The origin of the name of the city, '''Ljubljana''', is unclear. In the Middle Ages, both the river and the town were also known by the German name '''Laibach'''. This name was in official use as an endonym until 1918, and it remains frequent as a German exonym, both in common speech and official use.  The city is called ''Lubiana'' in Italian, in  and anciently ''Aemona''.