affixes:
บุรี /bù-ree/ (…buri)
เชียง /chiang/ (Chiang …)
นคร /ná-kon/ (Nakhon …)
กรุง /grung/ (Krung…)
บาง /baang/ (Bang…)
These all mean basically the same thing, “city” or “town”. They act similarly to the English suffixes “bury” as in Roxbury and borough as in Brattleborough. The endings “bury” and บุรี /bù-ree/ sound similar but are of different origins
The following are some familiar Thai names which use the “city” words. They are usually combined with a description word which carries the meaning.
บุรี /bù-ree/
Chonburi: ชลบุรี ชล /chon/ (water)
Rajburi: ราชบุรี ราช /râat/ (royal)
Singburi: สิงห์บุรี สิงห์ /sĭng/ (lion)
Thonburi: ธนบุรี ธน /ton/ (treasure)
Petchaburi: เพชรบุรี เพชร /pét/ (diamond)
เชียง /chiang/
Chiang Mai: เชียงใหม่ ใหม่ /mài/ (new)
Chiang Dao: เชียงดาว ดาว /daao/ (star)
Chiang Saen: เชียงแสน แสน /săen/ (extreme, a lot)
Chiang Khong: เชียงของ ของ /kŏng/ (from Mekong River)
นคร /ná-kon/
Nakhon Pratom: นครปฐม ปฐม /bpà-tŏm/ (first, original)
Nakhon Panom: นครพนม พนม /pá-nom/ (mountain, hill)
Nakhon Sawan: นครสวรรค์ รสวรรค์ /sà-wăn/ (heavenly)
Nakhon Ratchasima: นครราชสีมา ราชสีมา /râat-chá-sĕe-maa/ (royal boundary, aka Korat)
บาง /baang/
Bangkok: บางกอก /กอก gòk/ (olive)
Bangplee: บางพลี พลี /plee/ (religious offering)
Bangkapi: บางกะปิ กะปิ /gà-bpì/ (shrimp paste)
Bangrak: บางรัก รัก /rák/ (love)
Bangsan: บางแสน แสน /săen/ (extreme, a lot)
กรุง /grung/
Krungthep: กรุงเทพฯ เทพ /grung tâyp/ (angel)
Quite often the longer version of Bangkok’s name, กรุงเทพมหานคร /grung tâyp má-hăa ná-kon/, is used. You might see road signs saying “Krungthep Mahanakhon”. The “Maha” means great and “Nakhon” and “Krung” we know mean city. So Bangkok’s longer name is translated as “The Great City of Angels”. But of course that is only part of the name. Its real name is listed in the Guinness Book of Word Records as the longest place name in the world. Translating that would be fun. I usually just stick with “Bangkok”.
Coastal and island names: เกาะ and หาด
Everything above comes from the Bangkok–Chiang Mai belt, but the same trick works just as well down south. Two elements show up constantly on any map of the Gulf or Andaman coast.
- เกาะ /ko/ (island) — Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Tao, Koh Lanta all start with this word. “Koh” on a map or a ferry ticket always means you’re headed to an island.
- หาด /hat/ (beach) — Hat Yai (the South’s biggest city) and Hat Patong on Phuket both carry it. Hat Yai literally means “big beach,” even though the city itself isn’t on the coast.
Bangkok’s full name, decoded
Since I brought it up: here’s the rest of Bangkok’s ceremonial name, the one that holds the Guinness World Record for longest place name. In Thai it reads:
กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์
Nobody uses it in daily life, not even Thais. It shows up on ceremonial plaques, in the national anthem-adjacent recitation kids learn in school, and in trivia questions. Broken into its rough sense-groups, it translates to something like: “The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city abounding in an enormous Royal Palace, the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.”
Every Thai schoolchild memorizes it. Every Thai adult forgets most of it within a year of leaving school, same as an American forgetting the Preamble to the Constitution. Nobody expects a foreigner to learn it — กรุงเทพ /grung tâyp/ (Krung Thep) or the full official short form กรุงเทพมหานคร /grung tâyp má-hǎa ná-kon/ (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon) covers every practical situation.
Mountains and rivers
Many place names start with “Doi” ดอย /doi/. This means hill or mountain in the northern dialect. And even more start with “Mae” แม่ /mâe/. This means “mother” but is really a shortened form of แม่น้ำ /mâe náam/, meaning mother of waters, or river. The words Mekong River literally mean “River Kong River”.
Thai place-name elements at a glance
Everything above in one table. Spot one of these in a place name and you already know roughly what you’re looking at.
| Thai | Romanization | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| บาง | bang | waterside village, settlement along a canal | Bangkok (บางกอก), Bang Rak |
| บุรี | buri | city, town | Chonburi, Petchaburi |
| นคร | nakhon | city | Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Ratchasima |
| กรุง | krung | capital, great city | Krung Thep (Bangkok) |
| เชียง | chiang | walled city, fortified town | Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai |
| ดอย | doi | hill, mountain (Northern dialect) | Doi Suthep, Doi Inthanon |
| แม่น้ำ | mae nam | river (“mother of waters”) | Mae Nam Khong (Mekong) |
| เกาะ | ko | island | Koh Samui, Koh Tao |
| หาด | hat | beach | Hat Yai, Hat Patong |
Street names
These are also quite impossible for me to remember. This, finding the meaning mnemonic trick, helps me with street names too. Here are some well-known street names from Chiang Mai where I live. The names are a lot easier to remember once you realize what they mean. Your town will have similar names with similar meanings. See if you can break them down.
