Country · BH

Bahrain in other languages: exonyms, Manama, flag and governorates

Bahrain is البحرين, al-Baḥrayn, in Arabic, officially مملكة البحرين, the Kingdom of Bahrain, with the ISO codes BH, BHR and 048. The page lists the name in 172 languages and varieties, the capital Manama in 61, and the four governorates in Arabic script.

Official languagesArabic (العربية, al-ʿarabīyâ)

Checked 5 November 2026

ISO 3166-1alpha-2 · alpha-3 · numeric

ratio 3:5

alpha-2: BH
alpha-3: BHR
numeric: 048

البحرين Arabic · ArabicRomanised al-Baḥrayn

مملكة البحرينMamlakâẗu l-Baḥrayn

English: BahrainKingdom of Bahrain
Capital: المنامةal-Manāmâ · Manama

ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026. Flag geometry and colours after the Wikimedia Commons drawing: a white band at the hoist and five white triangles.

01 · Exonyms

Bahrain in other languages: list of exonyms

Bahrain in 172 languages and varieties, grouped where the spelling is shared, with ISO 639 codes and romanisation
Languages	ISO 639	Name	Romanised
English, Catalan, Welsh, Danish, Lower Sorbian, Basque, Faroese, Finnish, Kven, Galician, Manx, Upper Sorbian, Indonesian, Javanese, Jersey Norman French, Norwegian, Sicilian, Northern Sami, Spanish, Sardinian, Saterland Frisian, Swahili, Swedish	eng / cat / cym / dan / dsb / eus / fao / fin / fkv / glg / glv / hsb / ind / jav / jnf / nor / scn / sme / spa / srd / stq / swa / swe	Bahrain	same as written
Afrikaans, Breton, Estonian, Hausa, Croatian, Hungarian, Interlingua, Italian, Limburgish, Lingala, Ladin, Nahuatl, Dutch, Romansh, Romanian, Aromanian, Võro	afr / bre / est / hau / hrv / hun / ina / ita / lim / lin / lld / nah / nld / roh / ron / rup / vor	Bahrein	same as written
West Frisian, Friulian, Icelandic, Occitan, Tetum	fry / fur / isl / oci / tet	Barein	same as written
Kashubian, Polish, Slovenian	csb / pol / slv	Bahrajn	same as written
German, Luxembourgish, Low German	deu / ltz / nds	Bahrein, Bahrain	same as written
Czech, Slovak	ces / slk	Bahrejn, Bahrajn	same as written
Crimean Tatar, Gagauz	crh / gag	Bahreyn / Бахрейн	Bahreyn
Haitian Creole, Novial	hat / nov	Barayn	same as written
Kinyarwanda, Rundi	kin / run	Bahrene	same as written
Aragonese	arg	Bahrein, Bajrein	same as written
Asturian	ast	Bahráin	same as written
Azerbaijani	aze	Bəhreyn / Бәһрејн	Bəhreyn
Bambara	bam	Barɛyini	same as written
Bosnian	bos	Bahrein / Бахреин / باحرەاٖىن	Bahrein
Cornish	cor	Bahreyn	same as written
Esperanto	epo	Barejno	same as written
French	fra	Bahreïn	same as written
Franco-Provençal	frp	Bahreyin	same as written
Scottish Gaelic	gla	Bachrain, Bairean, Bairèin, Bahrain	same as written
Irish	gle	Báiréin	same as written
Hawaiian	haw	Baharaina	same as written
Igbo	ibo	Baren	same as written
Karakalpak	kaa	Baxreyn / Бахрейн	Baxreyn
Kurmanji Kurdish	kur	Baḧreyn	same as written
Latin	lat	Insula Baharina, Bachrania	same as written
Latvian	lav	Bahreina	same as written
Lithuanian	lit	Bachreinas, Bahreinas	same as written
Maltese	mlt	Baħrajn, Baħrejn	same as written
Moldovan	mol	Bahrein / Бахрейн	Bahrein
Malay	msa	Bahrain / بحرين	Bahrain
Norman French	nrm	Bahène	same as written
Portuguese	por	Barém, Bahrain, Barain, Baraine, Barein, Bareine, Baharem	same as written
Quechua	que	Bahrayn	same as written
Kalderash Romani	rmy	Bahrain / बाह्राइन	Bahrain
Slovio	slo	Bahrain / Бахраин	Bahrain
Samogitian	smg	Bahreins	same as written
Samoan	smo	Pareini	same as written
Somali	som	Baxrayn, Baxreyn	same as written
Albanian	sqi	Bahraini	same as written
Tongan	ton	Pāleini	same as written
Turkmen	tuk	Bahreýn / Бахрейн	Bahreýn
Turkish	tur	Bahreyn, Bahreyin	same as written
Uzbek	uzb	Bahrayn / Баҳрайн / بەھرەين	Bahrayn
Vietnamese	vie	Ba-ren	same as written
Volapük	vol	Bahareän	same as written
Walloon	wln	Bareyn	same as written
Wolof	wol	Bahrayni	same as written
Zazaki	zza	Behreyn	same as written
Abaza, Altai, Bulgarian, Chuvash, Kabardian, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Meadow Mari, Mongolian, Ossetian, Russian, Tuvan, Udmurt, Ukrainian, Kalmyk	abq / alt / bul / chv / kbd / kjh / kom / krc / mhr / mon / oss / rus / tyv / udm / ukr / xal	Бахрейн	Baȟrejn
Bashkir, Chechen	bak / che	Бахрейн / Baxreyn	Baxreyn
Abkhaz	abk	Баҳреин	Baḥrein
Avar	ava	Бахӏрайн	Baḥrajn
Belarusian	bel	Бахрэйн / Bachrejn	Bachrejn
Kazakh	kaz	Бахрейн / باحرەين / Baxreyn	Baxreyn
Kyrgyz	kir	Бахрейн / باحرەين / Bahreyn	Bahreyn
Kurdish (Caucasus, Cyrillic)	kmr	Бәһ’рейн / Beḧrêyn	Beḧrêyn
Kumyk	kum	Багьрайн, Бахрейн	Bahrajn, Baȟrejn
Lezgi	lez	Багьрейн	Bahrejn
Macedonian	mkd	Бахреин	Bahrein
Rusyn	rue	Бахрайн	Baȟrajn
Yakut	sah	Баһрейн	Bahrejn
Serbian	srp	Бахреин / Bahrein	Bahrein
Tatar	tat	Бәхрәйн / Bäxräyn / بەخرەين	Bäxräyn
Tajik	tgk	Баҳрайн / بحرین / Bahrajn	Bahrajn
Arabic	ara	البحرين	al-Baḥrayn
South Azerbaijani	azb	بحرئین / Bəhreyn	Bəhreyn
Sorani Kurdish	ckb	بەحرێن / Beḧrên, بەحرەین / Beḧreyn	Beḧrên, Beḧreyn
Persian	fas	بحرین / Bahreyn	Bahreyn
Western Punjabi	pnb	بحرین	Baḥrayn
Dari	prs	بحرین	Baḥrayn
Pashto	pus	بحرين	Baḥrayn
Uyghur	uig	بەھرېيىن / Behréyin / Бахрейн	Behréyin
Urdu	urd	بحرین	Baḥrayn
Dhivehi	div	ބަޙްރޭން, ބަޙްރައިން	Baḥrēn, Baḥrain
Syriac	syr	ܒܚܪܝܢ	Baḥrayn
Hebrew	heb	בחרין / בחריין	Baḥrayn
Ladino	lad	באהריין / Bahrein	Bahrein
Yiddish	yid	באַכרײן	Baḫreyn
Berber (Tifinagh)	ber	ⵍⴱⵃⵔⴰⵢⵏ / Lbḥrayn	Lbḥrayn
Kabyle	kab	ⴱⴻⵃⵔⴻⵢⵏ / Beḥreyn	Beḥreyn
Amharic	amh	ባህሬን	Bahren
Greek (Demotic)	ell-dhi	Μπαχρέιν	Mpaȟréin
Greek (Katharevousa)	ell-kat	Μπαχρέϊν	Mpaȟréïn
Armenian	hye	Բահրեյն	Bahreyn
Georgian, Mingrelian	kat / xmf	ბაჰრეინი	Bahreini
Laz	lzz	ბაჰრეინი / Bahreini	Bahreini
Hindi	hin	बहरैन, बेहरेन, बहरीन	Bahræn, Behren, Bahrīn
Marathi	mar	बहरैन	Bahræn
Nepali	nep	बहराइन	Bahrāin
Bengali	ben	বাহরাইন, বাহরেন	Bāhrāin, Bāhren
Gujarati	guj	બહરીન	Bahrīn
Oriya	ori	ବାହରୀନ	Bāhrīn
Punjabi	pan	ਬਹਰਾਇਨ	Bahrāin
Sinhala	sin	බහරේන්	Baharēn
Kannada	kan	ಬಹರೈನ್	Baharain
Malayalam	mal	ബഹറിൻ, ബഹ്റൈൻ	Bahaṟin, Bahṟain
Tamil	tam	பஹ்ரைன், பஹ்ரேய்ன், பஹ்ரெய்ன்	Pahraiṉ, Pahrēyṉ, Pahreyṉ
Telugu	tel	బహ్రయిన్, బహ్రెయిన్	Bahrayin, Bahreyin
Chinese	zho	巴林	Bālín
Japanese	jpn	バハレーン, バーレーン	Baharēn, Bārēn
Korean	kor	바레인	Baraein
Tibetan	bod	བྷཧ་རཡིན།	Bāh.rayin
Dzongkha	dzo	བཧ་རེན།	Bah.ren
Burmese	mya	ဘာရိန်း	Bʰaẏeĩ̀
Thai	tha	บาห์เรน	Bā[h]rēn
Khmer	khm	បារ៉ែន	Bāræn

