From Wikipedia:
I did the names of countries and now here's the names of US states.
-
Alabama: Choctow (albah amo) = "Thicket-clearers" or
"plant-cutters". The modern Choctaw name for the tribe is Albaamu.
- Alaska: Aleut via Russian (alaxsxaq via Аляска) = "Mainland"
-
Arizona:
Basque (aritz ona) = The good oak".
-
Arkansas: Kansa via French (akaansa) = Borrowed from a French spelling of an
Illinois rendering of the tribal name kką:ze.
-
California:
Spanish = Probably named for the
fictional Island of California ruled by Queen Calafia in the 16th century novel
Las sergas de Esplandián by García Ordóñez de Montalvo.
-
Colorado:
Spanish (Rio Colorado) = "Ruddy", originally referring to the
Colorado River
-
Connecticut:
Eastern Algonquian (quinnitukqut) = "at the long tidal river", after the
Connecticut River.
-
Delaware:
French via English (de la Warr) = After the Delaware River, which was named for
Lord de la Warr (originally probably Norman French de la guerre or de la werre,
"of the war"). Lord de la Warr was the first Governor-General of
Jamestown.
-
Florida:
Spanish ((pascua) florida) = "Flowery (Easter)" (to distinguish it
from Christmastide which was also called Pascua), in honor of its discovery by
the Spanish during the Easter season.
-
Georgia:
Latin via English (Georgos) = The feminine Latin form of "George",
named after King George II of Great Britain
-
Hawaii:
Hawaiian (Hawaiʻi) = From Hawaiki, legendary homeland of the Polynesians. Hawaiki is believed to mean "place of the
gods
-
Idaho:
English (I-dah-hoe) = Probably made up by George M. "Doc" Willing as
a practical joke; originally claimed to have been derived from a word in a
Native American language that meant "Gem of the Mountains”. The name was
initially proposed for the state of Colorado until its origins were discovered.
Years later it fell into common usage, and was proposed for the state it now
names
-
Illinois: Algonquian via French (ilenweewa) = The state is named for the
French adaptation of an Algonquian language (perhaps Miami) word apparently
meaning "speaks normally".
-
Indiana:
Latin = "Land of the Indians". The names Indians and India originally
came from the Indus River i.e. from Sanskrit sindhu "river
-
Iowa:
Dakota via French (ayúxba/ayuxwe via Aiouez) = By way of French Aiouez, and
named after the Iowa tribe.
-
Kansas:
Kansa via French (kką:ze via Cansez) = Named after the Kansas River, ]which in
turn was named after the Kaw or Kansas tribe.
-
Kentucky:
Iroquoian = Originally referring to the Kentucky River.
-
Louisiana:
French (Louisiane) = After King Louis XIV of France. The name Louis came itself
from Frankish hluda "heard of, famous"
-
Maine:
English (Main) = A common historical etymology is that the state's name refers
to the mainland, as opposed to the coastal islands
-
Maryland:
Hebrew via English (Miryam) = After Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles
I of England. The name Mary originally meant in Hebrew "bitterness"
or "rebelliousness”
-
Massachusetts:
Algonquian = Plural of "Massachusett" meaning "Near the great
little-mountain", or "at the great hill", usually identified as
Great Blue Hill on the border of Milton and Canton, Massachusetts.
-
Michigan:
Ojibwe via French (mishigami) = Large water" or "large lake"[
-
Minnesota:
Dakota (mnisota) = "Cloudy water", referring to the Minnesota River
-
Mississippi:
Ojibwe via French (misi-ziibi) = Great
river", after the Mississippi River
-
Missouri:
Illinois (mihsoori) = Dugout canoe". The Missouri tribe was noteworthy
among the Illinois for their dugout canoes, and so was referred to as the
wimihsoorita, "one who has a wood boat [dugout canoe]".
-
Montana:
Spanish (montaña) = Mountain
-
Nebraska:
Chiwere (ñįbraske) = "flattened water", after the Platte River, which
used to be known as the Nebraska River, due to the flatness of the plains, when
the river would flood, it would blanket the region
-
Nevada:
Spanish = "Snow-covered", after the Sierra Nevada ("snow-covered
mountains)
-
New
Hampshire: English = After the county of Hampshire in England
-
New
Jersey: French via Old Norse = After Jersey (the largest of the British
Channel Islands), birthplace of one of the colony's two co-founders, Sir George
de Carteret.
-
New
Mexico: Spanish via Nahuatl (Mēxihco via Nuevo México) = A calque of
Spanish Nuevo México.
-
New York:
English = After the then Duke of York (later King James II of England).
-
North
Carolina: Latin via English (Carolus via Carolana) = After King Charles I
of England. The name Charles came itself
from Frankish karl "man, husband
-
North
Dakota: Sioux (dakhóta) = "Ally"
or "friend", after the Dakota
tribe
-
Ohio:
Seneca via French (ohi:yo’) = "Large creek", originally the name of
both the Ohio River and Allegheny River.
-
Oklahoma:
Choctaw (okla + homa) = Devised as a
rough translation of "Indian Territory";in Choctaw, okla means
"people", "tribe", or "nation", and homa- means
"red", thus: "Red people
-
Oregon:
Connecticut Pidgin Algonquian (wauregan) = Beautiful". First named by
Major Robert Rogers in a petition to King George III.
-
Pennsylvania:
Welsh and Latin (Penn + silvania) = Penn's woods", after Admiral William
Penn. The name "Penn" comes from Pennaeth which is the Welsh word for
"head
-
Rhode
Island: Dutch (roodt eylandt) = "Red island", referring to
Aquidneck Island.[87] The Modern Dutch form of the phrase is "rood eiland
-
South
Carolina; Latin via French (Carolus via Carolana) = After King Charles I of
England. The name Charles came itself from Frankish karl "man,
husband".
-
South
Dakota: Sioux (dakhóta) = Ally" or "friend".
-
Tennessee:
Cherokee (ᏔᎾᏏ tanasi) = Tanasi (in Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ) was the name of
a Cherokee village
-
Texas:
Caddo via Spanish (táyshaʔ via Tejas) = Friend", used by the Caddo to
refer the larger Caddo nation (in opposition to enemy tribes). The name was
borrowed into Spanish as texa, plural texas, and used to refer to the Caddo
Nation.
-
Utah:
Western Apache via Spanish (yúdah via yuta) = From the Spanish designation for
the Ute people, yuta, in turn perhaps a borrowing from Western Apache yúdah
meaning "high
-
Vermont;
French (vert + mont) = "Green mount" or "Green mountain";
vert in French means "green", and mont means "mount" or
"mountain
-
Virginia:
Latin = "Country of the Virgin", after Elizabeth I of England, who
was known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married.
-
Washington:
English = After George Washington
-
West
Virginia: Latin = The western, transmontane, counties of Virginia;
separated from Virginia during Civil War; see Virginia, above
-
Wisconsin:
Miami via French (Wishkonsing) = Originally spelled Mescousing by the French,
and later corrupted to Ouisconsin. Likely it derives from a Miami word Meskonsing
meaning "it lies red"
-
Wyoming:
Munsee Delaware (xwé:wamənk) = "At
the big river flat"; the name was transplanted westward from the Wyoming
Valley in Pennsylvania
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