Random Things about How Every US State Get Its Name (50 items)

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  (#1) Alabama

  • 1819-12-14

  Pretty straightforwardly, Alabama was named for the Alabama Indian tribe that lived in the western part of the state and eastern Mississippi until the early 1800s. The meaning of the word "Alabama" is unclear, but it may come from a Choctaw word meaning "thicket-clearers" or "vegetation-gatherers."
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  (#2) Alaska

  • 1959-01-03

  The native Aleut word for Alaska, alaxsxaq, literally means the "object toward which the action of the sea is directed." Anthropologists note that this is essentially a "sea-centric" way to say "mainland."
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  (#3) Arizona

  • 1912-02-14

  State historian Marshall Trimble says "Arizona" comes from the Basque words "aritz ona," meaning "good oaks," but there are other theories. Some think it's a corruption of Aleh-Shonak, a Native American village near Nogales, or it comes from the Spanish Arizonac, possibly a local name from the O'odham Native Americans that means "having a little spring."
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  (#4) Arkansas

  • 1836-06-15

  "Arkansas" comes from Arkansa, which is what the French called the Quapaw tribe in the region. The "S" was added to make it plural, but it is officially silent. The original Quapaw word means "south wind."
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  (#5) California

  • 1850-09-09

  California is the only state in the union named for a fictional place: the island paradise of California in Las Sergas de Esplanidian, a popular novel written in 1500 by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo.
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  (#6) Colorado

  • 1876-08-01

  "Colorado" is simply the Spanish word for "ruddy" or "reddish-colored," which is how Spanish explorers first described the Colorado River (Rio Colorado, or "Red River") upon initially seeing it.
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  (#7) Connecticut

  • 1788-01-09

  This one sounds a lot like the word it comes from, the Mohican "quinnehtukqut," meaning "beside" or "at" the "long tidal river."
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  (#8) Delaware

  • 1787-12-07

  The Delaware River/Bay/tribes were all named after Thomas West, AKA Lord De La Warr, the first English colonial governor of Virginia. This moniker - "De La Warr" - is likely derived from "de la werre," the Old French expression for "of the war."
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  (#9) Florida

  • 1845-03-03

  The former Spanish colony was dubbed "Florida" from the the Spanish phrase Pascua florida, or "flowering Easter," which is what the Spanish call Palm Sunday, the day the peninsula was discovered. "Feast of Flowers" is another translation.
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  (#10) Georgia

  • 1788-01-02

  "Georgia" is basically the feminine version of "George," and Georgia was named as a colony in honor of King George II of England, using the feminine Latin version of the name. "George" comes from the Greek Georgos, meaning "husbandman" or "farmer."
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  (#11) Hawaii

  • 1959-08-21

  Named either for Hawaiʻiloa (the ancient Hawaiian legendary hero said to have first discovered the islands) or for Hawaiki (the mythical homeland of the Polynesians), Hawaii's name is definitely one with legendary origins.
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  (#12) Idaho

  • 1890-07-03

  "Idaho" is widely thought to be a fake Native American word coined as a ruse by prospector and lobbyist George M. Willing, who claimed it meant "Gem of the Mountains." The name was almost used for Colorado before Congress discovered it was a fabrication. Some scholars, however, think it could come from the Kiowa-Apache word idaahe, meaning "enemy." 
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  (#13) Illinois

  • 1818-08-26

  Named after a confederation of Native Americans known as the Illiniwek, which the French called the Illinois. The word means "ordinary speaker," "the men," or "tribe of superior men," depending on the translation.  
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  (#14) Indiana

  • 1816-12-11

  "Indiana" is simply "Indian" plus "-ana," the Latin-derived place-name suffix. Together, it forms the phrase "Land of Indians."
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  (#15) Iowa

  • 1846-12-28

  Named after the Báxoje tribe, which the French called the Iowa or Ioway, possibly because of the Dakota word ayuxbe, meaning "sleepy ones." 
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  (#16) Kansas

  • 1861-01-29

  Named for the Kansas river, which is named for the Kansa tribe. Like Arkansas, the root word is believed to refer to the wind or the "south wind."
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  (#17) Kentucky

  • 1792-06-01

  The etymology on this is unclear, but it may be an English bastardization of a Native American word, perhaps the Seneca geda'geh, meaning "at the field." Early Native use of the term as a place name may also come from a village known to the Shawnee as Eskippakithiki. Another popular theory is that "Kentucky" comes from the Iroquois word "ken-tah-ten," meaning "land of tomorrow" or "dark and bloody ground." 
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  (#18) Louisiana

  • 1812-04-30

  Before becoming a state, the colony was named by French explorers in 1682 in honor of Louis XIV.
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  (#19) Maine

  • 1820-03-15

  The origin of "Maine" is disputed, but there are a few competing popular theories. One is that French explorers dubbed this region Maine after a region in France called Mayne. Another is that colonist Sir Ferdinando Gorges named it after the village his family came from, known as Maine or Meine. It also may simply mean "main land," distinguishing it from the numerous nearby islands.
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  (#20) Maryland

  • 1788-04-25

  Named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England, who signed the charter that established the colony as a religious refuge for Catholics. As such, it is also believed the name is a reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
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  (#21) Massachusetts

  • 1788-02-06

  This is a plural word, believe it or not, referring to Native Americans who lived near the bay. The word is from the Algonquian Massachusett, meaning "at the large hill," referring to Great Blue Hill in the Blue Hills area of Massachusetts.
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  (#22) Michigan

  • 1837-01-26

  Lake Michigan actually had the name before the state, and it was perhaps derived from the French spelling of the Algonquian word meshi-gami, meaning "big lake."
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  (#23) Minnesota

