page_title: Kokkola
section_title: Name
hierarchical_section_title: Kokkola / Name
caption_attribution_description: English: The Finnish/Swedish sign for the w:Kokkola railway station.
context_page_description: Kokkola is a town and municipality of Finland.
  The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of 47,706 and covers an area of 2,730.80 square kilometres of which 1,286.61 km² is water. The population density is 33.03 inhabitants per square kilometre. Neighbour municipalities are Halsua, Kalajoki, Kannus, Kaustinen, Kronoby, Lestijärvi, Larsmo and Toholampi.
  The municipality is bilingual with 84.2% being Finnish and 13.9% Swedish speakers.
  Kokkola will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2020.
context_section_description: The Finnish name Kokkola means "place of bonfire" or "place of eagle" because the Finnish root word kokko means both bonfire and white-tailed eagle (the suffix -la denotes location). The town was known in Swedish by the name Gamlakarleby until 1 January 1977 when the surrounding land municipality of Kaarlela (Swedish: Karleby) was consolidated with Kokkola, and the town took over the Swedish name of Karleby. The word gamla means "old", karl means "man" or "peasant" and by means "village", in turn literally meaning '"old village of peasants" or Anglicised as "Old Peasantville". The Latin name was Carolina Vetus.
caption: The bilingual sign at the train station.
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