Greek is given in both the Demotic and the Katharevousa spelling.

02 · NamesU+062D ARABIC LETTER HAH

The two seas: al-Baḥrayn and its spellings

البحرين, al-Baḥrayn, is an Arabic dual: baḥr is sea, and the name means the two seas. The word was used for a much larger stretch of the eastern Arabian coast before it came to mean the islands alone, which Arabic sources had called Awal, and it is still disputed which two seas were meant.

Because the Arabic word carries the article al-, a few languages take it over. Berber writes ⵍⴱⵃⵔⴰⵢⵏ, Lbḥrayn, with the article fused to the noun. Most others start straight from Bahrain or Bahrein, and many drop the h altogether: Barein in Icelandic and Occitan, Barém in Portuguese, Barejno in Esperanto. Languages that write ḥ as a fricative turn it into ch or x, as in Belarusian Bachrejn and Kazakh Baxreyn.

The capital is المنامة, al-Manāmâ, which nearly all languages render Manama. Dutch keeps the final h as Manamah, Persian and Pashto write منامه, and Greek has both Μανάμα and Μενάμα.

03 · Manama

Manama in other languages

Manama in 61 languages and varieties, grouped where the spelling is shared, with ISO 639 codes and romanisation
Languages	ISO 639	Name	Romanised
English, French, Latvian, Lithuanian, Samogitian	eng / fra / lav / lit / smg	Manama	same as written
Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Moldovan, Turkmen	aze / crh / mol / tuk	Manama / Манама	Manama
German, Luxembourgish, Low German	deu / ltz / nds	Manama	same as written
Czech, Slovak	ces / slk	Manáma	same as written
Bosnian	bos	Manama / Манама / ماناما	Manama
Esperanto	epo	Manamo	same as written
Irish	gle	Manama	same as written
Kurmanji Kurdish	kur	Mename	same as written
Malay	msa	Manama / ماناما	Manama
Dutch	nld	Manamah	same as written
Somali	som	Manaama	same as written
Uzbek	uzb	Manama / Манама / مەنەمە	Manama
Volapük	vol	Mänamä	same as written
Bulgarian, Mongolian, Russian, Ukrainian	bul / mon / rus / ukr	Манама	Manama
Bashkir, Belarusian, Serbian	bak / bel / srp	Манама / Manama	Manama
Chuvash	chv	Манамӑ	Manamă
Kazakh	kaz	Манама / ماناما / Manama	Manama
Kabardian	kbd	Манамэ	Manamă
Kyrgyz	kir	Манама / ماناما / Manama	Manama
Ossetian	oss	Манамӕ	Manamä
Tatar	tat	Манама / Manama / ماناما	Manama
Tajik	tgk	Манама / منمه / Manama	Manama
Arabic	ara	المنامة	al-Manāmâ
