State Names

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State Name (Abbrev.)

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Area: Sq. Mi.

(Entered Union)

Residents Label

(Capital)

Name Origin

(Meaning)

Notes

52,423

(Dec. 14, 1819)

Alabamans

(Montgomery)

Choctaw

(“plant-cutters”)

Two Choctaw words: “alba” meaning vegetation, herbs or plants; and “amo” meaning gatherer or picker.

656,424

(Jan. 3, 1959)

Alaskans

(Juneau)

Aleut

(“mainland”)

From the Aleut word “Alyeska,” meaning “great land” or “that which the sea breaks against.”

114,006

(Feb. 14, 1912)

Arizonans

(Phonenix)

Aztec, or Pima

(“silver-bearing,” or “small spring”)

Origin of the name is uncertain.

53,182

(June 15, 1836)

Arkansans

(Little Rock)

Quapaw (Soiux)

(“south wind”)

Borrowed from an Illinois rendering of the tribal name kanze (see Kansas, below), how the Miami and Illinois refer to the Quapaw.

163,707

(Sep. 9, 1850)

Californians

(Sacramento)

Spanish

(see notes)

From “Califia” queen of a mythical Spanish island in a Spanish romance Las Sergas de Esplandian" by Garcia Ordoñez de Montalvo.

104,100

(Aug. 1, 1876)

Coloradans

(Denver)

Spanish

(“red color”)

Originally referring to the Colorado River.

5,544

(Jan. 9, 1788)

Nutmeggers or Connecticuters

(Hartford)

Mohican/Algonquin

(“at the long tidal river”)

From the Indian name for the Connecticut River.

2,489

(Dec. 7, 1787)

Delawareans

(Dover)

French via English

(“of the war”)

After the Delaware River, which was named for Lord de la Warr.

65,756

(Mar. 3, 1845)

Floridians

(Tallahassee)

Spanish

(“flowers”)

Explorer Ponce de Leon named the land after “Pascua de Florida” (“Feast of Flowers”) on Palm Sunday of 1513.

59,441

(Jan. 2, 1788)

Georgians

(Atlanta)

Latin

(“George”)

The feminine Latin form of “George,” named after King George II of England

10,962 and growing

(Aug. 21, 1959)

natives: Hawaiians,

non-natives: Islanders

(Honolulu)

Hawaiian

(“small or new homeland”)

May have been named for the traditional home of the Polynesians, called “Owhyhee.”

83,574

(July 3, 1890)

Idahoans

(Boise)

English

(invented word)

Mining lobbyist George M. Willing invented the name saying it was a Shoshone Indian word that meant “Gem of the Mountains.”

57,918

(Dec. 3, 1818)

Illinoisan or Illinoians

(Springfield)

Algonquian

(“warriors” or “superior men”)

From the Illinois River named by French explorer Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle in 1679 after the Indians he found living along the banks. “Illini" was a confederation of Indian tribes.

36,420

(Dec. 11, 1816)

Hoosiers or Indianians or Indianans

(Indianapolis)

English

(“Land of the Indians.”)

The natives were called Indians because of Columbus’ error thinking he had reached the Asian India which was named for the Indus River there.

56,276

(Dec. 28, 1846)

Iowans or Hawkeyes

(Des Moines)

Dakota

(“sleepy ones”)

From the natives tribal name “Ayuxwa” which was spelled by the French as “Ayoua” and by the English as “Ioway.”

82,282

(Jan. 29, 1861)

Kansans or Jayhawkers

(Topeka)

Kaw

(“south wind”)

From the Kansas River which was named by the French after the Kanze natives who lived there.

40,411

(June 1, 1792)

Kentuckians

(Frankfort)

Iroquoian

(“prairie” or “field”)

From the Iroquois Indian name referring to the landscape. Possibly a Wyandot or Iroquois name meaning “land of tomorrow.”

51,843

(Apr. 30, 1812)

Louisianians or Louisianans

(Baton Rouge)

French

(in honor of King “Louis”)

French explorer Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle, the first European to navigate to the Mississippi River delta, named the area La Louisianne after Louis XIV of France.

35,387

(Mar. 15, 1820)

Mainers or Main Staters

(Augusta)

English or French

(“the main land”)

May refer to the mainland, as opposed to the coastal islands, or may be named after the French province of Maine.

12,407

(Apr. 28, 1788)

Marylanders

(Annapolis)

English

(in honor of Queen “Mary”)

After Queen Henrietta Maria of England, wife of King Charles I.

10,555

(Feb. 6, 1788)

Bay Staters or Massachusettsans

(Boston)

Algonquian

(“great hill place” or “by the little mountain”)

Named after the natives that lived in the region.

96,705

(Jan. 26, 1837)

Michiganians or Michiganders

(Lansing)

Ottawa or Chippewa

(“large body of water”)

Also possibly from the Chippewa Indian word “majigan” which means “clearing of land.”

86,943

(May 11, 1858)

Minnesotans

(St. Paul)

Dakota

(“cloudy water”)

From the Minnesota River named by the Dakota Sioux.