  • 1817-12-10

  "Minnesota" comes from the Dakota mnisota, which literally means "cloudy water, milky water." The word was originally applied to the Minnesota River. "Sky-tinted water" is another translation.
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  (#24) Mississippi

  • 1817-12-10

  A big word meaning "big river," the name comes from the Algonquian by way of the French. "Father of Waters" is an alternate translation.
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  (#25) Missouri

  • 1821-08-10

  A name for a tribe of Siouan-speaking Indians, originally pronounced as weemeehsoorita. The word means "dugout canoe," a reference to the Missouri tribe's skill at creating the vessels. "People of the big canoes" is another translation.
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  (#26) Montana

  • 1889-11-08

  US Representative James H. Ashley of Ohio proposed the name "Montana" in 1864 in reference to the presence of the Rocky Mountains in the territory. Ashley chose the name - a Latinized Spanish word meaning "mountain" or "mountainous" - from a dictionary.
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  (#27) Nebraska

  • 1867-03-01

  "Nebraska" is a Siouan name that means "flat water" or "water flat," a reference to how the Platte River would flood the plains.
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  (#28) Nevada

  • 1864-10-31

  Named for the Spanish nevado, meaning snowy or snowcapped by way of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the name of which simply means "snowy mountains."
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  (#29) New Hampshire

  • 1788-06-21

  Named, as you would imagine, after the old Hampshire, which is a county in England.
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  (#30) New Jersey

  • 1787-12-18

  Colonist Sir George de Carteret named the state after his birthplace of Jersey, an island in the English Channel.
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  (#31) New Mexico

  • 1912-01-06

  Simply a word-for-word translation of Nuevo Mexico, the name of the territory when it was discovered by Spanish explorers. Contrary to popular belief, the state wasn't explicitly named after Mexico, but instead retained the old Spanish name, just translated literally into English. 
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  (#32) New York

  • 1788-07-26

  Named in honor of the Duke of York and Albany, later known as King James II.
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  (#33) North Carolina

  • 1789-11-21

  Like Georgia, Carolina is a feminized version of a male name - Charles, in this case, since the Latin form is Carolus, thus Carolinus, or "of Charles." French colonists named the region after Charles IX of France, but the English named the colony after King Charles I & II. See also South Carolina.
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  (#34) North Dakota

  • 1889-11-02

  Named for the Native American tribe, the Dakota, the name of which means "friendly" or "allies." See also South Dakota.
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  (#35) Ohio

  • 1803-03-01

  Named after the Ohio River, which was named after an Iroquoian word meaning "good" or "great" river.
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  (#36) Oklahoma

  • 1907-11-16

  The territory was named by a Choctaw chief, combining two words into a neologism meaning, simply, "red people" or "red nation."
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  (#37) Oregon

  • 1859-02-14

  Unknown, but it first appeared as "Ouragon" in a 1765 proposal by an English army officer to King George III as the name of a river, later known as the Columbia. There are several theories as to where the name comes from, but it's officially a mystery.
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  (#38) Pennsylvania

  • 1787-12-12

  Literally "Penn's Woods" in honor of Admiral William Penn, per a suggestion by King Charles II.
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  (#39) Rhode Island

  • 1790-05-29

  Disputed, but it is believed to either be named for its resemblance to the Greek island of Rhodes or for a Dutch explorer's name, or from the Dutch expression Roodt Eylandt, meaning "Red Island," which describes the state's appearance in the autumn.
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  (#40) South Carolina

  • 1788-04-23

  Like Georgia, Carolina is a feminized version of a male name - Charles, in this case, since the Latin form is Carolus, thus Carolinus, or "of Charles." French colonists named the region after Charles IX of France, but the English named the colony after King Charles I & II. See also North Carolina.
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  (#41) South Dakota

  • 1889-11-02

  Named for the Native American tribe, the Dakota, the name of which means "friendly" or "allies." See also North Dakota.
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  (#42) Tennessee

  • 1796-06-01

  The meaning is unknown, but it came from the name of a Cherokee village in the area, Tanasi.
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  (#43) Texas

  • 1845-12-29

  From the Caddo Indian tribe's taysha, meaning "friends" or "allies," adapted by the Spanish into texa and the plural texas.
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  (#44) Utah

  • 1896-01-04

  Named after the Yuta, the Spanish name for the Uto-Aztecan people native to the area. Yuta may come from an Apache word meaning "high."
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  (#45) Vermont

  • 1791-03-04

  Based, perhaps erroneously, on the French for "Green Mountain." Technically, as Douglas Harper notes, the French would be Montvert, as in  Le Pont-de-Montvert.
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  (#46) Virginia

  • 1788-06-25

  The original colony was named after Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, in 1587. See also West Virginia, which split from its eastern counterpart during the Civil War.
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  (#47) Washington

  • 1889-11-11

  The only state in the union named after a president. George Washington's family name comes from a town in northeast England. Washington means "estate of a man named Wassa" in Old English.
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  (#48) West Virginia

  • 1863-06-20

  The original colony was named after Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, in 1587. See also Virginia, which West Virginia split from during the Civil War.
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  (#49) Wisconsin

  • 1848-05-29

  The origin is unclear, but it may come from a Miami Indian word spelled Mescousing or Wishkonsing, meaning "it lies red," referring to the Wisconsin River's geology.
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  (#50) Wyoming

  • 1890-06-10

  From the Algonquian word chwewamink, meaning "at the big river flat." Originally used to describe a region in Pennsylvania, it was later applied to the western territory and future state.

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