List of state and territory name etymologies of the United States

The fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the five inhabited U.S. territories, and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands have taken their names from a wide variety of languages. The names of 24 states derive from indigenous languages of the Americas and one from Hawaiian. Of those that come from Native American languages, eight come from Algonquian languages, seven from Siouan languages (one of those via Miami-Illinois, which is an Algonquian language), three from Iroquoian languages, two from Muskogean languages, one from a Caddoan language, one from an Eskimo-Aleut language, one from a Uto-Aztecan language, and one from either an Athabaskan language or a Uto-Aztecan language.

Twenty other state names derive from European languages: seven come from Latin (mostly from Latinized forms of English personal names, one of those coming from Welsh), five from English, five from Spanish, and three from French (one of those via English). The source language/language family of the remaining five states is disputed or unclear: Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Oregon, and Rhode Island.

Of the fifty states, eleven are named after an individual person. Six of those are named in honor of European monarchs: the two Carolinas, the two Virginias, Georgia, and Louisiana. In addition, Maryland is named after Queen Henrietta Maria, queen consort of King Charles I of England, and New York after the then-Duke of York, who later became King James II of England. Over the years, several attempts have been made to name a state after one of the Founding Fathers or other great statesmen of U.S. history: the State of Franklin, the State of Jefferson (three separate attempts), the State of Lincoln (two separate attempts), and the State of Washington; in the end, only Washington materialized (Washington Territory was carved out of the Columbia District and renamed Washington in order to avoid confusion with the District of Columbia, which contains the city of Washington).

Several of the states that derive their names from names used for Native peoples have retained the plural ending in "s": Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Texas. One common naming pattern has been as follows:

Native tribal group → River → Territory → State

State names

Territory and federal district names

See also

• List of Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies
• List of places in the United States named after royalty
• Lists of U.S. county name etymologies
• Toponymy

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
• Guyton, Kathy (2009). U.S. State Names: The Stories of How Our States Were Named Nederland, Colorado: Mountain Storm Press.

External links

1. List of Indian state and union territory name etymologies
2. List of country-name etymologies
3. List of states and territories of the United States
4. List of Brazil state name etymologies
5. Lists of U.S. state topics
6. List of capitals in the United States
7. List of Mexican state name etymologies
8. List of U.S. states and territories by population
9. List of most popular given names by state in the United States
10. Historical regions of the United States
11. States and union territories of India
12. List of places in the United States named after people
13. List of river name etymologies
14. Etymology of California
15. Flags of the U.S. states and territories
16. List of states of Mexico
17. List of U.S. states and territories by area
18. List of demonyms for US states and territories
19. List of sovereign states
20. List of U.S. county name etymologies (A–D)