English (American) Submitted Place Names

ARIZONA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, originally as the name of a breakaway Confederate region of southern New Mexico, organized roughly along modern lines as a U.S. territory in 1863. From Spanish Arizonac, probably from a local name among the O'odham (Piman) people meaning "having a little spring"... [more]

ARKANSAS (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from the French pronunciation of the Quapaw people who lived on the Arkansas River.

COLORADO (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, named after the Colorado river, from Spanish colo + "colored" rado "reddish", "ruddy".

CONNECTICUT (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from the name of the Connecticut river, from Algonquian quinnitukqut "at the long tidal river," from kwen "long" + ehtekw "tidal river" + enk "place".

DETROIT (Political Subdivision) English (American)
From the French word, meaning “strait.” The full name of the city’s phrase is “le détroit du Lac Érie,” meaning “the strait of Lake Erie.”

FLORIDA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, formerly a Spanish colony, from Spanish Pascua florida, literally "flowering Easter", a Spanish name for Palm Sunday, because the peninsula was discovered on that day (March 20, 1513) by the expedition of Spanish explorer Ponce de León.

HAWAII (Island) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, of uncertain origin. Theories from Proto-Polynesian hawaiki which possibly means place of the gods" or from Proto-Polynesian sawaiki "homeland", or possibly named for Hawaiʻiloa, legendary discoverer of the Hawaiian islands.

IDAHO (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, of uncertain origin, possibly from Shoshone term ee-da-how, meaning "gem of the mountains" or "the sun comes from the mountains".

ILLINOIS (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from the modern French spelling of the Algonquian people who called themselves Inoca or Ilinouek.

IOWA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, possibly from Dakota ayuxba "sleepy ones".

KANSAS (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, named after Kanas river, from French variant of Kansa, native name of the Siouan people who lived there.

KENTUCKY (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, originally the name of a river, which possibly derived from the Iroquoian word wyandot, meaning meadow.

LOUISIANA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, named after King Louis XIV of France.

MAINE (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, possibly from French Maine, a region in France (named for the river that runs through it, which has a name of Gaulish origin).

MARYLAND (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England.

MASSACHUSETTS (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, named for the Algonquian native people who lived around the bay, from Algonquian massachusett "at the large hill," in reference to Great Blue Hill, southwest of Boston.

MICHIGAN (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, originally applied to lake Michigan, perhaps from Old Ojibwa (Algonquian) meshi-gami "big lake".

MINNESOTA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, originally the name of a river, from Dakota (Siouan) mnisota, literally "cloudy water", "milky water", from mni "river, stream" + sota "slightly clouded".

MISSISSIPPI (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, originally the name of a river, from Ojibwe misi-ziibi "Great river".

MISSOURI (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Illinois mihsoori, "dugout canoe".

NEBRASKA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Otoe Ñí Brásge meaning "flat water".

NEVADA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Spanish Sierra Nevada "snow-covered mountains".

NEW MEXICO (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, a calque of Spanish Nuevo México "New MEXICO".

NORTH CAROLINA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, Named after King Charles I of England.

NORTH DAKOTA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, also the name of indigenous people of the Great Plains, from the Dakota word dakhóta "friend".

OHIO (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, originally used of the river, from Seneca ohi:yo "good river".

OKLAHOMA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Choctaw okla "people" "tribe" "nation" + homma "red".

OREGON (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from the name of a large river in the west of North America, possibly from Algonquin wauregan "beautiful".

OREGON TRAIL (Other) English (American)
Trail in Oregon, USA.

PENNSYLVANIA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, literally "Penn's woods". Penn comes from Pennaeth, the welsh word for "head" "top" and Latin silvania (from Latin silvia) "wood, forrest"... [more]

REEDLEY (Settlement) English (American)
A city in Fresno County, California. Named for Thomas Law Reed, a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War who donated most of his land to the city.

SOUTH CAROLINA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, Named after King Charles I of England.

SOUTH DAKOTA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, also the name of indigenous people of the Great Plains, from the Dakota word dakhóta "friend".

TENNESSEE (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Cherokee tanasi, the name of a Cherokee village. The meaning is unknown.

TEXAS (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Spanish Texas, Tejas, originally an ethnic name, from Caddo taysha "friends, allies" written as a plural.

UTAH (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Spanish yuta, name of the indigenous Uto-Aztecan people of the Great Basin perhaps from Western Apache (Athabaskan) yudah "high" (in reference to living in the mountains).

VERMONT (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, literally "green mountain" from French verde "green" + mont "mountain".

VIRGINIA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, "country of the Virgin", after Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married.

WEST VIRGINIA (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, The western, transmontane, counties of Virginia; separated from VIRGINIA during Civil War.

WISCONSIN (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from French Ouisconsin, likely from the Miami word Meskonsing "it lies red".

WYOMING (Political Subdivision) English (American)
Name of a state in the United States, from Algonquian chwewamink "at the big river flat," from xw "big" + e:wam "river flat" + enk "place".