Rajdamnern: ราชดำเนิน /râat-chá-dam-nern/ (royal + walk)
Rajdamree: ราชดำริ /râat-chá-dam-rì/ (royal + think, consider)
Chang Puek: ช้างเผือก /cháang-pèuak/ (elephant + albino/white)
Chang Klan: ช้างคลาน /cháang-klaan/ (elephant + crawl)
Chang Moi: ช้างม่อย /cháang-môi/ (elephant + doze, nap)
Cholaprathan: ชลประทาน /chon bprà-taan/ (irrigation)
Thapae: ท่าแพ /tâa pae/ (landing + raft)
Suthep: สุเทพ /sù-tâyp/ (angel)
Huey kaew: ห้วยแก้ว /hûay gâew/ (stream + glass)
Here are a few Bangkok street names
Silom: สีลม /sĕe lom/ (windmill)
Sukhumvit: สุขุมวิท /sù-kùm-wít/ (prudent; profound; wise)
Wittayu (Wireless:) วิทยุ /wít-tá-yú/ (radio, or wireless)
Khao San: ข้าวสาร /kâao săan/ (rice)
Chitlom: ชิดลม /chít-lom/ (near the breeze)
Ploenchit: เพลินจิต /plern jìt/ (happy heart or mind)
Mispronounced names
Not only can knowing the meaning of a word help you remember it, it can also help with learning how to pronounce it properly. The worst culprit in the Thai language, that is infamous in transliterating its words so that they are rendered unpronounceable, is probably the name of Bangkok’s international airport, Suvarnabhumi สุวรรณภูมิ. How in the world is the uninitiated person supposed to pronounce that? Su-Varn-A-Boo-Mi, right? Not exactly.
The word is made up of two parts สุวรรณ /sù-wan/ (one of Thai’s many words meaning gold) and ภูมิ /poom/ (meaning land or country). So the true pronunciation of Suvarnabhumi (adding an “a” in the middle to connect the two parts and with a final silent “i”) is /sù-wan-ná poom/ (Golden Land).
Another mispronounced Thai name, made famous because it is in the title of an Oscar winning film, is the river “Kwai”, from “Bridge on the River Kwai”. Good movie, bad pronunciation. Everyone in the world pronounces it “Kwai”. Many new Thai language learners think River Kwai means “Water Buffalo River” because that is the way the name of the river is usually mispronounced. ควาย /kwaai/ is Thai for water buffalo.
But the real name of the river is แม่น้ำแคว /mâe náam kwae/. แม่น้ำ /mâe náam/ is Thai for river and แคว /kwae/ means tributary. So it is not the Water Buffalo River, it is the Tributary River, and it is not kwai it is kwae.
Romantic names
Some place name definitions just make them sound so much more romantic or exotic. Chiang Mai, or “New City” in translation, is a pretty ordinary name. But when it is referred to by its more ancient name, “Lanna” or “Lanna Thai” it becomes a little more interesting. In fact, there was a former kingdom in the north known as Lanna Thai before it was annexed by the Thais from the south. The word “Lanna” ล้านนา /láan naa/ is made of two Thai words, ล้าน /láan/ (million), and นา /naa/ (rice field). So the translation for Lanna is “Land of a Million Rice Fields”.
Similarly, Laos, the country just to the north of Chiang Mai, uses a language closely related to the Lanna or Chiang Mai dialect. It used to be called the Kingdom of ล้านช้าง /láan cháang/. That in translation means, “Land of a Million Elephants”.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “Krung Thep” mean?
กรุงเทพ (Krung Thep) means “City of Angels.” กรุง means capital or great city, and เทพ means angel or deity. It’s the short form Thais actually use; the full ceremonial name runs to 21 words.
Does Bangkok have a longer official name than “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon”?
Yes. Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร) is the everyday official name. The full ceremonial version adds another seven words and holds the Guinness World Record for longest place name on Earth. Almost no one recites the whole thing outside a classroom.
Why do so many Thai place names start with “Bang”?
บาง (bang) marks a settlement that grew up along a canal or waterway, which is why it’s so common around Bangkok and the Central Plains, where canals were the original roads. It’s slightly different from บุรี or นคร, which mean “city” in a more general sense.
What’s the difference between “Nakhon” and “Krung”?
Both mean “city,” but กรุง (krung) carries the sense of a capital or seat of royal power, while นคร (nakhon) is used more broadly for any major city. Bangkok uses both: Krung Thep for “capital,” Nakhon in Krung Thep Maha Nakhon for “great city.”
What does “Doi” mean in Northern place names like Doi Suthep?
ดอย (doi) means hill or mountain in the Northern Thai dialect. It’s why so many peaks around Chiang Mai carry it: Doi Suthep, Doi Inthanon, Doi Pui.
Why is the River Kwai’s name almost always mispronounced?
The film “The Bridge on the River Kwai” popularized “Kwai,” which sounds like ควาย (kwaai, water buffalo) rather than the river’s real name, แควใหญ่ (Kwae Yai), which means “big tributary.” The vowel sound is genuinely different in Thai even though English spelling collapses them.
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