Why is it that there is a Iberia and a Galicia in both Eastern Europe and the Iberian peninsula?

by Dremord
NotTheBeesOhNoMyEyes

This earlier thread touches upon why there are two distinct Galicias. In the case of Iberia, the Iberian peninsula's name comes from the Latin term "Iber" for the Ebre river, Spain's largest river by volume, and the people who lived along it were termed "Iberians". Conversely, Caucasian Iberia's etymological origins likely came from local language (Ivirk is the Armenian term for Georgia, and it's easy to see how this could come to be rendered as Iberia in Western sources). It is probably also worth noting that Iberia in the SW European sense is only a geographical designation, whereas a distinct Kingdom of Iberia existed as a Georgian Kingdom from around the sixth century until the ninth.