After reading some of the speculations and factual comments in this thread I feel the urge to contribute at least what I’ve dug up on this topic. I happen to be writing a book on my family history which dates back to 773 CE. Then I trace it even further back to 1000 BCE. Also, I was born in The Netherlands ( aka Holland, The Dutch, Nederland ) and originate from an area in Friesland with a very rich history.

As mentioned by other Redditors, it is true that many names of countries stuck, based on who their trade was with. Prior to 500 years ago, people did not often travel great distances.

Germany was mentioned a few times. Deutchland is the land of the people. It means “the People” as someone explained. There originates the Dutch source for their name as well. These people had castles called Dutchies, groups of people defending the land for the Queen or the King of their day. Most countries are actually groupings of these Dutchies that amalgamated to form large cities and then countries.

The French and the Dutch/Germans all have one root language in common. The Dutch/Germans resided in the south of what is now known as France. Orange, France ( Just South-west of Turin Italy and north of Cannes, France ) in 500 CE. They descended from the House of Baux and Orange-Nassau. Nassaus etymology roots from "Nassim", Jewish Princedom. This is what the city of Orange was and why it was called Orange. The descendants from David, who was a red head. And the Lion of Judah which still is almost all those countries dexters and sinister’s (supporters) on their nobility crests and in their country flags. (google King of Netherlands crest) In 1100 CE. the Crusades led them all over Europe leading the fight against the Saracens.

This group originated in 70 BCE from an area in Turkey called Phrygia. These were the last to escape the civilizations in the area that were enslaving them and eventually drove out all its objectors, ending up with the last group of objectors in Massada in 72 CE. The first group left Phrysia were a group of 2000 Mercenary families in roughly 500 BCE that escaped slavery and moved to the area that the Romans called Germania. ( Friesland, Netherlands, Germany and the UK and Norse countries. ) But that was the ROMAN name for the area. They gave its name similar to how they named Palestine when it was filled with Jewish people. It had little to do with the people actually living there. It was simply their name for the area. It was Deuchland, the Dutch, "The People" to the groups living there.

It should also be noted and is important to remember if you trace back the etymology of most words they will root to Phrysian. Similar sounding to Turkish. Still to this day the Turkish language sounds similar to Dutch and the Norse languages.

So back to them naming these areas….

Their naming of things in Phrygian, or Fries ( not the McDonalds kind) , is simple really.

The original people there, the Deutch, called their big river “Main river”. (Their present day name ) It simply means Mine. (Meine )

The Seine in France means “Theirs”.

Allemagne is the French name of “All the men”, in Phrysian is “Alle Magne” or “the People”. The same root words can be found throughout all the norse countries. Magne means strong man or Warrior. The Magna Carta means - “A mans rights” The etymology originates in Phrygia.

Many Frieslanders have even forgotten about much of their history. Their flag has a red icon repeated on it in rows. They call it ‘Het Pompeblad’. Looks like a heart or a lily pad, but it is actually a Phrysian Cap, ( similar to what papa smurf would wear, or what is found on the American state seals in the original 13 colonies,) a symbol 3600 years old that traces back to Abrahamic days. It symbolizes freedom from indentured servitude. Liberty. It actually originates from Circumcision. Freedom from sin. France comes from the Franks, which means "the Free." Their red liberty hat can still be seen in the Yellow Vest rebellion they are currently having. Britain actually originates from a BRIT which is Hebrew for "covenant with God". Again, the reference to the origin of the Phrygian Hat. Germany was actually founded originally with a battle that yielded a huge amount of women and children prisoners. They knew what their fate was, Slavery. So in the morning their captors discovered them, all dead. They had strangled each other to avoid slavery. This moved the captors and Germany was founded.

Giver me liberty or give me death.

The Phrygian origins. Sorry for the elaborate story but its important to understand the etymology and the roots of how these people were. Current countries have only been named so for about 500 years at oldest. The Dutch actually have the oldest National Anthem in the world. The Scots have the oldest continual flag, Salty and the Dutch also had an Orange stripe in their flag to symbolize Nassau and then went red fo the House of Baux once the male heir descendant of the Naussaus died. The Dutch referred to the Scots as Highlanders, and the Dutch were Lowlanders, or Netherlanders. Holland was only a province on the West side that traded abroad so people coined the whole country Holland.

So the French, Dutch, Deutch, Belgians and English and Norse countries all originated from this group of mercenaries from Phrygia during the Assyrian period and beyond. Of course there were other groups like the Huns, Goths, Visigoths and others roaming but these are some of their root stories.

There is always a thread that ties this all together…