Our State Names 



By John P. Harrington 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution 



Over the years, correspondence of the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology has shown that there is much popular interest in the origin and 

 meaning of the names of the States and Territories that comprise our 

 republic. In compiling answers on this subject I was forced to look 

 minutely into several of these names, and as a result finally decided to 

 extend the study to all. I soon discovered that the task would have 

 been simpler had it been undertaken 100 years ago. Twenty-six out 

 of the total of 51 names turned out to be of American Indian origin, 

 and one of Polynesian. Half of the names are, therefore, from in- 

 digenous languages. Of the 6 New England States only 2 — Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut — have names of Indian origin. 



Our State names are almost entirely a product of chance. A hap- 

 hazard aggxegation has grown into official usage, as irregularly as the 

 typical American city grows into shape. There were, of course, no 

 analogous political regions in aboriginal times, so names became 

 adopted in various ways. Often the earliest use of a name that later 

 came into prominence received little attention as regards recording. 

 There are seven State names of Indian origin that constitute what I 

 call the early cycle. These are Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, 

 Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Most of them have been 

 difficult to trace. 



Each State, district, or Territory name has had a long usage and has 

 considerable history behind it. Of the so-called original Thirteen 

 Colonies of the Atlantic seaboard, each had a name already firmly 

 established before the time of the Revolutionary War. The later 

 States, however, regularly went through two stages, being at first 

 Territories and then States, the Territory name usually becoming the 

 State name. 



Several of the names are modified by such terms as "North," 

 "South," "West," and "New." The most employed of these modifi- 

 catory words is "New," appearing in the names New Hampshire. New 

 Jersey, New Mexico, and New York. In many instances an Old World 



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