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ALABAMA: Possibly from the Creek Indian word alibamo, meaning "we stay here".
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ALASKA: From the Aleutian word alakshak, which means "great lands," or "land that is not an island".
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ARIZONA: Taken either from the Pima Indian words ali shonak, meaning "little spring," or from the Aztec word arizuma, meaning "silver-bearing".
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ARKANSAS: The French somehow coined it from the name of the Siouan Quapaw tribe.
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CALIFORNIA: According to one theory, Spanish settlers names it after a utopian society described in a popular 16th-century novel called Serged de Esplandian.
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COLORADO: Means "red" in Spanish. The name was originally applied to the Colorado River, whose waters are reddish with canyon clay.
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CONNECTICUT: Taken from the Mohican word kuenihtekot, which means "long river place".
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DELAWARE: Named after Lord De La Warr, a governor of Virginia. Originally used only to name the Delaware River.
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FLORIDA: Explorer Ponce de Leon named the state Pascua Florida – "Flowery Easter" on Easter Sunday in 1513.
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GEORGIA: Named after King George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732.
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HAWAII: An English adaptation of the native word Owyhee, which means "homeland".
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IDAHO: Possibly taken from the Kiowa Apache word for the Comanche Indians.
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ILLINOIS: The French bastardization of the Algonquin word illini, which means "men".
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INDIANA: Named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of Indians.
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IOWA: The Sioux word for "beautiful land," or "one who puts to sleep".
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KANSAS: Taken from the Sioux word for "south wind people," their name for anyone who lived south of Sioux territory.
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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".
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LOUISIANA: Named after French King Louis XIV.
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MAINE: The Old French word for "province".
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MARYLAND: Named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of English King George I.
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MASSACHUSETTS: Named after the Massachusetts Indian tribe. Means "large hill place".
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MICHIGAN: Most likely from the Chippewa word for "great water." micigama.
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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").
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MISSOURI: From the Algonquin word for "muddy water".
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MONTANA: Taken from the Latin word for "mountainous".
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NEBRASKA: From the Otos Indian word for "broad water".
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NEVADA: Means "snow-clad" in Spanish.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE: Capt. John Mason, one of the original colonists, named it after his English home county of Hampshire.
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NEW JERSEY: Named after the English Isle of Jersey.
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NEW MEXICO: The Spanish name for the territory north of the Rio Grande.
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NEW YORK: Named after the Duke of York and Albany.
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NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA: From the Latin name Carolus; named in honor of King Charles I of England.
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NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA: Taken from the Sioux word for "friend," or "ally".
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OHIO: Means "great," "fine" or "Good River" in Iroquois.
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OKLAHOMA. The Choctaw word for "red man".
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OREGON: Possibly derived from Ouaricon-sint, the French name for the Wisconsin River.
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PENNSYLVANIA: Named after William Penn, Sr., the father of the colony’s founder, William Penn. Means "Penn’s woods".
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RHODE ISLAND: Named "Roode Eylandt" (Red Island) because of its red clay.
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TENNESSEE: Named after the Cherokee tanasi villages along the banks of the Little Tennessee River.
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TEXAS: Derived from the Caddo Indian word for "friend," or "ally."
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UTAH: Means "upper," or "higher," and was originally the name that Navajos called the Shoshone tribe.
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VERMONT: A combination of the French words vert ("green") and mont ("mountain").
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VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA: Named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, the "virgin" queen, by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584.
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WASHINGTON: Named after George Washington.
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WISCONSIN: Taken from the Chippewa word for "grassy place".
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WYOMING: Derived from the Algonquin word for "large prairie place".
