Gomel is the administrative centre of Gomel Voblast and the second-largest city in Belarus. It has a population of 515,325 and its area is 135.3 km2. here are at least six versions of the origin of the city’s name. One of the best known is that the name is derived from the name of the Homeyuk stream, which flowed into the Sozh river near the foot of the hill where the first settlement was founded. Other Belarusian cities’ names are formed on these lines: for example, Minsk’s name is derived from the river Menka, Polatsk’s – from the Palata river, Vitsebsk’s – from the Vitsba river. In historical sources from 1142 to the 16th century Homel is named as Hom', Homye, Homiy, Homey, Homyi. These forms are tentatively explained as derivatives of an unattested *gomŭ of uncertain meaning. The modern form of the city’s name has been used only since the 16th–17th centuries.