Canku Ota
	(Many Paths)
	An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
	September 22, 2001 - Issue 45
	The Naming of the United States
	by Vicki Lockard

Did you know the names for many states are based on Native American languages? See how many you already know!
Alabama	The state name is thought to come from the name of a Native American tribe (the Alabama), or the Creek word Alibamo meaning "We stay here," or a Choctaw word meaning "plant gatherer" or "I clear the thicket."
Alaska	From Aleutian word alakshak meaning "great lands," or "land that is not an island."
Arizona	This name is derived from a Native American word, arizonac, believed to mean "place of the small spring," or from the Aztec word arizuma meaning "silver bearing."
Arkansas	This state is named after the Native American Arkansa tribe; the final s was added as a plural, but remains silent in the officially adopted pronunciation. The name may also stem from the French word for Siouan Quapaw Indian tribe.
Connecticut	The name Connecticut probably comes from a Native American word meaning "beside the long tidal river."
Hawaii	English adaptation of Native word owhyhee, meaning "homeland."
Idaho	Kiowa Apache word for Comanche Indians.
Illinois	The state is named for the Illinois, or Illini, a confederation of Native Americans tribes inhabiting the area when the first French explorers arrived. French version of Algonquin word "illini" meaning men.
Indiana	Named because the state was designated Indian territory, at the time, of statehood.
Iowa	The state name comes from the Iowa River, named after the Iowa people. Sioux word for "beautiful land." Iowa is called the Hawkeye State apparently after Chief Black Hawk.
Kansas	Its name comes from the Kansa people who once lived there; it means "people of the south wind."
Kentucky	The state name comes from a Cherokee name for the area south of the Ohio River. Some historians believe it is from the Indian word "kan-tuk-kee," meaning "dark and bloody ground."
Massachusetts	The name of the state probably comes from the name of an Algonquin village-meaning "large hill place."
Michigan	The state is named after Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes. The lake name is said to have been derived from the Algonquian term michigama, meaning "big water" or "great lake."
Minnesota	The state name comes from a Dakota (Sioux) word meaning "waters that reflect the sky," first applied to the Minnesota River.
Mississippi	Most likely taken from the Chippewa words mici ("great") and zibi ("river").
Missouri	The name of the state is taken from the Missouri River and is an Algonquian name for a group that lived near the mouth of the river.
Nebraska	The state's name comes from a Native American word meaning "flat water," which was used to describe the Platte River. From the Omaha Indian words ni "river" and bthaska "flat."
New Mexico	Mexico means "the place of the Mexica," another name for the Aztecs.
North Dakota	The state was named for the Dakota people who lived there. Dakota means "friends" or "allies."
Ohio	Ohio takes its name from an Iroquois word meaning "great river" or "beautiful river," referring to the Ohio River.
Oklahoma	The name Oklahoma was derived by combining the Choctaw words for "red" and "people."
South Dakota	The name Dakota comes from a Sioux term meaning "friends" or "allies."
Tennessee	Tennessee was the 16th state to enter the Union, and its name is believed to derive from Tanasi, the name of a Cherokee village.
Texas	When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century AD, the peoples of eastern Texas included the Caddo and the Hasinai. The Hasinai greeted the first Spaniards with the word techas, or "allies." The Spanish pronounced the word as Tejas (Texas) and adopted it for both the area and the people.
Utah	The state name comes from a Native American word meaning "mountain top dwellers." Means "upper"or "higher," and was originally the name that Navajos called the Shoshone tribe.
Wisconsin	The name of the state comes from a Native word that may mean "flat place between the rivers."
Wyoming	The name Wyoming comes from a Delaware word meaning "at the big plains," first applied to a valley in Pennsylvania.
Can You Name All of the States? Print and Color This Map Name the States

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