How to Spell Sint Maarten? All the Variations
The island has two official names depending on which side of the border you are on. The Dutch side, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is correctly spelled Sint Maarten. The French side is Saint-Martin. Simple enough — except that almost nobody outside the island spells either one consistently, and even institutions that should know better get it wrong. Air France has been known to fly to "Sint Marteen."
The variations we see most often: St. Maarten, St Martin, St Maarten, Saint Maarten, Sint Martin, St Maartin, St Marteen, St Martens, St Maartens, St Martins, St Marten, Marteens, Martaan, Martan — and various creative combinations of all of the above. Some travellers merge both names into StMaarten/StMartin. All of them are looking for the same island.
A few spellings that catch even repeat visitors: the capital of the Dutch side is Philipsburg — one l, not two. And the beloved nature retreat on the French side is Loterie Farm — one t, not two, and nothing to do with a lottery.
If you found this page despite a creative spelling in your search bar, welcome. You are in the right place.
A note on "St Martin" specifically: search traffic for that spelling has grown steadily, but it creates a navigation problem. There are numerous places named St Martin around the world — in France, Belgium, the Caribbean, and elsewhere. If you searched for St Martin and found this page, the island you are looking for is the one shared between the Netherlands and France in the northeastern Caribbean, with Princess Juliana International Airport on the Dutch side and Marigot as the capital of the French side. Coordinates roughly 18°N, 63°W. That is us.
For years, the biggest SEO competitor for the "St Martin" search term was not another Caribbean island but St. Martin's County in Florida — a large domestic market generating far more search volume than a 37-square-mile island in the Caribbean. If you were trying to find us in the early days of Google, you had to know exactly what you were looking for. The more specific spellings — Sint Maarten, Saint-Martin, SXM — are still the most reliable way to find the island directly.
