Where Milky Way galaxy got its name?

Common names

Birds' Path

The name "Birds' Path" is used in several Uralic and Turkic languages and in the Baltic languages.

Milky Way

Many European languages have borrowed, directly or indirectly, the Greek name for the Milky Way, including English and Latin.

Road to Santiago

The Milky Way was traditionally used as a guide by pilgrims traveling to the holy site at Compostela, hence the use of "The Road to Santiago" as a name for the Milky Way. Curiously, La Voje Ladee "The Milky Way" was also used to refer to the pilgrimage road.[3]

Silver River

The Chinese name "Silver River" (銀河) is used throughout East Asia, including Korea and Vietnam. In Japan, "Silver River" (銀河) means galaxies in general.

River of Heaven

The Japanese name for the Milky Way is the "River of Heaven" (天の川).

Straw Way

In a large area from Central Asia to Africa, the name for the Milky Way is related to the word for straw. It has been suggested that the term was spread by Arabs who in turn borrowed it from Armenia.

List of name in various languages

Greek: Γαλαξίας κύκλος Galaxias Kyklos "Milky Circle", from a myth.
Hindi: akashaganga "Ganges River of Heaven", from a myth.[1]
Catalan: Via Làctia "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Catalan: Camí de Sant Jaume, "The Road to Santiago".
French: La voie lactée "The Milky Way".
Irish: Bealach na Bó Finne "The Fair Cow's Path"
Irish: Claí Mór na Réaltaí "The Big Fence of Stars"
Irish: Slabhbra Luigh "Lugh's Chain"
Italian: Via Lattea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Latin: Via Lactea "Milky Way", translated from Greek.
Portuguese: Estrada de Santiago, "The Road to Santiago" (used in European Portuguese only)
Portuguese: Via Láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Romanian: Calea Lactee "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Spanish: Via láctea "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Spanish: Compostela "Field of Stars", originally from Latin
Spanish: Camino de Santiago "The Road to Santiago".
Welsh: Llwybr Llaethog "Milky Way", translated from the Latin.
Welsh: Caer Wydion "The Fort of Gwydion" (Gwydion).
Danish: Mælkevejen "The Milky Way".
Faroese: Vetrarbreytin "The Winter Way".
Dutch: Melkweg "Milky Way" translated from Latin.
English: Milky Way, translated from Latin.[2]
German: Milchstraße "Milky Way"
Icelandic: Vetrarbrautin "The Winter Way."
Norwegian: Melkeveien "The milky way" (Bokmål, comes from Danish)
Norwegian: Vinterbrauta "The Winter Way" (Nynorsk, related to Icelandic)
Swedish: Vintergatan "Winter Street", because it is more visible during the winter in Scandinavia and looks like a snowy street.
Armenian: Յարդ զողի Ճանապարհ hard goghi chanaparh "Straw Thief's Way", from a myth.[1]
Bosnian: Mliječni Put, "Milky Way" translated from Latin.
Bulgarian: Млечен Път, "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Croatian: Mliječni Put "Milky Way" translated from Latin. Traditionally it was named Kumova slama (Godfather's straw)
Czech: Mléčná dráha "Milky Way" translated from Greek or Latin.
Latvian: Putnu Ceļš, The Birds' Path
Lithuanian: Paukščių Takas, The Birds' Path
Polish: Droga Mleczna "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Russian: Млечный путь "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Serbian: Mlečni put "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Serbian: Млечни пут "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Slovak: Mliečna dráha "Milky Way", translated from Latin.
Slovene: Rimska cesta "The Roman Road", because pilgrims followed it when traveling to Rome.
Ukrainian: Чумацький шлях "Way of Chumak"
Arabic: درب التبانة‎ (Darb Al-Tabana) means Milky way.
Hebrew: שביל החלב‎ "The Milky Way".
Maltese: Triq Sant' Anna, "St Anne's way".
Chechen: Ça Taxina Taça "the route of scattered straw"
Estonian: Linnutee "Way of Birds", from a myth.
Finnish: Linnunrata "Way of Birds", from a myth.
Erzya: Каргонь ки "Way of the Crane"
Hungarian: Hadak Útja "The Road of the Warriors", from a myth. However this is the historical term, today it is known simply as "Tejút", meaning "Milk Way".
Indonesian: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
Malay: Bima Sakti "Magical Bima", a character in Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
Basque: Esne bidea, from Latin.
Cherokee: ᎩᎵ ᎤᎵᏒᏍᏓᏅᏱ Gili Ulisvsdanvyi "The Way the Dog Ran Away", from a myth.
Chinese: 銀河 "Silver River".
Georgian: ირმის ნახტომი, irmis naxtomi "The Deer Jump"
Japanese: 天の川 amanogawa "River of Heaven"
Korean: 은하 eunha "Silver River", from Chinese, or "미리내"(mirinae) in pure Korean. The Milky Way is specifically called "Uri Eunha" ("Our Galaxy").
Thai: ทางช้างเผือก "The way of the white elephant".
Turkish: Samanyolu "Road of Straw"
Vietnamese: Ngân Hà "Silver River", translated from Chinese.