Libya (ليبيا) in other languages: exonyms, Tripoli, 22 districts
Libya is ليبيا (Lībīyā) in Arabic, its official language, with the ISO codes LY, LBY and 434. The country's name is given here in 183 languages and variants and Tripoli in 79, followed by the 22 districts in Arabic script with their seats and ISO 3166-2 codes.
Official languagesArabic (العربية, al-ʿarabīyâ)
Checked
- alpha-2
- LY
- alpha-3
- LBY
- numeric
- 434
- English
- Libya
- Capital
- طرابلس الغربṬarābulusu l-Ġarb · Tripoli
ISO 3166-1, checked 28 October 2026
List of exonyms for Libya
| Languages | ISO 639-3 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Faroese, Finnish, Kven, Interlingua, Indonesian, Javanese, Latin, Norwegian, Quechua, Northern Sami, Swahili, Tagalog, Zazaki | eng / fao / fin / fkv / ina / ind / jav / lat / nor / que / sme / swa / tgl / zza | Libya | same as written |
| Aragonese, Asturian, Breton, Corsican, Welsh, Basque, Scottish Gaelic, Galician, Hawaiian, Igbo, Italian, Ladin, Malagasy, Nahuatl, Novial, Occitan, Polish, Romansh, Romanian, Aromanian, Sotho, Spanish, Albanian, Sardinian, Tswana | arg / ast / bre / cos / cym / eus / gla / glg / haw / ibo / ita / lld / mlg / nah / nov / oci / pol / roh / ron / rup / sot / spa / sqi / srd / tsn | Libia | same as written |
| Bambara, Cornish, Zarma, Haitian Creole, Mossi, Wolof | bam / cor / dje / hat / mos / wol | Libi | same as written |
| Catalan, Hungarian, Portuguese, Tetum | cat / hun / por / tet | Líbia | same as written |
| Czech, French, Jersey Norman French | ces / fra / jnf | Libye | same as written |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Libyen | same as written |
| Franco-Provençal, Friulian, Norman French | frp / fur / nrm | Libie | same as written |
| Croatian, Lithuanian, Slovenian | hrv / lit / slv | Libija | same as written |
| Afrikaans, Dutch | afr / nld | Libië | same as written |
| Danish, Swedish | dan / swe | Libyen | same as written |
| Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian | dsb / hsb | Libyska | same as written |
| Gagauz, Karakalpak | gag / kaa | Liviya / Ливия | Liviya |
| Kinyarwanda, Kirundi | kin / run | Libiya | same as written |
| Maltese, Silesian | mlt / szl | Libja | same as written |
| Southern Ndebele, Xhosa | nbl / xho | iLibhiya | same as written |
| Azerbaijani | aze | Liviya / Ливија | Liviya |
| Bosnian | bos | Libija / Либија / لٖىبٖىيا | Libija |
| Crimean Tatar | crh | Libiya / Либия | Libiya |
| Esperanto | epo | Libio | same as written |
| Estonian | est | Liibüa | same as written |
| West Frisian | fry | Lybje | same as written |
| Irish | gle | An Libia | same as written |
| Manx | glv | Yn Leeb | same as written |
| Hausa | hau | Libiya, Libya, Turabulus | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Lýbía, Líbía | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Lîbya | same as written |
| Latvian | lav | Lībija | same as written |
| Lingala | lin | Libîya | same as written |
| Latgalian | ltg | Libeja | same as written |
| Moldovan | mol | Libia / Либия | Libia |
| Maori | mri | Rīpia | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Libya / ليبيا | Libya |
| Kalderash Romani | rmy | Libiya / लिबिया | Libiya |
| Sicilian | scn | Libbia | same as written |
| Slovak | slk | Líbya | same as written |
| Slovio | slo | Libvia / Либвиа | Libvia |
| Samogitian | smg | Lėbėjė | same as written |
| Samoan | smo | Lipia | same as written |
| Somali | som | Liibiya | same as written |
| Saterland Frisian | stq | Lybien | same as written |
| Tongan | ton | Līpia | same as written |
