Location names may be easy to overlook, but have you ever wondered about their origins? In Cyprus, every city name tells a story–ones leading to ancient times and their legends, as well as foreign rulers, shifting borders and evolving identities. They’re not just markers on a map; they’re living archives of how the island has envisioned, reimagined, and recorded itself from the start.

Paphos: 

Some names carry echoes of myth. Paphos, for instance, is said to be the place where Aphrodite rose from the sea, giving the city a divine origin and an enduring role in Cyprus’ cultural narrative. Its name is said to be derived from Paphos, the son of Pygmalion whose vision of the goddess was realised by Aphrodite itself as Galatea.

Others, like Salamina, speak to the island’s deep connections with the broader Greek world—founders from the mainland bringing not only settlers but stories that shaped local identity.  

Nicosia:

Many of Cyprus’ urban names are layered with the footprints of empires. Nicosia, known in Greek as Lefkosia, has roots that stretch back to the Byzantine era. Its modern name, however, reflects centuries of Venetian and later Frankish influence—when the island was a chess piece in a broader Mediterranean power struggle. Others attribute its origin to the Greek word “Nike”, meaning victory.

The same goes for cities like Limassol, whose Greek-derived name (from the “Nemesos”, meaning found in the middle) most likely referring to the city’s location between the ancient towns of Amathus and Kourion.

Larnaca:

What’s fascinating is how these names reflect more than conquest or colonization—they reveal what was considered important across each era. Some cities were named after kings, others after saints, while others owe their names to geographic features long since altered. Larnaca’s name, for instance, comes from “larnax,” a Greek word for funerary containers—likely linked to the discovery of ancient tombs in the area. Today, it’s a vibrant city by the sea, but its name is a reminder of a much older, quieter history lying just beneath the surface.

Famagusta:

Famagusta is a Frankish alteration of the original Greek name, presenting one of the starkest examples of name-as-memory. Its Greek name, meaning “hidden in sand,” is now more symbolic than literal—its once-thriving Varosha district remains frozen in time, a visible scar of the island’s division and a reminder of what was lost.

Every city has many claims around the origin of its name, highlighting the cultural and historical diversity that has been a staple of Cyprus for centuries.

Names also evolve with migration, commerce, and community. Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, and other groups have contributed to a multilingual layer of naming practices—some preserved, others lost, and many overlapping. Each version tells its own story, shaped by different vantage points of the same shared terrain.

Even today, names continue to shift in multiple ways. Some towns now market themselves with English or internationalized versions which are inherently more marketable, enabling tourist promotion. Others restore ancient or traditional names to assert cultural identity. And some hybridize, reflecting the globalized lives of younger generations who might speak three languages but still call the same place home.

Understanding where these names come from is neither a historical exercise, nor a series of fun facts–it’s a way of acknowledging the effects of the past to the present. Place names are among the most persistent forms of memory. They survive wars, migrations, political shifts, and even rebranding. They connect modern Cyprus with ancient Cyprus, anchoring communities to something bigger than themselves—even if they don’t always realize it.

In an age of Google Maps and GPS, it’s easy to take place names for granted. But in Cyprus, they’re loaded—mythic, political, emotional. Each one carries a story, and sometimes, a whole set of contested truths.