Purported to mean "dwelling of the great spirit", Manitowoc derived its name from either the Ojibwe word "manidoowaak(wag)", meaning spirit-spawn(s), or "manidoowaak(oog)", meaning spirit-wood(s), or "manidoowak(iin)", meaning spirit-land(s). In the Menominee language, it is called "Manetōwak", which means "place of the spirits". The Menominee ceded this land to the United States in the 1836 Treaty of the Cedars, following years of negotiations over how to accommodate the Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Brothertown peoples who had been removed from New York to Wisconsin. In 1838, an act of the Territorial Legislature separated Manitowoc County from Brown County, keeping the native name for the region.