| Turkmen | tuk | Liwiýa / Ливия | Liwiýa |
| Turkish | tur | Libya, Libi | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Liviya / Ливия / لىۋىيە | Liviya |
| Vietnamese | vie | Li-bi | same as written |
| Volapük | vol | Lübän | same as written |
| Võro | vor | Liibüä | same as written |
| Walloon | wln | Libeye | same as written |
| Zulu | zul | iLibiya | same as written |
| Old Church Slavonic | chu | Ливѵа | Livȳa |
| Abaza, Altai, Khakas, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Lezgi, Russian, Tuvan, Udmurt, Kalmyk | abq / alt / kjh / kom / krc / kum / lez / rus / tyv / udm / xal | Ливия | Livija |
| Chuvash, Mongolian, Ossetian | chv / mon / oss | Ливи | Livi |
| Abkhaz | abk | Ливиа | Livia |
| Avar | ava | Ливия | Liwija |
| Bashkir | bak | Ливия / Liviya | Liviya |
| Belarusian | bel | Лівія / Livija, Лібія / Libija | Livija, Libija |
| Bulgarian | bul | Либия | Libija |
| Chechen | che | Ливи / Livi | Livi |
| Kazakh | kaz | Ливия / ليۆيا / Lïvïya, Либия / ليبيا / Lïbïya | Lïvïya, Lïbïya |
| Kabardian | kbd | Ливиэ | Liviă |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Ливия / لئۋىيا / Liviya | Liviya |
| Kurdish (Caucasus) | kmr | Ливи / Lîvî | Lîvî |
| Meadow Mari | mhr | Ливий | Livij |
| Macedonian | mkd | Либија | Libija |
| Rusyn | rue | Лібія | Libija |
| Yakut | sah | Лиибийэ | Liibijä |
| Serbian | srp | Либија / Libija | Libija |
| Tatar | tat | Ливия / Liviä / لىۋىيە | Liviä |
| Tajik | tgk | Либия / لیبیه / Libija | Libija |
| Ukrainian | ukr | Лівія | Livija |
| Arabic | ara | ليبيا, لوبيا | Lībiyā, Lūbiyā |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | لیوییا / Liviya | Liviya |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | لیبیا / Lîbya | Lîbya |
| Persian | fas | لیبی / Libi | Libi |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | لبیا | Libiyā |
| Dari | prs | لیبیا | Lībiyā |
| Pashto | pus | ليبيا, لوبيا | Lībiyā, Lūbiyā |
| Sindhi | snd | لبيا | Libiyā |
| Uyghur | uig | لىۋىيە / Liwiye / Либия | Liwiye |
| Urdu | urd | لیبیا, لبیا | Lībiyā, Libiyā |
| Dhivehi | div | ލީބިޔާ | Lībiyā |
| Syriac | syr | ܠܘܒܐ, ܠܝܒܝܐ | Lūbā, Lībiyā |
| Hebrew | heb | לוב | Lūṿ |
| Ladino | lad | ליביה / Libia | Libia |
| Yiddish | yid | ליביע | Libye |
| Berber | ber | ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ / Libya | Libya |
| Kabyle | kab | ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ / Libya | Libya |
| Amharic | amh | ሊቢያ, ሊብያ | Libiya, Libya |
| Greek | ell | Λιβύη | Livýī |
| Armenian | hye | Լիբիա | Libia |
| Georgian, Mingrelian | kat / xmf | ლიბია | Libia |
| Laz | lzz | ლიბია / Libia | Libia |
| Hindi | hin | लीबिया, लिबिया | Lībiyā, Libiyā |
| Bengali | ben | লিবিয়া | Libiyā |
| Gujarati | guj | લિબિયા | Libiyā |
| Odia | ori | ଲିବ୍ୟା | Libyā |
| Punjabi | pan | ਲੀਬੀਆ | Lībīā |
| Sinhala | sin | ලිබියාව | Libiyāva |
| Kannada | kan | ಲಿಬ್ಯ | Libya |
| Malayalam | mal | ലിബിയ | Libiya |
| Tamil | tam | லிபியா | Lipiyā |
| Telugu | tel | లిబ్యా | Libiyā |
| Chinese | zho | 利比亞/利比亚 | Lìbǐyà |
| Cantonese | yue | 利比亞/利比亚 | Leihbéinga |
| Japanese | jpn | リビア | Ribia |
| Korean | kor | 리비아 | Libia |
| Tibetan | bod | ལི་པི་ཡ།, ལིའི་པི་ཡ། | Li.pi.ya, Lī.pi.ya |
| Burmese | mya | လစ်ဗျား | Liʿbyà |
| Thai | tha | ลิเบีย | Libiya |
| Khmer | khm | លីប៊ី, លីប៊ីយ៉ា | Lībī, Lībīyā |
Arabic, Pashto and Syriac give a second form with ū, لوبيا and ܠܘܒܐ. Berber and Kabyle are written in Tifinagh and Latin, Bosnian in Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. Greek has one form, Λιβύη.
