Country · BJ

Benin in other languages: Porto-Novo, Cotonou, flag and departments

Benin is Bénin in French, officially République du Bénin, and has the ISO codes BJ, BEN and 204. The name appears here in 167 languages and varieties, the capital Porto-Novo in 55, the seat of government Cotonou in 49, and the 12 departments with their ISO 3166-2 codes and capitals.

Official languagesFrench (français)

Checked 5 November 2026

ISO 3166-1alpha-2 · alpha-3 · numeric

ratio 2:3

alpha-2: BJ
alpha-3: BEN
numeric: 204

Bénin French · Latin

République du Bénin

English: BeninRepublic of Benin
Capital: Porto-NovoPorto-Novo

ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026. Flag geometry and colours after the Wikimedia Commons drawing.

01 · Exonyms

Benin in other languages: list of exonyms

Benin in 167 languages and varieties, grouped where the spelling is shared, with ISO 639 codes and romanisation
Languages	ISO 639	Name	Romanised
English, Afrikaans, Breton, Czech, Cornish, Welsh, Danish, Lower Sorbian, Estonian, Basque, Faroese, Finnish, Kven, Friulian, Manx, Hausa, Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Hungarian, Igbo, Interlingua, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Jersey Norman French, Limburgish, Ladin, Maltese, Nahuatl, Dutch, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Polish, Romansh, Romanian, Aromanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Northern Sami, Spanish, Saterland Frisian, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Võro, Walloon, Zazaki	eng / afr / bre / ces / cor / cym / dan / dsb / est / eus / fao / fin / fkv / fur / glv / hau / hrv / hsb / hun / ibo / ina / ind / ita / jav / jnf / lim / lld / mlt / nah / nld / nor / nov / oci / pol / roh / ron / rup / slk / slv / sme / spa / stq / swa / swe / tur / vor / wln / zza	Benin	same as written
Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Moldovan, Slovio, Turkmen	aze / crh / gag / kaa / mol / slo / tuk	Benin / Бенин	Benin
Aragonese, Asturian, Catalan, Galician, Icelandic, Tetum	arg / ast / cat / glg / isl / tet	Benín	same as written
German, Luxembourgish, Low German	deu / ltz / nds	Benin	same as written
French, Lingala, Norman French	fra / lin / nrm	Bénin	same as written
Kinyarwanda, Rundi, Wolof	kin / run / wol	Bene	same as written
Latvian, Malagasy	lav / mlg	Benina	same as written
Sicilian, Sardinian	scn / srd	Benìn	same as written
Bambara	bam	Benɛn	same as written
Bosnian	bos	Benin / Бенин / بەنٖىن	Benin
Corsican	cos	Beninu	same as written
Esperanto	epo	Benino	same as written
Franco-Provençal	frp	Bènin	same as written
