The States of the USA

Contributed by: Ahmed Imam (idealimam @ yahoo.com)

You know the names of all states but do you know where any of them come from? Here's the best information we could find on the origin of each.

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 Owyhee , 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".

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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 Iroquois.

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 colony's founder, William Penn. Means "Penn's 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".