Where did your State or City get its Name?

ohioboy said:
My World Almanac has a list of the 50 name origins.

California:

Bestowed by the Spanish Conquistadors (possibly by Cortez). It was the name of any imaginary island, an earthly paradise, in Las Serges de Esplandian a Spanish romance written by Montalvo in the 1510.Baja California (Lower California in Mexico) was first visited by Spanish in 1533. The present U.S. State was called Alta (Upper) California.
Click to expand...
50 is a lot of origins for one name. 🤪 (joking)
 

Mike said:
I heard on the Smithsonian Channel the Minnesota got named
by American Indians because the Mississippi gets muddy there
and the name means "Muddy Waters", in their language at the
time of naming.

My country was and still is called Caledonia in some cases this is
the Latin for Scotland.

The capital city, Edinburgh, is the English version of the Gaelic name
Dunedin.

How interesting are the places where you live?

Mike.
Click to expand...

From my World Almanac:
Minnesota:

From Dakota Sioux word meaning "cloudy water" or "sky tinted - water" of the Minnesota River.
 
ohioboy said:
My World Almanac has a list of the 50 name origins.

California:

Bestowed by the Spanish Conquistadors (possibly by Cortez). It was the name of an imaginary island, an earthly paradise, in Las Serges de Esplandian a Spanish romance written by Montalvo in the 1510.Baja California (Lower California in Mexico) was first visited by Spanish in 1533. The present U.S. State was called Alta (Upper) California.
Click to expand...
Other contenders:

From the Old Spanish Calit Fornay, an alteration of the Latin Calida Fornax, meaning hot furnace. This theory may explain why the circa 1650 map of the "Island of California" has the name as two words, "Cali Fornia."

Others suggest it is from kali forno, an indigenous phrase meaning "high mountains".

Yet another possible source is Calahorra, Spain.
 

AnnieA said:
Our state is named after the Mississippi River that's our western border. I think Illinois' Mississippi river western border is longer in miles than Mississippi's but they chose another Algonquian based name. Mississippi means "big river" in Algonquian; early French explorers came up with the Latin alphabet spelling.

My hometown is the surname of early settlers.
Click to expand...

Mississippi:
Probably Chippewa; mici gama meaning "great river" or "gathering - in of all waters". Also Algonquin word.
 
RadishRose said:
The name Connecticut originates from the Algonquian word "Quinnehtukqut" (beside the long tidal river).

The name Connecticut was established early in the 1600's (referring to the Connecticut River)
Click to expand...
From Mohican and other Algonquin words meaning "long river place".
 
The Capital city of South Australia is
The City of Adelaide was named after Adelaide, Queen Consort of King William IV of the United Kingdom.
She married William in July 1818 when she was 25 and he was 52 – part of a strategy to secure the British succession.
The main street through Adelaide is called....believe it or not King William Street.
 
Scotland is believed to be simply, the land of the Scoti , the Latin name for the Gaels. This area is part of "Banff and Buchan", (historically Buchan) and occupies the north east part of Aberdeenshire. Aberdeen means the mouth (Aber) of the river Dee.
The town of Banff was the birthplace of the first president of the Canadian pacific railroad, and Banff in Canada is named in his honour.
 
Mike said:
Wow, there are some great stories here, they are all very
interesting, to me anyway.

Who thought that we would be studying history at this
stage in our lives!

Mike.
Click to expand...
I thoroughly enjoy it, I spend a fair bit of my time, researching historical facts now I have the time...only trouble is you have to try and separate the wheat from the chaff on the great WWW
 
Dallas Texas
The origin of the name of the town of Dallas is obscure. We have no primary evidence from John Neely Bryan, the founder of the town, indicating exactly how he chose the name "Dallas." Bryan (1810-1877), a trader, farmer, lawyer, and land speculator, is well documented in legal and business records but left few personal writings. Frank M. Cockrell, an early pioneer who knew Bryan, recalled that Bryan asserted "the town was named for my friend Dallas". (WPA Dallas Guide and History, p. 43, History of Early Dallas by Frank M. Cockrell, and Dallas: The Deciding Years by A. C. Greene, p. 7).

There has been much speculation about exactly who that person named Dallas was. Cockrell believed that it was George Mifflin Dallas, vice-president of the United States during the administration of President James K. Polk. Dallas County is generally believed to have been named for George Mifflin Dallas since Polk County, named for President Polk, was created on March 30, 1846, the same day that Dallas County was created. The city, however, is a different story.

No evidence exists that Bryan ever knew George Mifflin Dallas. In addition, the town of Dallas bore that name at least three years before the county was created. George Mifflin Dallas had no documented interest in Texas until he made a casual reference favoring Texas statehood in an 1844 letter to a senator from Mississippi—again, after the town of Dallas, Texas, was named.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top