Costa Rica in other languages: San José, the 7 provinces and flag

Rich coast: borrowed, respelled and translated

La costa rica means the rich coast in Spanish. By some accounts Christopher Columbus first used the phrase when he sailed along the Caribbean shore of the country on his last voyage in 1502, and the two words have stayed together as a proper name ever since.

Most languages simply borrow the Spanish spelling or respell it by sound: Kosta Rika in Turkish, Albanian and Indonesian, Kostarika as one word in Czech, Croatian and Slovenian, Kostaryka in Polish, Коста-Рика with a hyphen in Russian. A smaller group translates the meaning. Friulian has Cueste Riche, Norman Riche-Côte, Irish Cósta Ríce and Manx Yn Coose Berçhagh, while Latin lists Ora Opulenta beside Costa Richa. Classical Nahuatl builds a full descriptive word, Necuiltōnolhuēyātēnco.

The capital is named after Saint Joseph, chosen as patron of its parish. Most languages keep San José, and the Spanish j becomes h or x in other alphabets: Сан-Хосе in Russian, サン・ホセ (San-Hose) in Japanese, 산호세 in Korean. Chinese writes 圣何塞 (Shèng Hésè), turning San into 圣, holy.

Provinces, cantons and districts

Seven provinces form the first level, each split into cantons, the only level with an elected local government, and the cantons into districts. The original 14 cantons date from 1848; new ones are carved out of existing cantons, and since 2017 three have been added: Río Cuarto in Alajuela, Monteverde, split from the canton of Puntarenas in 2021, and Puerto Jiménez in 2022. The country now has 84 cantons.