Here is an interesting article that goes through all of the states and explains how they got their names, and what the original words are supposed to have meant. As would be expected, most of the names come from some derivative of a Native American word or name. I enjoyed reading through the list and wanted to share it , and everyone can see what their state is named after and why. http://mentalfloss.com/article/31100/how-all-50-states-got-their-names
A very interesting list Ma'am! After a careful reading, most "facts" avoid being nailed down. It looks like a state of confusion, in most cases.
It does look like that, Joe. There are so many different ideas and interpratations about the states and how they got named; but, even so, I thought it was pretty interesting. I knew that many of the names we commonly use do come from the old Indian words or phrases, or at least from how we understood the phrases; but I had not realized that so many of the states actual names came from the Native Americans. Many of the towns and rivers names come from indian words, too, and some, like Seattle, actually come from the name of an Indian chief. In Idaho we have the Pend O'reille River (and lake), and even though the words are actually French; they were used to describe the Indians in the area. It means "ear pendant", and apparently, some of the tribes in the area wore those adornments. Interestingly enough, the shape of the lake itself is similar to an ear, when it is seen from the air. Since it is a fairly large lake, and in mountains, it is not likely that the early settlers and traders could actually see what the lake looked like from the air. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pend_Oreille