West Frisian	fry	Benyn	same as written
Scottish Gaelic	gla	Beinin	same as written
Irish	gle	Beinin	same as written
Haitian Creole	hat	Benen	same as written
Kurmanji Kurdish	kur	Benîn	same as written
Latin	lat	Beninum	same as written
Lithuanian	lit	Beninas	same as written
Malay	msa	Benin / بنين	Benin
Portuguese	por	Benim, Benin	same as written
Quechua	que	Binin	same as written
Kalderash Romani	rmy	Benin / बेनिन	Benin
Samogitian	smg	Benins	same as written
Samoan	smo	Penini	same as written
Somali	som	Beniin	same as written
Albanian	sqi	Benini	same as written
Silesian	szl	Byńin	same as written
Uzbek	uzb	Benin / Бенин / بېنىن	Benin
Vietnamese	vie	Bê-nanh	same as written
Volapük	vol	Beninän	same as written
Yoruba	yor	Ìbúní	same as written
Abkhaz, Abaza, Altai, Avar, Bulgarian, Chuvash, Kabardian, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Lezgi, Meadow Mari, Macedonian, Mongolian, Ossetian, Russian, Yakut, Tuvan, Udmurt, Kalmyk	abk / abq / alt / ava / bul / chv / kbd / kjh / kom / krc / kum / lez / mhr / mkd / mon / oss / rus / sah / tyv / udm / xal	Бенин	Benin
Bashkir, Chechen, Serbian	bak / che / srp	Бенин / Benin	Benin
Rusyn, Ukrainian	rue / ukr	Бенін	Benin
Belarusian	bel	Бенін / Bienin, Бэнін / Benin	Bienin, Benin
Kazakh	kaz	Бенин / بەنين / Benïn	Benïn
Kyrgyz	kir	Бенин / بەنىن / Benin	Benin
Kurdish (Caucasus, Cyrillic)	kmr	Бенин / Bênîn	Bênîn
Tatar	tat	Бенин / Benin / بېنىن	Benin
Tajik	tgk	Бенин / بینین / Benin	Benin
Arabic	ara	بينين, بنين, بانين, بينان, البنين, البينين, البينان, بنن	Bīnīn, Binīn / Banīn, Bānīn, Bīnān, al-Binīn, al-Bīnīn, al-Bīnān, Binin
South Azerbaijani	azb	بئنین / Benin	Benin
Sorani Kurdish	ckb	بێنین / Bênîn	Bênîn
Persian	fas	بنین / Benin	Benin
Western Punjabi	pnb	بنین	Banīn
Dari	prs	بینین	Bēnīn
Pashto	pus	بېنين	Benīn
Uyghur	uig	بېنىن / Bénin / Бенин	Bénin
Urdu	urd	بنین, بینین, بینن	Banīn, Bēnīn, Bēnan
Dhivehi	div	ބެނިން	Benin
Hebrew	heb	בנין	Benīn
Ladino	lad	בינין / Benin	Benin
Yiddish	yid	בענין	Benin
Berber (Tifinagh)	ber	ⴱⵉⵏⵉⵏ / Binin	Binin
Amharic	amh	ቤኒን	Benin
Greek	ell	Μπενίν	Mpenín
Armenian	hye	Բենին	Benin
Georgian, Mingrelian	kat / xmf	ბენინი	Benini
Laz	lzz	ბენინი / Benini	Benini
Hindi	hin	बेनिन	Benin
Bengali	ben	বেনিন	Benin
Gujarati	guj	બેનિન	Benin
Oriya	ori	ବେନିନ୍	Benin
Punjabi	pan	ਬੇਨੀਨ	Benīn
Sinhala	sin	බෙනින්	Benin
Kannada	kan	ಬೆನಿನ್	Benin
Malayalam	mal	ബെനിൻ	Benin
Tamil	tam	பெனின்	Peṉiṉ
Telugu	tel	బెనిన్	Benin
Chinese	zho	貝寧/贝宁	Bèiníng
Japanese	jpn	ベナン	Benan
Korean	kor	베넹, 베냉	Beneng, Benaeng
Tibetan	bod	བེ་ནིན།	Be.nin
Burmese	mya	ဘီနင်	Bʰinĩ
Thai	tha	เบนิน	Bēnin
Khmer	khm	បេណាំង, ប៊ែនីន	Beṇāṃṅ, Bænīn

