The Origins of American state names

I think it’s interesting to know the origins of American State names.

I’ll give you a list with the fifty states of north America and their name’s origins.

State	Origin	Meaning
Alabama	Choctaw	‘I open the thicket’
Alaska	Eskimo	‘great land’
Arizona	Papago	‘place of the small spring’
Arkansas	Sioux	‘land of the south wind people’
California	Spanish	‘earthly paradise’
Colorado	Spanish	‘red’
Connecticut	Mohican	‘at the long tidal river’
Delaware	Named after the English governor Lord de la Warr
Florida	Spanish	‘land of flowers’
Georgia	Named after king George II
Hawaii	Hawaiian	‘homeland’
Idaho	Shoshone	‘light on the mountains’
Illinois	French	‘warriors’
Indiana	English	‘land of the Indians’
Iowa	Dakota	‘the sleepy one’
Kansas	Sioux	‘land of the south wind people’
Kentucky	Iroquois	‘meadow land’
Louisiana	Named after King Louis XIV of France
Maine	Named after a French province
Maryland	Named after Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s queen
Massachusetts	Algonquian	‘place of the big hill’
Michigan	Chippewa	‘big water’
Minnesota	Dakota Sioux	‘sky-coloured water’
Mississippi	Chipewa	‘big river’
Missouri	Probably French	‘muddy water’
Montana	Spanish	‘mountainous’
Nebraska	Omaha	‘river in the flatness’
Nevada	Spanish	‘snowy’
New Hampshire	Named after Hampshire, England
New Jersey	Named after Jersey (Channel Islands)
New Mexico	Named after Mexico.
New York	Named after the Duke of York
North Carolina	Named after King Charles II
North Dakota	Sioux	‘friend’
Ohio	Iroquois	‘beautiful water’
Oklahoma	Choctaw	‘red people’
Oregon	Possibly Algonquian	‘beaver place’
Pennsylvania	Named after Quaker William Penn + Latin for ‘woodland’
Rhode Island	Dutch	‘red clay’ island
South Carolina	Named after King Charles II
South Dakota	Sioux	‘friend’
Tennessee	Name of a Cherokee settlement
Texas	Spanish	‘allies’
Utah	Possibly Navaho	‘upper land’
Vermont	French	‘green mountain’
Virginia	Named after Queen Elizabeth I
Washington	Named after George Washington
West Virginia	Derived from Virginia
Wisconsin	Possibly Algonquian	‘grassy place’
Wyoming	Algonquian	‘place of the big flats’

Source:

‘’The English Language’’, David Crystal.

By: Patricia Domínguez