48,434

(Dec. 10, 1817)

Mississippians

(Jackson)

Ojibwe

(“great river”)

The Indian name for the river that was used on Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle’s map.

69,709

(Aug. 10, 1821)

Missourians

(Jefferson Dity)

Algonquian

(“dugout canoe”)

From the Missouri River, after the Missouri tribe known for their dugout canoes.

147,046

(Nov. 8, 1889)

Montanan

(Helena)

Spanish

(“mountainous”)

A derivation of the Latin word “montaanus.”

77,358

(Mar. 1, 1867)

Nebraskans; sometimes Cornhuskers

(Lincoln)

Soiux

(“flat waters”)

Referring to the Platte River, which means “flat river” in French.

110,567

(Oct. 31, 1864)

Nevadans

(Carson City)

Spanish

(“snow covered”)

After the Sierra Nevada, or “snowy range.”

9,351

(June 21, 1788)

New Hampshirites; Granite Staters

(Concord)

English

(New + name of an English county

Named for county of Hampshire, England, by Captain John Mason.

8,722

(Dec. 18, 1787)

New Jerseyites; New Jerseyans

(Trenton)

English

(New + name of an island)

Name after the island of Jersey in the English Channel by Sir John Berkley and Sir George Carteret.

121,598

(Jan. 6, 1912)

New Mexicans

(Santa Fe)

Aztec via Spanish

(refers to the land north of the upper Rio Grande)

Anglicized version of “Nuevo Mexico,” from Aztec meaning “place of the god Mexitli.”

54,471

(July 26, 1788)

New Yorkers

(Albany)

English

(New + name of an English duke)

After York, England, to honor the then Duke of York (later King James II of England).

53,821

(Nov. 21, 1789)

North Carolinians

(Raleigh)

Latin

(North + “Charles”)

from the name Carolus, in honor of King Charles I of England.

70,704

(Nov. 2, 1889)

North Dakotans

(Bismarck)

Sioux

(North + “ally”)

After the Dakota tribe.

44,828

(Mar. 1, 1803)

Ohioans; or Buckeyes

(Columbus)

Iroquois

(“large creek”)

After the name of both the Ohio River and Allegheny River. Often incorrectly given as “beautiful river”

69,903

(Nov. 16, 1907)

Oklahomans

(Oklahoma City)

Choctaw

(“red people”)

Invented by native American missionary Allen Wright from two Choctaw words, “ukla” meaning people and “huma” meaning red.

98,386

(Feb. 14, 1859)

Oregonians

(Salem)

Uncertain

(“beautiful”)

First named by Major Robert Rogers in a petition to King George III.

46,058

(Dec. 12, 1787)

Pennsylvanians

(Harrisburg)

Latin

(“Penn’s woods”)

After Admiral William Penn.

1,545

(May 29, 1790)

Rhode Islanders

(Providence)

Dutch

(“red island”)

Named “Roodt Eylandt” by Dutch explorer Adrian Block, it was anglicized when the region came under British rule.

32,008

(May 23, 1788)

South Carolinians

(Columbia)

Latin

(South + “Charles”)

from the name Carolus, in honor of King Charles I of England.

77,121

(Nov. 2, 1889)

South Dakotans

(Pierre)

Sioux

(South + “ally”)

After the Dakota tribe.

42,146

(June 1, 1796)

Tennesseans

(Nashville)

Cherokee

(possibly “river with a big bend”)

After the river and from a Cherokee village in the region that was called “Tanasie.”

268,601

(Dec. 29, 1845)

Texans

(Austin)

Caddo

(“friend”)

“Tejas” referred to the Caddo tribes. The Spanish made it texas.

84,904

(Jan. 4, 1896)

Utahns or Utahans

(Salt Lake City)

Western Apache

(“high”)

Europeans took the Apache word “Yuttahih” (their name for the Navajo tribes living higher in the mountains) to refer to the Utes.

9,615

(Mar. 4, 1791)

Vermonters

(Montpelier)

French

(“green mountain”)

The English form of the name “Verd Mont" given by French explorer Samuel de Champlain

42,777

(June 25, 1788)

Virginians

(Richmond)

Latin

(“country of the Virgin”)

After Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the “Virgin Queen” because she never married.

71,302

(Nov. 11, 1889)

Washingtonians

(Olympia)

English

(English surname)

After the first U.S. president, George Washington.

24,231

(June 20, 1863)

West Virginians

(Charleston)

Latin

(state west of Virginia)

In 1863, when the western counties of Virginia were about to be admitted to the Union, delegates chose the state name over Kanawha, Allegheny, and Augusta.

65,499

(May 29, 1848)

Wisconsinites

(Madison)

Chippewa

(possibly “grassy place”)

After the Wisconsin River. Origin is uncertain.

97,818

(July 10, 1890)

Wyomingites

(Cheyenne)

Algonquian

(“wiche weamiing” meaning “on the great plains”)

After a tribal village in Pennsylvania wiped out in 1778 by a combined force of British soldiers, Tories sympathizers and Iroquois Indians.