indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Type Settlement
Usage English
Meaning & History
Name of a city in Florida. The name was first mentioned by Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a captive of Indians in southern Florida for 17 years, when he referred to what is now Lake Okeechobee as the "Lake of Mayaimi, which is called Mayaimi because it is very large". The name possibly derived from the name of the Native American tribe Miami, believed to have derived from a Native American word that means "sweet water".