Albania in other languages: Shqipëria, Tirana and the 12 counties
Albania is Shqipëria in Albanian, officially Republika e Shqipërisë, with the ISO codes AL, ALB and 008. Its name appears below in 183 languages and varieties, Tirana in 68, the 12 counties with their seats, and the Greek names of five Albanian towns.
Official languagesAlbanian (shqip)
Checked
- alpha-2
- AL
- alpha-3
- ALB
- numeric
- 008
Republika e Shqipërisë
- English
- AlbaniaRepublic of Albania
- Capital
- TiranaTirana
ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026. Flag after the Wikimedia Commons drawing, 700 by 500 units.
Albania in other languages: list of exonyms
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Aragonese, Asturian, Breton, Corsican, Welsh, Basque, Faroese, Finnish, Kven, Galician, Interlingua, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Greenlandic, Lingala, Ladin, Malagasy, Nauruan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Polish, Romansh, Romanian, Spanish, Sardinian, Swahili | eng / arg / ast / bre / cos / cym / eus / fao / fin / fkv / glg / ina / ind / ita / jav / kal / lin / lld / mlg / nau / nor / nov / oci / pol / roh / ron / spa / srd / swa | Albania | same as written |
| Croatian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Slovenian | hrv / lit / mlt / slv | Albanija | same as written |
| Afrikaans, Limburgish, Dutch | afr / lim / nld | Albanië | same as written |
| Danish, Saterland Frisian, Swedish | dan / stq / swe | Albanien | same as written |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Albanien | same as written |
| French, Franco-Provençal, Friulian | fra / frp / fur | Albanie | same as written |
| Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Rundi | hau / kin / run | Albaniya | same as written |
| Hungarian, Northern Sami, Tetum | hun / sme / tet | Albánia | same as written |
| Cornish, Haitian Creole | cor / hat | Albani | same as written |
| Estonian, Võro | est / vor | Albaania | same as written |
| Gagauz, Karakalpak | gag / kaa | Albaniya / Албания | Albaniya |
| Quechua, Tagalog | que / tgl | Albanya | same as written |
| Aymara | aym | Alwaña | same as written |
| Azerbaijani | aze | Albaniya / Албанија | Albaniya |
| Bambara | bam | Alibani | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Albanija / Албанија / آلبانٖىيا | Albanija |
| Catalan | cat | Albània | same as written |
| Czech | ces | Albánie | same as written |
| Crimean Tatar | crh | Arnavutlıq / Арнавутлыкъ | Arnavutlıq |
| Kashubian | csb | Albańskô | same as written |
| Lower Sorbian | dsb | Albańska | same as written |
| Esperanto | epo | Albanujo, Albanio | same as written |
| West Frisian | fry | Albaanje | same as written |
| Scottish Gaelic | gla | Albàinia | same as written |
| Irish | gle | An Albáin / An Albáin | same as written |
| Manx | glv | Yn Albaan | same as written |
| Guarani | grn | Avaña | same as written |
| Upper Sorbian | hsb | Albanska | same as written |
| Igbo | ibo | Albenia | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Albanía | same as written |
| Jersey Norman French | jnf | Albannie | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Elbanya, Albanya | same as written |
| Latin | lat | Albania, Illyricum, Epirus | same as written |
| Latvian | lav | Albānija | same as written |
| Moldovan | mol | Albania / Албания | Albania |
| Maori | mri | Arapeinia | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Albania / البانيا | Albania |
| Nahuatl | nah | Albantlān | same as written |
| Norman French | nrm | Albanîn | same as written |
| Portuguese | por | Albânia | same as written |
| Kalderash Romani | rmy | Škiperiya / श्किपेरिया | Škiperiya |
| Aromanian | rup | Arbinishia | same as written |
| Sicilian | scn | Albanìa, Arbanìa | same as written |
| Slovak | slk | Albánsko | same as written |
| Slovio | slo | Albania / Албаниа, Albanzem / Албанзем | Albania, Albanzem |
| Samogitian | smg | Albanėjė | same as written |
| Samoan | smo | Alepania | same as written |
| Somali | som | Albaaniya | same as written |
| Albanian | sqi | Shqipëria | same as written |
| Silesian | szl | Albańja | same as written |
| Tongan | ton | Alipenia | same as written |
| Turkmen | tuk | Albaniýa / Албания | Albaniýa |
| Turkish | tur | Arnavutluk | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Albaniya / Албания / ئەلبەنىيە | Albaniya |
| Veps | vep | Albanii | same as written |
| Vietnamese | vie | An-ba-ni | same as written |
| Volapük | vol | Lalbanän | same as written |
| Walloon | wln | Albaneye | same as written |
| Wolof | wol | Albaani | same as written |
| Zazaki | zza | Arnawutiye | same as written |
| Old Church Slavonic | chu | Албані́ꙗ | Albanī́ja |
| Abaza, Altai, Avar, Bulgarian, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Lezgi, Russian, Yakut, Tuvan, Udmurt, Kalmyk | abq / alt / ava / bul / kjh / kom / krc / kum / lez / rus / sah / tyv / udm / xal | Албания | Albanija |
| Chuvash, Mongolian, Ossetian | chv / mon / oss | Албани | Albani |
| Rusyn, Ukrainian | rue / ukr | Албанія | Albanija |
| Abkhaz | abk | Арнауыҭтәыла | Arnauyṭtwyla |
| Bashkir | bak | Албания / Albaniya | Albaniya |
| Belarusian | bel | Албанія / Ałbanija, Альбанія / Albanija | Ałbanija, Albanija |
| Chechen | che | Албани / Albani | Albani |
| Kazakh | kaz | Албания / البانيا / Albanïya | Albanïya |
| Kabardian | kbd | Албаниэ | Albaniă |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Албания / البانىيا / Albaniya | Albaniya |
| Kurdish (Caucasus, Cyrillic) | kmr | Албани / Albanî | Albanî |
| Meadow Mari | mhr | Албаний | Albanij |
| Macedonian | mkd | Албанија | Albanija |
| Serbian | srp | Албанија / Albanija | Albanija |
| Tabassaran | tab | Албанистан | Albanistan |
| Tatar | tat | Албания / Albaniä / ئالبانىيە | Albaniä |
| Tajik | tgk | Албания / البنیه / Albanija | Albanija |
| Arabic | ara | ألبانيا | Albāniyā |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | آلبانییا / Albaniya | Albaniya |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | ئەلبانیا / Elbanya, ئەڵبانیا / Eḻbanya, ئالبانیا / Albanya | Elbanya, Eḻbanya, Albanya |
| Persian | fas | آلبانی / Âlbâni | Âlbâni |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | البانیا | Albāniyā |
| Dari | prs | البانیا | Albāniyā |
| Pashto | pus | البانيا, البانيه | Albāniyā, Albāniyâ |
| Uyghur | uig | ئالبانىيە / Albaniye / Албания | Albaniye |
| Urdu | urd | البانیا, البانیہ | Albāniyā, Albāniyâ |
| Dhivehi | div | އަޅްބޭނިއާ | Aḷbēniā |
| Syriac | syr | ܐܠܒܢܝܐ | Albaniyā |
| Hebrew | heb | אלבניה, אלבאניה | Albanyah, Albānyah |
| Ladino | lad | ﭏבאניה / Albania | Albania |
| Yiddish | yid | אַלבאַניע | Albanye |
| Berber (Tifinagh) | ber | ⴰⵍⴱⴰⵏⵢⴰ / Albanya | Albanya |
| Amharic | amh | አልባኒያ, አልባንያ | Ălbaniya, Ălbanya |
| Greek (Demotic) | ell-dhi | Αλβανία | Alvanía |
| Greek (Katharevousa) | ell-kat | Ἀλβανία | Alvanía |
| Armenian | hye | Ալբանիա | Albania |
| Georgian, Mingrelian | kat / xmf | ალბანეთი | Albaneṭi |
| Laz | lzz | ალბანია / Albania | Albania |
| Hindi | hin | अल्बानिया, अल्बेनिया | Albāniyā, Albeniyā |
| Bengali | ben | আলবেনিয়া, আলব্যানিয়া | Ālbeniyā, Ālbæniyā |
| Gujarati | guj | અલ્બેનિયા | Albeniyā |
| Oriya | ori | ଆଲବାନିଆ | Ālbāniā |
| Punjabi | pan | ਅਲਬਾਨੀਆ | Albānīā |
| Sinhala | sin | ඇල්බේනියාව | Ælbēniyāva |
| Kannada | kan | ಆಲ್ಬೇನಿಯ | Ālbēniya |
| Malayalam | mal | അല്ബേനിയ | Albēniya |
| Tamil | tam | அல்பேனியா | Alpēṉiyā |
| Telugu | tel | అల్బేనియా | Albēniyā |
| Chinese | zho | 阿爾巴尼亞/阿尔巴尼亚 | Ā'ěrbāníyà |
| Cantonese | yue | 阿爾巴尼亞/阿尔巴尼亚 | Àyíhbàannàihnga |
| Japanese | jpn | アルバニア | Arubania |
| Korean | kor | 알바니아 | Albania |
| Tibetan | bod | ཨར་པ་ཉི་ཡ།, ཨར་པ་ནི་ཡ།, ཨར་པའི་ཉིའི་ཡ། | Ar.pa.ñi.ya, Ar.pa.ni.ya, Ar.pa'i.ñī.ya |
| Burmese | mya | အယ်ဘေးနီးယား | Ɛbʰènìyà |
| Thai | tha | อัลบาเนีย, แอลเบเนีย | Ânbāniya, Ǣnbēniya |
| Lao | lao | ອານບານີ | Ānbānī |
| Khmer | khm | អាល់បានី | Albānī |
| Cherokee | chr | ᎠᎸᏇᏂᏯ / Alvqueniya | Alvqueniya |
Latin is given with three names, Albania, Illyricum and Epirus. Turkish and Aromanian use names unrelated to the Latin one: Arnavutluk and Arbinishia.
Shqipëria and Albania: two names for one country
Albanians call their country Shqipëria and their language shqip. These terms date back to the 14th century but only replaced the older Arbëria and Arbëreshë in the late 17th and early 18th centuries; they are widely read as land of the eagles and children of the eagles. Most foreign names come from the other line. Albania goes back through medieval Latin to the Illyrian Albani, and Ptolemy placed a town called Albanopolis north-east of Durrës in the 2nd century.
That older root still shows in the exonyms. Albania, Albanien, Albanie and Албания are one family; Greek Αλβανία, Alvanía, has the same word with Greek v for b. Aromanian Arbinishia keeps the medieval Arbër- form. Turkish Arnavutluk stands apart from both, and Latin offers two classical regional names next to Albania, Illyricum and Epirus. In Cherokee the country is ᎠᎸᏇᏂᏯ, Alvqueniya.
Tirana in other languages
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, French, Latin, Lithuanian | eng / fra / lat / lit | Tirana | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Moldovan, Turkmen | aze / mol / tuk | Tirana / Тирана | Tirana |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Tirana | same as written |
| Turkish, Zazaki | tur / zza | Tiran | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Tirana / Тирана / تٖىرانا | Tirana |
| Esperanto | epo | Tirano | same as written |
| Irish | gle | Tirana | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Tírana | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Tîrana | same as written |
| Latin | lat | Theranda | same as written |
| Latvian | lav | Tirāna | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Tirana / تيرانا | Tirana |
| Kalderash Romani | rmy | Tirana / तिराना | Tirana |
| Samogitian | smg | Tėrana | same as written |
| Albanian | sqi | Tiranë / Tirana | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Tirana / Тирана / تىرەنە | Tirana |
| Vietnamese | vie | Ti-ra-na | same as written |
| Bashkir, Serbian | bak / srp | Тирана / Tirana | Tirana |
| Bulgarian, Russian | bul / rus | Тирана | Tirana |
| Belarusian | bel | Тырана / Tyrana | Tyrana |
| Chuvash | chv | Тиранӑ | Tirană |
| Kazakh | kaz | Тирана / تيرانا / Tïrana | Tïrana |
| Kabardian | kbd | Тиранэ | Tirană |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Тирана / تئرانا / Tirana | Tirana |
| Mongolian | mon | Тиран | Tiran |
| Ossetian | oss | Тиранӕ | Tiranä |
| Tatar | tat | Тирана / Tirana / تىرانا | Tirana |
| Tajik | tgk | Тирана / تیرنه / Tirana | Tirana |
| Ukrainian | ukr | Тірана, Тирана | Tirana, Tyrana |
| Arabic | ara | تيرانا | Tīrānā |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | تیرانا / Tirana | Tirana |
| Persian | fas | تیرانا / Tirânâ | Tirânâ |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | ترانا | Tirānā |
| Pashto | pus | تيرانا | Tīrānā |
| Uyghur | uig | تىرانا / Tirana / Тирана | Tirana |
| Urdu | urd | تیرانا | Tīrānā |
| Syriac | syr | ܬܝܪܢܐ | Tīranā |
| Hebrew | heb | טירנה, טיראנה | Ṭīranah, Ṭīrānah |
| Yiddish | yid | טיראַנאַ | Tirana |
| Amharic | amh | ቲራና | Tirana |
| Greek (Demotic) | ell-dhi | Τίρανα | Tírana |
| Greek (Katharevousa) | ell-kat | Τίρανα, Τύρανα | Tírana, Týrana |
| Armenian | hye | Տիրանա | Tirana |
| Georgian | kat | ტირანა | Tirana |
| Hindi | hin | तीराना | Tīrānā |
| Marathi | mar | तिराना | Tirānā |
| Nepali | nep | टिराना | Ṭirānā |
| Bengali | ben | টিরানা, তিরানা | Ṭirānā, Tirānā |
| Punjabi | pan | ਟੀਰਾਨਾ | Ṭīrānā |
| Kannada | kan | ಟಿರಾನ | Ṭirāna |
| Malayalam | mal | ടിരാന | Ṭirāna |
| Tamil | tam | டிரானா | Ṭirāṉā |
| Telugu | tel | టిరానా | Ṭirānā |
| Chinese | zho | 地拉那 | Dìlānā |
| Japanese | jpn | ティラナ | Tirana |
| Korean | kor | 티라나 | Tirana |
| Tibetan | bod | ཐི་ར་ན།, ཏི་ལ་ན། | Tʰi.ra.na, Ti.la.na |
| Thai | tha | ติรานา | Tirānā |
| Khmer | khm | ទីរ៉ានា, ទីរ៉ាណា | Tīrānā, Tīrāṇā |
The 12 counties of Albania (qarqe)
Albania has 12 counties, qarqe, numbered AL-01 to AL-12 in ISO 3166-2. The Albanian column gives the full name, Qarku i Beratit, the county of Berat; below it stands the short name ISO uses. The seat is given in the definite form used in Albanian running text, with the indefinite form ISO and maps use under it.
| ISO 3166-2 | Albanian | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Counties qarqe12 | ||||
| AL-01 | Qarku i BeratitISO name: Berat | Berat County | BeratiBerat | |
| AL-02 | Qarku i DurrësitISO name: Durrës | Durrës County | DurrësiDurrës | |
| AL-03 | Qarku i ElbasanitISO name: Elbasan | Elbasan County | ElbasaniElbasan | |
| AL-04 | Qarku i FieritISO name: Fier | Fier County | FieriFier | |
| AL-05 | Qarku i GjirokastrësISO name: Gjirokastër | Gjirokastër County | GjirokastraGjirokastër | |
| AL-06 | Qarku i KorçësISO name: Korçë | Korçë County | KorçaKorçë | |
| AL-07 | Qarku i KukësitISO name: Kukës | Kukës County | KukësiKukës | |
| AL-08 | Qarku i LezhësISO name: Lezhë | Lezhë County | LezhaLezhë | |
| AL-09 | Qarku i DibrësISO name: Dibër | Dibër County | PeshkopiaPeshkopi | |
| AL-10 | Qarku i ShkodrësISO name: Shkodër | Shkodër County | ShkodraShkodër | |
| AL-11 | Qarku i TiranësISO name: Tiranë | Tiranë County | TiranaTiranë | |
| AL-12 | Qarku i VlorësISO name: Vlorë | Vlorë County | VloraVlorë | |
Codes and names: ISO 3166-2:AL on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, read from its English Wikipedia mirror on 28 October 2026. The 36 district codes were deleted on 27 November 2015; the counties have been unchanged since their introduction in Newsletter I-2 of 21 May 2002.
Berati or Berat: definite and indefinite names
Albanian marks definiteness with an ending, and place names appear in both forms. Tirana is the definite form, Tiranë the indefinite. Berati, Durrësi and Shkodra stand next to Berat, Durrës and Shkodër. The county column gives the definite form because that is how Albanian prose names a town; ISO 3166-2 and most maps use the indefinite one.
Greek has its own names for several Albanian towns, and some look nothing like the Albanian form. Durrës is Δυρράχιο, Dyrráȟio, Gjirokastër Αργυρόκαστρο, Vlorë Αυλώνας. The Greek table lists five of them, with the Albanian name in its definite form.
Albanian towns and their Greek names
| Albanian | Greek | Romanised |
|---|---|---|
| Durrësi | Δυρράχιο | Dyrráȟio |
| Gjirokastra | Αργυρόκαστρο | Argyrókastro |
| Korça | Κορυτσά | Korytsá |
| Shkodra | Σκόδρα | Skódra |
| Vlora | Αυλώνας | Aylṓnas |
Greek in Demotic spelling; the romanisation renders χ as ȟ and υ as y.
Questions about the names of Albania
What do Albanians call Albania?
Shqipëria, with the official name Republika e Shqipërisë. The language is shqip.
Why is it Tirana and Tiranë?
Both are correct Albanian. Tirana is the definite form used in running text, Tiranë the indefinite form used on maps and in ISO 3166-2.
How many counties does Albania have?
12, coded AL-01 to AL-12. Since the 2015 local elections they are divided into 61 municipalities.