-stan (Persian: ستان stân, estân or istân; Sanskrit: स्थान् sthān or स्थानम् sthānam) is a Persian and Sanskrit suffix that means "a place abounding in" or "place where anything abounds". It is widely used by Iranian languages (mainly Persian) and the Indic languages (mainly Sanskrit, Prakrit and Hindustani) as well as the Turkic languages (excluding Siberian Turkic), Dravidic languages (mainly Brahui and Kannada) and other languages. The suffix appears in the names of many regions throughout West, Central and South Asia, and parts of the Caucasus and Russia.
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Stān in the context of Counties of Iran
Iran's counties (Persian: شهر,ستان, romanized as šahrestân) are administrative divisions of larger provinces (ostan). The word shahrestan comes from the Persian words شهر shahr (city) and ستان stân ("place, land"). "County", therefore, is a near equivalent to شهرستان (šahrestân).
Counties are divided into one or more districts (baxš بخش). A typical district includes both cities (šahr شهر) and rural districts (dehestân دهستان), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county, generally in its Central District.