Both the -ia and -a suffices are used in Latin and Greek to form nouns from other words, with -ia specifically used often to create place names. We can see this in the etymology of Australia (Australis meaning southern, thus "southern place"), China (latinized from the Persian Chini), Russia (land of the Rus), but not from Kenya (from a Kikamba word used to describe My Kenya to a German explorer) or Canada (from an Iroquois word for settlement).