thumbnail

Country Nicknames

Can you name the countries that are sometimes known by these nicknames?
Answer must correspond to highlighted box
These nicknames are not official
Quiz by Quizmaster
Rate:
Last updated: January 20, 2020
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedJuly 29, 2012
Times taken92,868
Average score60.9%
Rating3.95
4:00
Enter country here:
0
 / 23 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Nickname
Country
The Land of the Rising Sun
Japan
The Emerald Isle
Ireland
Oz
Australia
The Land of the Free
United States
The Hexagon
France
The Great White North
Canada
India's Teardrop
Sri Lanka
'Nam
Vietnam
The Land of Smiles
Thailand
The Gift of the Nile
Egypt
Rainbow Nation
South Africa
The Land of the Magyars
Hungary
Nickname
Country
The Bread Basket of Europe
Ukraine
Helvetia
Switzerland
The Middle Kingdom
China
The Graveyard of Empires
Afghanistan
The Boot
Italy
The Hermit Kingdom
North Korea
Land of the Long White Cloud
New Zealand
Land of the Incas
Peru
The Emerald of the Equator
Indonesia
The Holy Land
Israel
Holland
Netherlands
+2
Level 14
Oct 29, 2012
isnt it that the land of the free is thailand?
+2
Level 30
Oct 31, 2012
Then end of the national anthem of the USA goes "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."
+1
Level 37
May 1, 2020
I also thought of that line in USA national anthem.
+20
Level 82
Jan 3, 2018
I love Thailand but it's not exactly a free country. Maybe when they're not under military rule and it's legal to criticize the obscenely wealthy king without going to jail for it...
+19
Level 54
Jul 20, 2020
shhhhhh the king is a great person do not make fun of him, anyways this comment is about bricks, some bricks have an indentation named the "frog" and theres an ongoing debate in the bricklaying community of wether to lay them frog-down or frog-up, and ok the thai police should be bored now, k i n g s u c k Edit: in case you dont know "this comment is about bricks" is a reference from Half as interesting
+2
Level 68
Nov 11, 2020
Nicknames are about self-perception, not about reality. Is America really that free? Is Ireland actually made up of emeralds?
+2
Level 82
Jan 23, 2021
Ireland is very green. And America is very free. At the time that this nickname was coined, in 1812, it was extraordinarily so. At that time, the United States was by far the world's largest democracy. It adopted a republican form of government, eschewing monarchy, in 1776. At the time all of Europe was ruled over by monarchs except for Switzerland, I think. As was pretty much the entire rest of the world. Russia wouldn't free its tens of millions of serfs until 1861 (and to date has only flirted with democracy from 1991 - 1999). France wouldn't become a republic until 1870, long after much of Latin America had done so (though in all cases after the US had). Brazil wouldn't do so until 1889. Most of the rest of the Europe not until after WW1. Germany in 1918, more than 100 years after this song lyric had been written (and then of course not long after descended into Nazism). Eastern Europe didn't follow suit until after WW2. And there are still countries today who haven't.
+2
Level 83
Nov 2, 2023
Since the Index of Economic Freedom describes the USA as 'mostly free', I suggest we change the nickname to 'land of the mostly free' lol
+1
Level 82
Jan 23, 2021
Yet you're still going to get indignant about this? 200 years later? Good grief that is sad...

So anyway, yeah, country nicknames often do make a lot of sense. America's certainly did when it was coined in the early 1800s, and even today, when much of the rest of the world has followed her example and assumed a similar type of government with similar types of constitutions and laws and guaranteed freedoms... it's still more free than the vast majority of countries in certain respects, like when it comes to freedom of speech or expression, and the press, laws about religion, and art, and pornography, and gun ownership. It lags in a few areas behind a small handful of countries. But the nickname is centuries old, appropriate, and not meant as a dig against you or your country and its freedoms or lack thereof.

+13
Level 25
Oct 29, 2012
How about Mexico-America's Beard?
+35
Level 62
Jul 24, 2019
US = Mexico’s sombrero
+19
Level 88
Jan 21, 2020
Then there's an obvious one for Florida if they ever secede.
+20
Level 65
Jan 22, 2020
In a few years, Southern Florida will be so flooded that it will be the circumcised version of that.
+14
Level 37
Oct 30, 2012
At the moment, New Zealand is also Middle Earth. Yay for Kiwi tourism!
+2
Level 71
Oct 31, 2012
Isn't it "the land of a thousand smiles"?
+1
Level 82
May 22, 2015
I've seen simply Land of Smiles before on tourist literature.
+2
Level 71
Jul 20, 2020
Yes, it is Land of a Thousand Smiles. Land of Smiles is wrong
+20
Level 70
May 22, 2015
I prefer Canada's pants for the USA.
+16
Level 83
Dec 6, 2015
I always laugh too much at these comments because in the UK pants is used for underwear, not trousers.
+4
Level 54
Jul 20, 2020
that's still accurate
+1
Level 83
Dec 9, 2020
fair
+3
Level 20
May 26, 2015
An easy one would be "USA" for United States! Nobody would get that one! :`D
+13
Level 59
Sep 7, 2016
Hi my name is 'nam, viet nam.
+2
Level 56
Jun 30, 2020
007
+4
Level 65
Oct 25, 2016
Why the hell is France called the Hexagon when (not specifically) its 5 sides, like a Pentagon?
+9
Level 59
Jan 3, 2018
Because it looks a little like a hexagon. You can even use a hexagon as a guide for drawing a rough outline of the country. Plenty of examples on google of the country shown with a hexagon on it. L'Hexagone is often used in French journalism to refer to France.
+3
Level 82
Jan 22, 2020
It does look a lot more like a (regular) pentagon than a (regular) hexagon to me. But I guess the hexagon thing comes from dividing the southern side of the "pentagon" between the border with Spain and the Mediterranean coast.
+2
Level 76
Jul 21, 2020
I've never heard it called that.
+1
Level 68
Nov 11, 2020
I'm French, and it is one hundred percent called the Hexagon, but it has always bothered me because I find it to be shaped way more like a pentagon.
+5
Level 68
Jan 6, 2017
The Friendly Islands - Tonga.
+3
Level 53
Nov 18, 2019
Who calls France the hexagon?
+12
Level ∞
Jan 20, 2020
Tons of people, mostly in France.
+3
Level 72
Jul 20, 2020
Well, it's called the Hexagon regularly here in Québec. The nickname is commonly used in the news. So I'd guess it's the case in most French-speaking countries and regions.
+7
Level 83
Jan 20, 2020
Can confirm. It's also why there's an hexagon on 1 and 2 euro coins from France.