Arabic sources use eight spellings, with and without the article.

02 · NamesU+00C9 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE

From Dahomey to Bénin

Until 30 November 1975 the country was Dahomey, a name tied to the kingdom of the Fon in the south. The new name came from the Bight of Benin on its coast, which itself is named after the old Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria, so the state is named after neither of its own peoples. In French it is written Bénin, with an acute accent that Lingala and Norman French keep too.

Few country names change so little across languages. Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Asturian put the stress on the last syllable, Benín; Portuguese has Benim beside Benin; Esperanto Benino, Latin Beninum and Lithuanian Beninas add their noun endings. Japanese reads it from the French, ベナン (Benan), and Korean gives two forms, 베넹 and 베냉. Yoruba has a name of its own, Ìbúní.

Benin has two capitals in practice. Porto-Novo is the official capital and Cotonou the seat of government, and both have their own sections below. Gun names them Xɔgbónu and Kútɔnu; Latin turns Porto-Novo into Portus Novus, and Samogitian into Puorta Nuovs.

03 · Porto-Novo

Porto-Novo in other languages

Porto-Novo, the capital, in 55 languages and varieties, grouped where the spelling is shared, with ISO 639 codes and romanisation
Languages	ISO 639	Name	Romanised
English, French	eng / fra	Porto Novo	same as written
German, Luxembourgish, Low German	deu / ltz / nds	Porto Novo	same as written
Esperanto, Swedish	epo / swe	Porto-Novo	same as written
Azerbaijani	aze	Porto-Novo / Порто-Ново	Porto-Novo
Bosnian	bos	Porto Novo / Порто Ново / پۉرتۉ نۉوۉ	Porto Novo
Gbe	gbx	Xɔgbónu	same as written
Irish	gle	Porto Novo	same as written
Latin	lat	Portus Novus	same as written
Latvian	lav	Portonovo	same as written
Lithuanian	lit	Porto Novas	same as written
Moldovan	mol	Porto Novo / Порто-Ново	Porto Novo
Malay	msa	Porto Novo / ڤورتو نوۏو	Porto Novo
Samogitian	smg	Puorta Nuovs	same as written
Turkmen	tuk	Porto-Nowo / Порто-Ново	Porto-Nowo
Uzbek	uzb	Porto-Novo / Порто-Ново / پارتا-ناۋا	Porto-Novo
Mongolian, Russian, Ukrainian	mon / rus / ukr	Порто-Ново	Porto-Novo
Bashkir	bak	Порто-Ново / Porto-Novo	Porto-Novo
Belarusian	bel	Порта-Нова / Porta-Nova	Porta-Nova
Bulgarian	bul	Порто Ново	Porto Novo
Kazakh	kaz	Порто-Ново / پورتو-نوۆو / Porto-Novo	Porto-Novo
Kyrgyz	kir	Порто-Ново / پورتو-نوۋو / Porto-Novo	Porto-Novo
Serbian	srp	Порто Ново / Porto Novo	Porto Novo
Tatar	tat	Порто-Ново / Porto-Novo / پورتو-نوۋو	Porto-Novo
Tajik	tgk	Порто-Ново / پارتا ناوا / Porto-Novo	Porto-Novo
Arabic	ara	بورتو نوفو	Būrtū Nūfū
South Azerbaijani	azb	پورتو نووو / Porto-Novo	Porto-Novo
Persian	fas	پورتو نووو / Porto Novo, پورتونوو / Portonovo	Porto Novo, Portonovo
Western Punjabi	pnb	پورتو نوو	Pōrtō Novō
Pashto	pus	پورتو نووو	Pōrtō Nōwō
Uyghur	uig	پورتو نوۋو / Porto Nowo / Порто-Ново	Porto Nowo
Urdu	urd	پورٹو نووو	Pōrṫō Nōvō
Hebrew	heb	פורטו־נובו	Pōrṭō-Nōṿō
Yiddish	yid	פּאָרטאָ־נאָװאָ	Porto-Novo
Amharic	amh	ፖርቶ ኖቮ	Porto Novo
Greek	ell	Πόρτο-Νόβο	Pórto-Nóvo
Armenian	hye	Պորտո Նովո	Porto Novo
Georgian	kat	პორტო-ნოვო	Porto-Novo
Nepali	nep	पोर्टोनोभो	Porṭonobʰo
Bengali	ben	পোর্টো-নোভো	Porṭo-Nobʰo
Punjabi	pan	ਪੋਰਟੋ-ਨੋਵੋ	Porṭo-Novo
Kannada	kan	ಪೋರ್ಟೊ-ನೋವೊ	Pōrṭo-Nōvo
Malayalam	mal	പോര്ട്ടോ-നോവോ	Pōrṭṭō-Nōvō
Tamil	tam	போர்டோ நோவோ	Pōrṭō Nōvō
Telugu	tel	పోర్టొ నోవొ	Pōrṭo Nōvo
Chinese	zho	波多諾伏/波多诺伏	Bōduō Nuòfú
Japanese	jpn	ポルト・ノボ	Poruto-Nobo
Korean	kor	포르토노보	Poreuto Nobo
Thai	tha	โปร์โต โนโว, ปอร์โต โนโว	Pō[r]tō Nōwō, Pɔ̄[r]tō Nōwō
Khmer	khm	ព័រតូនូវ៉ូ, ប៉តូនូវ៉ូ	Pŏrtū Nūvū, Botū Nūvū

