You know the names of all 50 states…but do you
know where any of them come from? Here’s the best information we
could find on the origin of each.
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ALABAMA: Possibly from the
Creek Indian word alibamo, meaning "we stay here."
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ALASKA: From the Aleutian
word alakshak, which means "great lands," or "land that is not an
island."
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ARIZONA: Taken either from
the pima Indian words ali shonak, meaning "little spring," or from
the Aztec word arizuma, meaning "silver-bearing."
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ARKANSAS: The French somehow
coined it from the name of the Siouan Quapaw tribe.
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CALIFORNIA: According to one
theory, Spanish settlers names it after a utopian society described
in a popular 16th-century novel called Serged de
Esplandian.
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COLORADO: Means "red" in
Spanish. The name was originally applied to the Colorado River,
whose waters are reddish with canyon clay.
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CONNECTICUT: Taken from the
Mohican word kuenihtekot, which means "long river
place."
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DELAWARE: Named after Lord De
La Warr, a governor of Virginia. Originally used only to name the
Delaware River.
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FLORIDA: Explorer Ponce de
Leon named the state Pascua Florida - "flowery Easter"—on Easter
Sunday in 1513.
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GEORGIA: Named after King
George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732.
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HAWAII: An English adaptation
of the native word owhyhee, which means "homeland."
IDAHO: Possibly taken from the Kiowa Apache word
for the Comanche Indians.
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ILLINOIS: The French
bastardization of the Algonquin word illini, which means
"men."
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INDIANA: Named by
English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of
Indians.
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IOWA: The Sioux word for
"beautiful land," or "one who puts to sleep."
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KANSAS: Taken from the Sioux
word for "south wind people," their name for anyone who lived south
of Sioux territory.
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KENTUCKY: Possibly derived
from the Indian word kan-tuk-kee, meaning "dark and bloody ground."
Or kan-tuc-kec, "land of green reeds", or ken-take, meaning
"meadowland."
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LOUISIANA: Named after French
King Louis XIV.
MAINE: The Old French word for
"province."
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MARYLAND: Named after Queen
Henrietta Maria, wife of English King George I.
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MASSACHUSETTS: Named after
the Massachusetts Indian tribe. Means "large hill
place."
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MICHIGAN: Most likely from
the Chippewa word for "great water." micigama.
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MINNESOTA: From the Sioux
word for "sky tinted" or "muddy water."
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MISSISSIPPI: Most likely
taken from the Chippewa words mici ("great") and zibi
("river").
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MISSOURI: From the Algonquin
word for "muddy water."
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MONTANA: Taken from the Latin
word for "mountainous."
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NEBRASKA: From the Otos
Indian word for "broad water."
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NEVADA: Means "snow-clad" in
Spanish.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE: Capt. John
Mason, one of the original colonists, named it after his English
home county of Hampshire.
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NEW JERSEY: Named after the
English Isle of Jersey.
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NEW MEXICO: The Spanish name
for the territory north of the Rio Grande.
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NEW YORK: Named after the
Duke of York and Albany.
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NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA:
From the Latin name Carolus; named in honor of King Charles I of
England.
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NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA: Taken
from the Sioux word for "friend," or "ally."
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OHIO: Means "great," "fine,"
or "good river" in Iriquois.
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OKLAHOMA. The Choctaw word
for "red man."
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OREGON: Possibly derived from
Ouaricon-sint, the French name for the Wisconsin River.
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PENNSYLVANIA: Named after
William Penn, Sr., the father of the colony’s founder, William
Penn. Means "Penn’s woods."
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RHODE ISLAND: Named "Roode
Eylandt" (Red Island) because of its red clay.
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TENNESSEE: Named after the
Cherokee tanasi villages along the banks of the Little Tennessee
River.
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TEXAS: Derived from the Caddo
Indian word for "friend," or "ally."
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UTAH: Means "upper," or
"higher," and was originally the name that Navajos called the
Shoshone tribe.
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VERMONT: A combination of the
French words vert ("green") and mont ("mountain").
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VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA:
Named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, the "virgin" queen, by
Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584.
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WASHINGTON: Named after
George Washington.
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WISCONSIN: Taken from the
Chippewa word for "grassy place."
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WYOMING: Derived from the
Algonquin word for "large prairie place."