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Updates: 

I moved information about the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to the Azerbaijan page, since it now seems unlikely that it will unite with Armenia.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on 1998-12-15. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). The draft standard showed a division of Armenia into eleven provinces. Each one had a two-digit ISO code. The final standard shows the same eleven provinces, but their ISO codes have been changed to two-letter codes, and the status of Erevan has been changed from province to city. The new set of codes is listed below.

Country overview: 

Short name	ARMENIA
ISO code	AM
FIPS code	AM
Language	Armenian (hy)
Time zone	+4
Capital	Yerevan

 

Armenia was under Russian domination for most of the 20th century. As part of Czarist Russia, it was the district of Erivan. At that time it included some territory south of the Aras (Araks) River, which it lost to Turkey in World War I. Armenia was independent from 1917 to 1920. For part of that period, it belonged to the Transcaucasian Federation, along with Azerbaijan and Georgia. Armenia became part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republic on 1922-03-12. This became one of the constituent republics of the U.S.S.R. later that year. In 1936 the Transcaucasian S.S.R. was split into the three republics again. The Commonwealth of Independent States supplanted the U.S.S.R. on 1991-12-08. Armenia became a member of the C.I.S. that same month.

Other names of country: 

1. Armenian: Hayastan, Haikakan Hanrapetoutioun (formal), Hayastani Hanrapetut'yun (formal)
2. Danish: Armenien
3. Dutch: Armenië, Republiek Armenië (formal)
4. English: Republic of Armenia (formal), Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (obsolete)
5. Finnish: Armenia
6. French: Arménie, République f d'Arménie f (formal)
7. Georgian: Somkheti
8. German: Armenien n
9. Icelandic: Armenía
10. Italian: Armenia
11. Norwegian: Armenia, Republikken Armenia (formal)
12. Portuguese: Arménia (Portugal), Armênia (Brazil), República f da Arménia f (formal)
13. Russian: Armeniya, Armyanskaya Sovyetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika (obsolete)
14. Russian: Армянская Советская Социалистичэская Республика (obsolete), Республика Армения (formal)
15. Spanish: Armenia f
16. Swedish: Armenien
17. Turkish: Ermenistan Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from the legendary patriarch Armenak. The name Hayastan comes from Haik, an ancient king, who according to Armenian tradition was the son of the Biblical Togarmah, son of Gomer, son of Japheth, son of Noah, whose ark landed on Mount Ararat.

Primary subdivisions: 

Armenia is divided into ten gavaṙ (provinces) and one kaghak (city).

Province	HASC	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Aragacot'n	AM.AG	AM01	126,278	2,755	1,064	Ashtarak
Ararat	AM.AR	AM02	252,665	2,003	773	Artashat
Armavir	AM.AV	AM03	255,861	1,241	479	Armavir
Erevan	AM.ER	AM11	1,091,235	210	81	Erevan
Gelark'unik'	AM.GR	AM04	215,371	3,655	1,411	Gavar (Kamo)
Kotayk'	AM.KT	AM05	241,337	2,100	810	Razdan
Loṙi	AM.LO	AM06	253,351	3,791	1,464	Vanadzor (Kirovakan)
Širak	AM.SH	AM07	257,242	2,679	1,034	Gyumri (Leninakan)
Syunik'	AM.SU	AM08	134,061	4,505	1,739	Kafan
Tavuš	AM.TV	AM09	121,963	3,120	1,205	Idjevan
Vayoc'Jor	AM.VD	AM10	53,230	2,406	929	Yegheknadzor
11 divisions			3,002,594	29,743	11,484
Province: Each division is a province, except Erevan, which is a city. There are numerous ways to transliterate these names from Armenian. Here they are shown as in the book "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries". HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the province codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Population: 2001-10-10 census. Areas: Total includes Lake Sevan, which is not counted in any of the provinces. Capital: Names in parentheses are from the period of Soviet domination.

Postal codes: 

Armenia appears still to be using Soviet-era postal codes, six-digit numbers always beginning with '37'.

Territorial extent: 

Gelark'unik' includes the small Artsvashen exclave, containing the town of Bashkend, surrounded by Azerbaijan.

The UN LOCODE page  for Armenia lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

Erevan: possibly from Armenian erevan: to appear or show, implying that it was the first place to appear after the Biblical flood.

Change history: 

Under the Soviet Union, Armenia was the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (Armyanskaya Sovyetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika). According to the Atlas of Armenia, as of 1991-01-01, Armenia was divided into 37 raions, as shown in the table below. The atlas notes that Aragadz and Nairi were formed in 1972, and Baghramyan in 1983; the others are presumably older.

District	Population	Year	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Later
Aghin	17,773	1959	429	166	Širak
Akhuryan	32,252	1959	576	223	Širak
Alaverdi	52,107	1959	1,121	433	Loṙi
Amasia	12,794	1959	594	229	Širak
Aparan	22,887	1959	816	315	Aragacot'n
Aragadz	14,100	1986	382	148	Loṙi
Artashat	61,721	1959	562	217	Ararat
Art'ik	37,426	1959	634	245	Širak
Ashtarak	44,791	1959	932	360	Aragacot'n
Azizbekov	13,411	1959	1,174	453	Vayoc'Jor
Baghramyan	14,851	1985	453	175	Armavir
Basargech'ar	35,641	1959	1,134	438	Gelark'unik'
Echmiadzin	63,156	1959	425	164	Armavir
Eghegnadzor	26,248	1959	1,134	438	Vayoc'Jor
Erevan	1,184,500	1987	230	89	Erevan
Ghap'an	47,406	1959	1,371	529	Syunik'
Ghukasyan	10,045	1959	561	216	Širak
Goris	29,421	1959	752	290	Syunik'
Hoktemberyan	61,614	1959	701	271	Armavir
Hrazdan	35,205	1959	946	365	Kotayk'
Ichevan	32,601	1959	1,299	502	Tavuš
Kalinino	25,265	1959	690	266	Loṙi
Kamo	35,566	1959	634	245	Gelark'unik'
Kirovakan	25,508	1959	781	302	Loṙi
Kotayk'	32,273	1959	850	328	Kotayk'
Krasnoselsk	23,963	1959	697	269	Gelark'unik'
Martuni	45,670	1959	1,168	451	Gelark'unik'
Meghri	11,750	1959	664	256	Syunik'
Nairi	42,000	1982	344	133	Kotayk'
Noyemberyan	23,297	1959	538	208	Tavuš
Sevan	21,032	1959	385	149	Gelark'unik'
Shamshadin	31,814	1959	824	318	Tavuš
Sisian	28,808	1959	1,719	664	Syunik'
Spitak	35,274	1959	596	230	Loṙi
Step'anavan	29,929	1959	637	246	Loṙi
T'alin	28,849	1959	1,288	497	Aragacot'n
Vedi	38,532	1959	1,999	772	Ararat
37 districts			30,040	11,598
Population: 1959-01-15 census, except as shown. Year: Date of population estimates for some districts. Later: Post-1995 province containing approximate area of district.

 

According to the 1995 CIA World Factbook, Armenia consisted of 37 shrjanner (regions): Akhuryan, Amasiya, Ani, Aparan, Aragats, Ararat, Armavir, Artashat, Art'ik, Ashots'k', Ashtarak, Baghramyan, Ejmiatsin, Goris, Gugark', Hrazdan, Ijevan, Kamo, Kapan, Kotayk', Krasnoselsk, Martuni, Masis, Meghri, Nairi, Noyemberyai, Sevan, Sisian, Spitak, Step'anavan, T'alin, Tashir, Taush, T'umanyan, Vardenik, Vayk', Yeghegnadzor; and 23 kaghakner (cities): Abovyan, Alaverdi, Ararat, Artashat, Art'ik, Ashtarak, Ch'arents'avan, Dilijan, Ejmiatsin, Goris, Gyumri, Hoktemberyan, Hrazdan, Ijevan, Jermuk, Kamo, Kapan, Metsamor, Sevan, Spitak, Step'anavan, Vanadzor, and Yerevan. These regions don't seem to correspond exactly with those listed in the table, but a partial key to the correspondence is probably: Ani = Aghin, Ararat = Vedi, Armavir = Hoktemberyan, Kapan = Ghap'an, T'umanyan = Alaverdi, Tashir = Kalinino, Taush = Shamshadin, Vardenik = Basargech'ar, and Vayk' = Azizbekov.

1995-07-05: Armenia re-organized into the current ten provinces and one city.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Aragacot'n: Aragatsotn (variant)
2. Ararat: Ararate (Portuguese)
3. Erevan: Ereván (Spanish); Erevão (Portuguese-variant); Erivan, Ierevan, Jerevan, Yerevan (variant); Eriwan (German)
4. Gelark'unik': Gegharcunik, Gegharkunick, Gegharkunik (variant); Guegharkounik (French)
5. Kotayk': Kotaik (variant)
6. Širak: Chirak (French); Shirak (variant)
7. Syunik': Siounik (French); Sunik, Syunk (variant); Zangezur (obsolete)
8. Tavuš: Tavouch (French); Tavoush, Tavush (variant)
9. Vayoc'Jor: Vaïots Dzor (French); Vayots Dzor (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] 2001 census  results. National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia.
2. [2] Atlas of Armenia.