An ancient name brought back in 1903
Libya is among the oldest country names in use. It first appears as rbw in a hieroglyphic inscription of Ramesses II and referred to a confederacy of Berber peoples in the east of today's country. Greek writes it Λιβύη, and Latin Libya, the spelling English kept.
For the modern state the name had to be revived. The Italian geographer Federico Minutilli brought it back into use in 1903 for the land that had been the Ottoman province of Tripolitania. Independent Libya was first the United Libyan Kingdom, then the Kingdom of Libya, and after 1969 a republic and a Jamahiriya. ISO 3166-1 listed it as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya until 8 November 2011, when the short name became Libya.
Few exonyms move far from the Greek form. Russian and many languages written in Cyrillic say Ливия with v, the sound modern Greek gives to β in Λιβύη, while Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian keep b. Hebrew is the exception with לוב, Lūv, and Hausa lists Turabulus, the name of the capital, beside Libiya.
Tripoli in other languages
| Languages | ISO 639-3 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, French, Dutch | eng / fra / nld | Tripoli | same as written |
| Aragonese, Asturian, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Spanish, Tetum | arg / ast / cat / glg / por / spa / tet | Trípoli | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Moldovan, Slovio, Turkmen | aze / mol / slo / tuk | Tripoli / Триполи | Tripoli |
| Czech, Latin, Lithuanian, Slovak, Slovenian | ces / lat / lit / slk / slv | Tripolis | same as written |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Tripolis, Tripoli | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Tripoli / Триполи / ترٖىپۉلٖى | Tripoli |
| Esperanto | epo | Tripolo | same as written |
| Irish | gle | Tripilí | same as written |
| Hausa | hau | Turabulus, Tripoli | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Trípólí | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Terabulus, Trablûs | same as written |
| Latvian | lav | Tripole | same as written |
| Maltese | mlt | Tripli | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Tripoli / تريڤولي | Tripoli |
| Occitan | oci | Trípol | same as written |
| Polish | pol | Trypolis | same as written |
| Samogitian | smg | Trėpolis | same as written |
| Turkish | tur | Tripoli, Trablus, Trablusgarb | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Tripoli / Триполи / ترىپالى | Tripoli |
| Bulgarian, Mongolian, Russian | bul / mon / rus | Триполи | Tripoli |
| Bashkir, Serbian | bak / srp | Триполи / Tripoli | Tripoli |
| Belarusian | bel | Трыпалі / Trypali | Trypali |
| Kazakh | kaz | Триполи / تريپولي / Trïpolï | Trïpolï |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Триполи / ترئپولى / Tripoli | Tripoli |
| Tatar | tat | Триполи / Tripoli / ترىپولى | Tripoli |
