Saint Kitts and Nevis in other languages: Basseterre, 14 parishes

Saint Kitts or Saint Christopher: two names for one island

Kitts is a short form of Christopher, and the languages on this list split between the two. Spanish says San Cristóbal y Nieves, Portuguese São Cristóvão e Nevis, Italian San Cristoforo e Nevis, Czech Svatý Kryštof a Nevis, Croatian and Bosnian Sveti Kristofor i Nevis, and Greek Άγιος Χριστόφορος και Νέβις. French has Saint-Christophe-et-Niévès first and Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis as a variant, and Latin Sanctus Christophorus et Nives. Japanese lists both, セントキッツ・ネイビス and セントクリストファー・ネイビス.

Most other languages keep Saint Kitts and translate only the conjunction: ja in Finnish and Estonian, og in Danish and Norwegian, och in Swedish, és in Hungarian, ir in Lithuanian, which writes Sent Kitsas ir Nevis. Serbian has both Свети Китс и Невис and Сент Китс и Невис, Russian Сент-Китс и Невис, Armenian Սենթ Քիթս և Նևիս. German writes Sankt Kitts und Nevis, Romanian Sfântul Kitts și Nevis and Latvian runs the saint into one word, Sentkitsa un Nevisa.

Nevis itself stays Nevis almost everywhere. The Spanish form Nieves reappears in Asturian, Occitan and Tagalog, and the French variant Niévès carries accents. The capital Basseterre is Бастер (Baster) in Russian and バセテール (Basetēru) in Japanese.

Saint and place: how the parish names are built

Each parish name joins a church dedication to a place. Saint George Basseterre and Saint George Gingerland share their saint, as do Saint John Capisterre and Saint John Figtree, and Saint Paul Capisterre and Saint Paul Charlestown; Saint Thomas Lowland lies on Nevis, Saint Thomas Middle Island on Saint Kitts. The second half names the district, so Capisterre appears in two parishes and Basseterre in two.

The codes run from KN-01 to KN-15 in the alphabetical order of the parishes, with no KN-14, and the two letters K and N mark the states. The parish centres are mostly villages: Mansion, Sadlers, Cotton Ground, Old Road, Boyds. Basseterre on Saint Kitts and Charlestown on Nevis are the two towns among them.

O Land of Beauty!, the national anthem

O Land of Beauty! is the national anthem of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Kenrick Georges wrote both the English words and the music.