HOW THE STATES GOT THEIR NAMES

ALABAMA comes from an Indian word for "tribal town."
ALASKA comes from alakshak, the Aleutian (Eskimo) word meaning "peninsula" or "land that is not an island."
ARIZONA comes from a Pima Indian word meaning "little spring place," or the Aztec word arizuma, meaning "silver-bearing."
ARKANSAS is a variation of Quapaw, the name of an Indian tribe. Quapaw means "south wind."
CALIFORNIA is the name of an imaginary island in a Spanish story. It was named by Spanish explorers of Baja California, a part of Mexico.
COLORADO comes from a Spanish word meaning "red." It was first given to the Colorado River because of its reddish color.
CONNECTICUT comes from an Algonquin Indian word meaning "long river place."
DELAWARE is named after Lord De La Warr, the English governor of Virginia in colonial times.
FLORIDA, which means "flowery" in Spanish, was named by the explorer Ponce de Leon, who landed there during Easter.
GEORGIA was named after King George II of England, who granted the right to create a colony there in 1732.
HAWAII probably comes from Hawaiki, or Owhyhee, the native Polynesian word for "homeland."
IDAHO’s name is of uncertain origin, but it may come from a Kiowa Apache name for the Comanche Indians.
ILLINOIS is the French version of Illini, an Algonquin Indian word meaning "men" or "warriors."
INDIANA means "land of the Indians."
IOWA comes from the name of an American Indian tribe that lived on the land that is now the state.
KANSAS comes from a Sioux Indian word that possibly meant "people of the south wind."
KENTUCKY comes from an Iroquois Indian word, possibly meaning "meadowland."
LOUISIANA, which was first settled by French explorers, was named after King Louis XIV of France.
MAINE means "the mainland." English explorers called it that to distinguish it from islands nearby.
MARYLAND was named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England, who granted the right to establish an English colony there.
MASSACHUSETTS comes from an Indian word meaning "large hill place."
MICHIGAN comes from the Chippewa Indian words mid gama, meaning "great water" (referring to Lake Michigan).
MINNESOTA got its name from a Dakota Sioux Indian word meaning "cloudy water" or "sky-tinted water."
MISSISSIPPI is probably from Chippewa Indian words meaning "great river" or
"gathering of all the waters," in from an Algonquin word, messipi.

MONTANA comes from a Latin or Spanish word meaning "mountainous."
NEBRASKA comes from "flat river" or "broad water," an Omaha or Otos Indian name for the Platte River.
NEVADA means "snow-clad" in Spanish. Spanish explorers gave the name to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
NEW HAMPSHIRE was named by an early settler after his home county of Hampshire, in England.
NEW JERSEY was named for the English Channel island of Jersey.
NEW MEXICO was given its name by 16th-century Spaniards in Mexico.
NEW YORK, first called New Netherland, was renamed for the Duke of York and Albany after the English took it from Dutch settlers.
NORTH CAROLINA, the northern part of the English colony of Carolana, was named for King Charles I.
NORTH DAKOTA comes from a Sioux Indian word meaning "friend" or "ally."
OHIO is the Iroquois Indian word for "fine or good river."
OKLAHOMA comes from a Choctaw Indian word meaning "red man."
OREGON may have come from Ouaricon-sint, a name on an old French map that was once given to what is now called the Columbia River. That river runs between Oregon and Washington.
PENNSYLVANIA meaning "Penn's woods," was the name given to the colony founded by William Penn.
RHODE ISLAND may have come from the Dutch "Roode Eylandt" (red island) or may have been named after the Greek island of Rhodes.
SOUTH CAROLINA, the southern part of the English colony of Carolana, was named for King Charles I.
SOUTH DAKOTA comes from a Sioux Indian word meaning "friend" or "ally."
TENNESSEE comes from "Tanasi," the name of Cherokee Indian villages on what is now the Little Tennessee River.
TEXAS comes from a word meaning "friends" or "allies," used by the Spanish to describe some of the American Indians living there.
UTAH comes from a Navajo word meaning "upper" or "higher up."
VERMONT comes from two French words, vert meaning "green" and mont"mountain."
VIRGINIA named in honor of Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the Virgin Queen because she was never married.
WASHINGTON was named after George Washington, the first president of the United States. It is the only state named after a president.
WEST VIRGINIA got its name from the people of western Virginia, who formed their own government during the Civil War.
WISCONSIN comes from a Chippewa name that is believed to mean "grassy place." It was once spelled Ouisconsin andMesconsing.
WYOMING comes from Algonquin Indian words that are said to mean "at the big plains," or “on the great plain”.