| Tajik | tgk | Тароблис / طرابلس / Taroblis, Триполи / تریپالی / Tripoli | Taroblis, Tripoli |
| Ukrainian | ukr | Тріполі | Tripoli |
| Arabic | ara | طرابلس الغرب | Ṭarābulusu l-Ġarb |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | تریپولی / Tripoli | Tripoli |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | تەڕابلوس / Teṟablus | Teṟablus |
| Persian | fas | طرابلس غرب / Tarâbolose Qarb | Tarâbolose Qarb |
| Western Punjabi | pnb | تریپولی | Trīpōlī |
| Pashto | pus | طرابلس, تريپولي | Ṭarābulus, Trīpōlī |
| Uyghur | uig | ترىپولى / Tripoli / Триполи | Tripoli |
| Urdu | urd | ٹریپولی / ٹریپولی | Ṫrīpōlī |
| Syriac | syr | ܛܪܒܠܣ | Ṭrablus |
| Hebrew | heb | טריפולי | Ṭrīpōlī |
| Yiddish | yid | טריפּאָלי | Tripoli |
| Berber | ber | ⵟⴰⵔⴰⴱⵍⵓⵙ / Ṭarablus | Ṭarablus |
| Amharic | amh | ትሪፖሊ | Tripoli |
| Greek (Demotic) | ell | Τρίπολη | Trípolī |
| Greek (Katharevousa) | ell | Τρίπολις | Trípolis |
| Armenian | hye | Տրիպոլի | Tripoli |
| Georgian | kat | ტრიპოლი | Tripoli |
| Marathi, Nepali | mar / nep | ट्रिपोली | Ṭripolī |
| Hindi | hin | त्रिपोली, ट्रिपोली, त्रिपली | Tripolī, Ṭripolī, Tripalī |
| Bengali | ben | ত্রিপলি, ত্রিপোলি, ট্রিপোলি | Tripôli, Tripoli, Ṭripoli |
| Punjabi | pan | ਤਰੀਪੋਲੀ | Trīpolī |
| Kannada | kan | ಟ್ರಿಪೊಲಿ | Ṭripoli |
| Malayalam | mal | ട്രിപ്പോളി | Ṭrippōḷi |
| Tamil | tam | ட்ரிபோலி | Ṭripōli |
| Telugu | tel | ట్రిపొలి | Ṭripoli |
| Chinese | zho | 的黎波裡/的黎波里 | Dìlíbōlǐ |
| Japanese | jpn | トリポリ | Toripori |
| Korean | kor | 트리폴리 | Teuripolli |
| Tibetan | bod | ཐི་རི་ཕོ་ལི། | Tʰi.ri.pʰo.li |
| Thai | tha | ตริโปลี | Tripōlī |
| Khmer | khm | ទ្រីប៉ូលី | Trībūlī |
The Arabic form طرابلس الغرب means Tripoli of the West; Persian copies it as طرابلس غرب. Czech, Latin, Lithuanian, Slovak and Slovenian write Tripolis, the Greek form.
The 22 districts of Libya with ISO 3166-2 codes
Every district (شعبية, šaʿbīya) is listed in Arabic script with a transliteration, beside the name ISO 3166-2 publishes in BGN/PCGN romanisation, an English form and the district seat. Rows run by English name.
| ISO 3166-2 | Arabic | ISO 3166-2 name | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Districts شعبيات šaʿbīyāt22 | |||||
| LY-BA | شعبية بنغازيŠaʿbīyâtu Banġāzī | Banghāzī | Benghazi | بنغازيBanġāzī | |
| LY-BU | شعبية البطنانŠaʿbīyâtu l-Buṭnān | Al Buţnān | Butnan | طبرقṬubruq | |
| LY-DR | شعبية درنةŠaʿbīyâtu Darnâ | Darnah | Derna | درنةDarnâ | |
| LY-GT | شعبية غاتŠaʿbīyâtu Ġāt | Ghāt | Ghat | غاتĠāt | |
| LY-JA | شعبية الجبل الأخضرŠaʿbīyâtu l-Ǧabali l-Aḫḍar | Al Jabal al Akhḑar | Green Mountain | البيضاءal-Bayḍāʾ | |
| LY-JI | شعبية الجفارةŠaʿbīyâtu l-Ǧifārâ | Al Jafārah | Jafara | العزيزيةal-ʿAzīzīyâ | |
| LY-JU | شعبية الجفرةŠaʿbīyâtu l-Ǧufrâ | Al Jufrah | Jufra | هونHūn | |
| LY-KF | شعبية الكفرةŠaʿbīyâtu l-Kufrâ | Al Kufrah | Kufra | الجوفal-Ǧawf | |
| LY-MJ | شعبية المرجŠaʿbīyâtu l-Marǧ | Al Marj | Marj | المرجal-Marǧ | |
