Turkmenabat

Türkmenabat (Turkmen: Türkmenabat, Түркменабат), formerly Amul, Çärjew (until 1924 and from 1940-1999), and Novy Chardzhuy (from 1927-1940), is the second-largest city in Turkmenistan and the administrative centre of Lebap Province. As of 2009[update], it had a population of approximately 254,000 people (up from 161,000 in the 1989 census).[citation needed] From 1924 to 1927, it was also named Leninsk in honor of Vladimir Lenin.[4] The former name of the city, Çärjew (also Chardzhou), is a Turkmen borrowing from the Persian čahârjuy, which consists of two parts: čahâr, meaning "four", and juy, meaning "brook". This type of naming is also common in Iran, such as the village Se Juy (literally 'three brooks'). The current name of the city is simply a combining of Türkmen and the Persian suffix ābād (آباد), meaning "cultivated place" (village, city, region).