Extra: Explore more names in our interactive U.S. map.

Native American words echo in the names of lakes, rivers, mountains, states, cities, and small towns across the United States. The first settlers, who put many European words on the map, also borrowed names from local tribes. They often mispronounced what they heard—that’s how the Washoe word dá’aw, or lake, became Tahoe. In some cases they changed Indian terms so much that linguists can’t identify the original language or meaning. Laypeople have often stepped into the scholarly void with fanciful interpretations that have become part of American folklore. Chesapeake, for example, is sometimes translated as"great shellfish bay." But no one knows what the word meant to the Indians who coined it.

Most of the translations on our map reflect the best scholarly opinion on the meaning of the Indian terms. Translations are more certain in the West, and in Alaska and Hawaii, where the old languages were still spoken when linguists began to work. On the East Coast, many cultures had faded before most studies began, so some definitions represent a scholar’s best guess.

And of course, each name has a story–sometimes full of linguistic twists and turns. Here are a few examples:

Chicorica Creek The New Mexican name shows how European ears heard Indian words. An Apache term for turkey, tsídii łíkizh, or spotted bird, sounded a bit like chico rico, or rich boy, in Spanish.

Ohio The Seneca of New York lived near the headwaters of a river they named ohiyo, or nice river. French explorers carried that name along the waterway. Today "Ohio" survives as a state and a river far from the Seneca homeland. The waterway’s northern part is now the Allegheny, from the Algonquian "country of the Alligewi," referring to a local people.

Winnebago The name of Wisconsin’s lake means "person of dirty water" in Algonquin. The word was used to describe Siouan Indians who lived near the lower Fox River, where dead fish accumulated every summer behind a natural dam.

Idaho Settlers believed idaho was Shoshone for "gem of the mountains." A politician proposed it as the name for what is now Colorado after gold was found there. That didn’t fly. But a neighboring territory went for "Idaho"—actually from the Kiowa-Apache ídaahę´, or enemy.

Wyoming To the Munsee Delaware in Pennsylvania, chwewamink meant "at the big river flat." Add a German accent: Wa-yo-mink. An 1809 ode about Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley Revolutionary War battle inspired the western state to pick the name.

Cheyenne The Wyoming town name is from öahÌyena, Siouan for "little Cree." (The Cree and Cheyenne languages are related.) The modern pronunciation and spelling came from the French.

Squaw Valley The California ski resort’s name is rooted in the Massachusett word squa, meaning "younger woman," but is mistakenly believed to come from ojískwa`, Mohawk for "female genitalia." The word "squaw" is now usually understood to be derogatory.

Loleta In 1893 Mrs. Rufus F. Herrick gave this name to a California town. She’d asked an old Wiyot man what his tribe called the place. As a joke, he replied, "Hos wiwitak—Let’s have intercourse." Not only was she clueless as to what he said, but she couldn’t keep her w’s and l’s straight.

—A. R. Williams

Graphic: Oliver Uberti, NG Staff. Interactive: John Kondis.

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