| LY-MI | شعبية مصراتةŠaʿbīyâtu Miṣrātâ | Mişrātah | Misrata | مصراتةMiṣrātâ | |
| LY-MB | شعبية المرقبŠaʿbīyâtu l-Marqab | Al Marqab | Murqub | الخمسal-Ḫums | |
| LY-MQ | شعبية مرزقŠaʿbīyâtu Murzuq | Murzuq | Murzuq | مرزقMurzuq | |
| LY-NL | شعبية نالوتŠaʿbīyâtu Nālūt | Nālūt | Nalut | نالوتNālūt | |
| LY-NQ | شعبية النقاط الخمسŠaʿbīyâtu n-Nuqāṭi l-Ḫams | An Nuqāţ al Khams | Nuqat al Khams | زوارةZuwārâ | |
| LY-WA | شعبية الواحاتŠaʿbīyâtu l-Wāḥāt | Al Wāḩāt | Oases | جالوǦālū | |
| LY-SB | شعبية سبهاŠaʿbīyâtu Sabhā | Sabhā | Sabha | سبهاSabhā | |
| LY-SR | شعبية سرتŠaʿbīyâtu Surt | Surt | Sirte | سرتSurt | |
| LY-TB | شعبية طرابلسŠaʿbīyâtu Ṭarābulus | Ţarābulus | Tripoli | طرابلسṬarābulus | |
| LY-WD | شعبية وادي الحياةŠaʿbīyâtu Wādī l-Ḥayāt | Wādī al Ḩayāt | Wadi al Hayat | أوباريAwbārī | |
| LY-WSwas LY-SH | شعبية وادي الشاطئŠaʿbīyâtu Wādī š-Šāṭiʾ | Wādī ash Shāţi’ | Wadi ash Shati | براكBirāk | |
| LY-JG | شعبية الجبل الغربيŠaʿbīyâtu l-Ǧabali l-Ġarbī | Al Jabal al Gharbī | Western Mountain | غريانĠaryān | |
| LY-ZA | شعبية الزاويةŠaʿbīyâtu z-Zāwīyâ | Az Zāwiyah | Zawiya | الزاويةaz-Zāwīyâ | |
Codes and ISO names: ISO 3166-2:LY on the ISO Online Browsing Platform, checked 28 October 2026. Arabic names, transliterations and seats: the 2017 edition of this list.
Districts named after people
The Arabic word for district, شعبية, derives from šaʿb, people, a choice of vocabulary that dates from the Jamahiriya. Each name joins it to the district in a construct: شعبية مصراتة, Šaʿbīyâtu Miṣrātâ, is the district of Misrata, and شعبية الواحات, Šaʿbīyâtu l-Wāḥāt, the district of the Oases with its seat at Ǧālū.
ISO 3166-2 has listed these 22 districts since its update of 30 June 2010, which replaced 34 older units. The letter codes mostly echo the transliterated name, LY-BA for Banghāzī and LY-TB for Ṭarābulus; Wadi ash Shati moved from LY-SH to LY-WS. Several district seats differ from the district name: Ṭubruq for al-Buṭnān, al-Bayḍāʾ for the Green Mountain, Zuwārâ for an-Nuqāṭ al-Ḫams.
The flag drawn here follows the Wikimedia Commons file, with red, black and green bands, the black one twice as high as the others, and a white crescent and star in the centre, in the proportion 1:2.
Questions about Libya's names and districts
How do you write Libya in Arabic?
ليبيا, Lībīyā. The capital is طرابلس, Ṭarābulus, in full طرابلس الغرب.
What are Libya's ISO codes?
LY (alpha-2), LBY (alpha-3) and 434 (numeric). The short name Libya has been in ISO 3166-1 since November 2011.
How many districts does Libya have?
22, coded in ISO 3166-2:LY from LY-BA Benghazi to LY-ZA Zawiya.
What is Libya called in Armenian and Georgian?
Լիբիա (Libia) in Armenian and ლიბია (Libia) in Georgian. Tripoli is Տրիպոլի and ტრიპოლი.
Why does Russian write Ливия?
Russian renders the Greek β of Λιβύη as v, the way modern Greek pronounces it. Bulgarian Либия and Serbian Либија keep the b.