04 · Cotonou

Cotonou in other languages

Cotonou, the seat of government, in 49 languages and varieties, grouped where the spelling is shared, with ISO 639 codes and romanisation
Languages	ISO 639	Name	Romanised
English, French	eng / fra	Cotonou	same as written
German, Luxembourgish, Low German	deu / ltz / nds	Kotonu, Cotonou	same as written
Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish	lav / lit / pol	Kotonu	same as written
Azerbaijani, Turkmen	aze / tuk	Kotonu / Котону	Kotonu
Bosnian	bos	Cotonou / Котону / قۉتۉنۆ	Cotonou
Esperanto	epo	Kotonuo	same as written
Gbe	gbx	Kútɔnu	same as written
Irish	gle	Cotonou	same as written
Kurmanji Kurdish	kur	Kotonû	same as written
Moldovan	mol	Cotonu / Котону	Cotonu
Malay	msa	Cotonou / كوتونو	Cotonou
Portuguese	por	Cotonu	same as written
Spanish	spa	Cotonú	same as written
Uzbek	uzb	Kotonu / Котону / كاتانۇ	Kotonu
Bulgarian, Mongolian, Russian, Ukrainian	bul / mon / rus / ukr	Котону	Kotonu
Bashkir, Serbian	bak / srp	Котону / Kotonu	Kotonu
Belarusian	bel	Катану / Katanu	Katanu
Kazakh	kaz	Котону / كوتونۋ / Kotonw	Kotonw
Kyrgyz	kir	Котону / كوتونۇ / Kotonu	Kotonu
Tatar	tat	Котону / Kotonu / كوتونۇ	Kotonu
Tajik	tgk	Котону / کاتانو / Kotonu	Kotonu
Arabic	ara	كوتونو	Kūtūnū
South Azerbaijani	azb	کوتونو / Kotonu	Kotonu
Persian	fas	کوتونو / Kotonu	Kotonu
Pashto	pus	کوتونو	Kōtōnū
Uyghur	uig	كوتونۇ / Kotonu / Котону	Kotonu
Urdu	urd	کوتونو	Kōtōnū
Hebrew	heb	קוטונו	Qōṭōnū
Yiddish	yid	קאָטאָנו	Kotonu
Amharic	amh	ኮቶኑ	Kotonu
Greek (Demotic)	ell-dhi	Κοτονού	Kotonoý
Greek (Katharevousa)	ell-kat	Κοτονοῦ	Kotonoỹ
Armenian	hye	Կոտոնու	Kotonou
Georgian	kat	კოტონუ	Kotonu
Kannada	kan	ಕೊಟೊನು	Koṭonu
Chinese	zho	科托努	Kētuōnǔ
Japanese	jpn	コトヌー	Kotonū
Korean	kor	코토누	Kotonu
Thai	tha	โคโตนู	Kʰōtōnū

05 · Departments

The 12 departments of Benin with ISO 3166-2 codes

Benin is divided into 12 departments (départements). Six of them were formed in 1999 by splitting the six older departments in two, so Alibori was cut from Borgou and Collines from Zou. The capital column gives the chef-lieu fixed by the government in 2016.

Benin, ISO 3166-2:BJ: 12 departments with capitals
ISO 3166-2	French	English	Administrative centre	Change
Departments départements12
BJ-AL	Département de l’Alibori	Alibori	Kandi
BJ-AK	Département de l’Atacora	Atacora	Natitingou	2015 ISO spelling corrected in 2015 (earlier Atakora)
BJ-AQ	Département de l’Atlantique	Atlantique	Allada	2016 Capital moved from Ouidah to Allada
BJ-BO	Département du Borgou	Borgou	Parakou
BJ-CO	Département des Collines	Collines	Dassa-Zoumé	2016 Capital moved from Savalou to Dassa-Zoumé
BJ-KO	Département du Couffo	Couffo	Aplahoué	2016 Capital moved from Dogbo to Aplahoué; ISO spelling corrected in 2015 (earlier Kouffo)
BJ-DO	Département de la Donga	Donga	Djougou
BJ-LI	Département du Littoral	Littoral	Cotonou
BJ-MO	Département du Mono	Mono	Lokossa
BJ-OU	Département de l’Ouémé	Ouémé	Porto-Novo
BJ-PL	Département du Plateau	Plateau	Pobè	2016 Capital moved from Sakété to Pobè
BJ-ZO	Département du Zou	Zou	Abomey

Codes and names: ISO 3166-2:BJ on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, read from its English Wikipedia mirror on 28 October 2026; the 12 departments date from Newsletter I-2 of 21 May 2002, and the OBP update of 27 November 2015 changed the spelling of BJ-AK and BJ-KO. Capitals: decision of the Council of Ministers of 22 June 2016, as cited in Wikipedia, Departments of Benin.

06 · Questions

Questions about the names and departments of Benin

What was Benin called before 1975?

Dahomey. The country took the name Benin, after the Bight of Benin, on 30 November 1975.

Is the capital of Benin Porto-Novo or Cotonou?

Porto-Novo is the official capital; Cotonou, the largest city, is the seat of government.

How many departments does Benin have?

12, coded from BJ-AK (Atacora) to BJ-ZO (Zou) in ISO 3166-2.