Claim: List of place names of French origin in the United States has 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). The suffix "-ville," from the French word for "city" is common for town and city names throughout the United States. Many originally French place names, possibly hundreds, in the Midwest and Upper West were replaced with directly translated English names once American settlers became locally dominant (e.g. "La Petite Roche" became Little Rock; "Baie Verte" became Green Bay; "Grandes Fourches" became Grand Forks).