South Azerbaijani	azb	ماناما / Manama	Manama
Persian	fas	منامه / Manâme	Manâme
Pashto	pus	منامه	Manāmâ
Uyghur	uig	مەنامە / Mename / Манама	Mename
Urdu	urd	منامہ	Manāmâ
Syriac	syr	ܡܢܡܐ	Manamā
Hebrew	heb	מנמה, מנאמה	Manamah, Manāmah
Yiddish	yid	מאַנאַמאַ	Manama
Berber (Tifinagh)	ber	ⵎⴰⵏⴰⵎⴰ / Manama	Manama
Amharic	amh	ማናማ	Manama
Greek	ell	Μενάμα, Μανάμα	Menáma, Manáma
Armenian	hye	Մանամա	Manama
Georgian	kat	მანამა	Manama
Hindi	hin	मनामा	Manāmā
Bengali	ben	মানামা	Mānāmā
Kannada	kan	ಮನಾಮ	Manāma
Malayalam	mal	മനാമ	Manāma
Tamil	tam	மனாமா	Maṉāmā
Chinese	zho	麥那麥/麦纳麦	Màināmài
Japanese	jpn	マナーマ	Manāma
Korean	kor	마나마	Manama
Thai	tha	มานามา	Mānāmā
Khmer	khm	មានាមា	Mānāmā

04 · Governorates

The four governorates of Bahrain (محافظات)

Bahrain has four governorates (محافظات, muḥāfaẓāt). None has a separate seat: all four are administered from Manama. Names are in Arabic script with a transliteration; the English column gives the usual English form.

Bahrain, ISO 3166-2:BH: four governorates
ISO 3166-2	Arabic	English	Change
Governorates محافظات muḥāfaẓāt4
BH-13	محافظة العاصمةMuḥāfaẓâẗu l-ʿĀṣimâ	Capital Governorate	2015 ISO name changed from Al Manāmah to Al ʿĀṣimah, the capital; Al Manāmah stays as a local variant
BH-14	المحافظة الجنوبيةal-Muḥāfaẓâẗu l-Ǧanūbīyâ	Southern Governorate
BH-15	محافظة المحرقMuḥāfaẓâẗu l-Muḥarraq	Muharraq Governorate
BH-17	المحافظة الشماليةal-Muḥāfaẓâẗu š-Šimālīyâ	Northern Governorate

Codes: ISO 3166-2:BH on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, read from its English Wikipedia mirror on 28 October 2026. Newsletter I-8 of 17 April 2007 replaced the 12 former regions (BH-01 to BH-12) with five governorates; the OBP update of 27 November 2015 deleted BH-16, the Central Governorate, so the numbering jumps from BH-15 to BH-17.

05 · Questions

Questions about the names and governorates of Bahrain

What does Bahrain mean?

The two seas. البحرين is the Arabic dual of baḥr, sea, with the article al-.

How many governorates does Bahrain have?

Four: the Capital, Muharraq, Northern and Southern governorates, coded BH-13, BH-15, BH-17 and BH-14. A fifth, the Central Governorate, was abolished in September 2014, and ISO deleted its code BH-16 in 2015.

How is Manama written in Arabic?

المنامة, al-Manāmâ. The Capital Governorate around it is محافظة العاصمة.