It's because of this in the spec (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LanguageAndText#phone-language):
The variation that has the unprefixed language code (or an equivalent) should be sorted first. For example, en_US = en = “English (US)” (not “U. S. English”), nl = “Nederlands (Nederland)”. (This avoids hiding the most common variation amongst many others.) So in this case it's by design. ** Changed in: ubuntu-system-settings (Ubuntu) Status: New => Won't Fix -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1332584 Title: Language selection isn't quite alphabetical To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-system-settings/+bug/1332584/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs