The origins of American state names

	American state names.
Alabama	Choctaw “I open the thicket” (i.e. one who clears land)
Alaska	Eskimo “great land”
Arizona	Papago “place of the small spring”
Arkansas	Sioux “land of the south wind people”
Colorado	Spanish “red” (color of the earth)
Connecticut	Mohican “at the long tidal river”
Delaware	Named after the English governor Lord the la Warr
Florida	Spanish “land of flowers”
Georgia	Named after King George II
Hawaii	Hawaiian “homeland”
Idaho	Shoshone “light on the mountains”
Illinois	French from Algonquian “warriors”
Indiana	English “land of the Indians”
Kansas	Sioux “land of the south wind people”
Kentucky	Iroquois “meadow land”
Louisiana	Named after King Louis XIV of France
Maine	Named after a French province
Maryland	Named after Henrietta Maria, Charles I´s queen
Massachusetts	Algonquian place of the big hill
Michigan	Chippewa “big water”
Minnesota	Dakota Sioux “sky-colored water”
Mississippi	Chippewa “big river”
Missouri	Probably French from Algonquian “muddy water”
Montana	Spanish “mountainous”
Nebraska	Omaha “river in the flatness”
Nevada	Spanish “snowy”
New Hampshire	Named after Hampshire, England
New Jersey	Named after Jersey (Channel Islands)
New Mexico	Named after Mexico
New York	Named after the Duke of York
North Carolina	Named after King Charles II
North Dakota	Sioux “friend”
Ohio	Iroquois “beautiful water”
Oklahoma	Choctaw “red people”
Oregon	Possibly Algonquian “beautiful water” or “beaver place”
Pennsylvania	Named after Quaker William Penn + Latin for “woodland”
Rhode Island	Dutch “red clay” island
South Carolina	Named after King Charles II
South Dakota	Sioux “friend”
Tennessee	Name of a Cherokee settlement-unknown origin
Texas	Spanish “allies”
Utah	Possibly Navaho “upper land” or “land of the Ute”
Vermont	French “green mountain”
Virginia	Named after Queen Elizabeth I
Washington	Named after George Washington
West Virginia	Derived from Virginia
Wyoming	Algonquian “place of the big flats”