Claim: List of place names of French origin in the United States is falsely believed to have 15 states and the suffix -ville is found throughout and many names were directly translated.
Evidence: Fifteen state names are either French words / origin (Delaware, New Jersey, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Vermont) or Native American words rendered by French speakers (Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Wisconsin), versus eight state names that are Spanish or Spanish rendered (California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah).