Origin of State names in United States

Origin of State names in United States

You know the names of all 50 states¦but do you know where any of them come from? Here is the best information we could find on the origin of each State in the United States.

  
     ALABAMA: Possibly from the Creek Indian word alibamo, meaning "we stay here."
  
      ALASKA: From the Aleutian word alakshak, which means "great lands," or "land that is     not an island."
  
      ARIZONA: Taken either from the pima Indian words ali shonak, meaning "little spring,"     or from the Aztec word arizuma, meaning "silver-bearing."
  
      ARKANSAS: The French somehow coined it from the name of the Siouan Quapaw tribe.

      CALIFORNIA: According to one theory, Spanish settlers names it after a utopian society    described in a popular 16th-century novel called Serged de Esplandian.
  
      COLORADO: Means "red" in Spanish. The name was originally applied to the Colorado     River, whose waters are reddish with canyon clay.
  
      CONNECTICUT: Taken from the Mohican word kuenihtekot, which means "long river place."
  
      DELAWARE: Named after Lord De La Warr, a governor of Virginia. Originally used only to  name the Delaware River.
  
      FLORIDA: Explorer Ponce de Leon named the state Pascua Florida - "flowery Easter on    Easter Sunday in 1513.
  
      GEORGIA: Named after King George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732.
  
      HAWAII: An English adaptation of the native word owhyhee, which means "homeland."
      IDAHO: Possibly taken from the Kiowa Apache word for the Comanche Indians.
  
      ILLINOIS: The French bastardization of the Algonquin word illini, which means "men."
  
      INDIANA: Named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of Indians.
  
      IOWA: The Sioux word for "beautiful land," or "one who puts to sleep."
  
      KANSAS: Taken from the Sioux word for "south wind people," their name for anyone who  lived south of Sioux territory.
  
      KENTUCKY: Possibly derived from the Indian word kan-tuk-kee, meaning "dark and bloody  ground." Or kan-tuc-kec, "land of green reeds", or ken-take, meaning  "meadowland."
  
      LOUISIANA: Named after French King Louis XIV.
      MAINE: The Old French word for "province."
  
      MARYLAND: Named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of English King George I.
  
      MASSACHUSETTS: Named after the Massachusetts Indian tribe. Means "large hill place."
  
      MICHIGAN: Most likely from the Chippewa word for "great water." micigama.
  
      MINNESOTA: From the Sioux word for "sky tinted" or "muddy water."
  
      MISSISSIPPI: Most likely taken from the Chippewa words mici ("great") and zibi               ("river").
  
      MISSOURI: From the Algonquin word for "muddy water."
  
      MONTANA: Taken from the Latin word for "mountainous."
  
      NEBRASKA: From the Otos Indian word for "broad water."
  
      NEVADA: Means "snow-clad" in Spanish.
  
      NEW HAMPSHIRE: Capt. John Mason, one of the original colonists, named it after his        English home county of Hampshire.
  
      NEW JERSEY: Named after the English Isle of Jersey.
  
      NEW MEXICO: The Spanish name for the territory north of the Rio Grande.
  
      NEW YORK: Named after the Duke of York and Albany.
  
      NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA: From the Latin name Carolus; named in honor of King Charles  I of England.
  
      NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA: Taken from the Sioux word for "friend," or "ally."
  
      OHIO: Means "great," "fine," or "good river" in Iriquois.
  
      OKLAHOMA. The Choctaw word for "red man."
  
      OREGON: Possibly derived from Ouaricon-sint, the French name for the Wisconsin River.
 
      PENNSYLVANIA: Named after William Penn, Sr., the father of the colonys founder,          William Penn. Means "Penns woods."
  
      RHODE ISLAND: Named "Roode Eylandt" (Red Island) because of its red clay.
  
      TENNESSEE: Named after the Cherokee tanasi villages along the banks of the Little         Tennessee River.
  
      TEXAS: Derived from the Caddo Indian word for "friend," or "ally."
  
      UTAH: Means "upper," or "higher," and was originally the name that Navajos called the    Shoshone tribe.
  
      VERMONT: A combination of the French words vert ("green") and mont ("mountain").
  
      VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA: Named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, the           "virgin"  queen, by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584.
  
      WASHINGTON: Named after George Washington.
  
      WISCONSIN: Taken from the Chippewa word for "grassy place."
  
      WYOMING: Derived from the Algonquin word for "large prairie place."