(The six sides being the Channel-the Atlantic-the Pyrenees-the Mediterranean-the Alps and Rhine-the Belgian border)

+4
Level 63
Jan 21, 2020
I didn't know that about my neighbor.
+2
Level 68
Nov 11, 2020
French people, and probably mostly or only them. But, to be fair, I've never heard someone that isn't from the USA call it "the Land of the Free"...
+2
Level 71
Jan 20, 2020
I don't get 'The Emerald of the Equator' for Indonesia......... I could understand 'The Opal of the Equator' as it is a string of islands that differ greatly in people, physical appearance, size etc. etc.
+1
Level 48
Oct 1, 2020
It was named after our forests, Indonesia used to (or still does I guess, kinda) look a solid deep green at a satellite view. Although we're gonna be The Citrine of the Equator soon enough if we keep letting our forests be burned and exploited as they are...

This nickname is mostly used for tourism marketing purposes and poetic depictions.

+11
Level 44
Jan 21, 2020
Holland isn't really a nickname, it's more of a mistake by foreigners than a nickname. It's like calling Belgium Flanders, or the UK England.
+5
Level 82
Jan 21, 2020
It's not at all just foreigners:

www.holland.com - "Your official guide for visiting the Netherlands."

The government plans to change this soon however.

+3
Level 76
Jan 25, 2020
Wouldn't call it a mistake in this day and age. More of a convenience.
+2
Level 56
Jul 20, 2020
It's not always a mistake, most do visit Holland while in the Netherlands--- you can still say you're going to Holland -meaning the area/region (just like other places)
+1
Level 72
Jul 20, 2020
So... not a nickname, then? You're supporting @komtvoordebakker's claim?
+9
Level 66
Jan 21, 2020
I can assure you no-one in Vietnam ever calls it 'Nam.
+9
Level 75
Apr 30, 2020
Well, the quiz should basically be named "American country nicknames"
+2
Level 68
Nov 11, 2020
Also, "Nam" isn't a nickmane, it's just lazy speech for people who can't be bothered to pronounce a second syllable.
+1
Level 93
Dec 1, 2020
And on the other hand, people in Southern Africa call Namibia Nam all the time...

So only the apostrophe is giving it away...

+2
Level 40
Feb 22, 2020
I thought graveyard of empires would be russia bc that guy from wwii and napoleon both lost their wars there.
+3
Level 62
Jul 20, 2020
"that guy from wwII"

ya mean Hitler?

+3
Level 19
Jul 23, 2020
No, that guy from wwii is that guy from wwii
+2
Level 68
Mar 6, 2020
Only 50% for Helvetia? Surprising.
+2
Level 65
Mar 12, 2020
Surprising 30% have never heard of oz! on a website where the average person has crazy geography skills
+2
Level 64
Apr 30, 2020
Haha, I tried Uzbekistan. Suppose that would've been 'Uz' tho:)
+1
Level 59
Mar 28, 2022
Oz was my last one, I could only think of Kansas haha
+2
Level 75
Apr 30, 2020
Yeah, in my country's language that's actually how the country is called.
+4
Level 58
Jul 20, 2020
'Land of the Magyars' is just the translation of Hungary's proper name, Magyarország. Not really a nickname.
+2
Level 62
Jul 20, 2020
idk how Indonesia is so low lol just guess all the equator countries
+1
Level 74
Jul 20, 2020
maybe people rather see the answer after giving up than trying all the possible answers and forgetting the correct answer in the end??? that way you learn something
+2
Level 42
Jul 20, 2020
It´s funny that you can literally type in "Holland" and it fills in "Netherlands"
+1
Level 19
Jul 23, 2020
O-Z=Aussie. Ez
+1
Level 67
Jun 7, 2021
I love how you can guess Holland for Holland
+1
Level 79
Jul 12, 2022
France doesn't even look like a hexagon. What a dumb nickname lol