The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-01-11
Names OF the States.

A correspondent inquiries why th
States are called by their present
names, and what their derivation and
meaning.
MAINE-So called from the pro-
vince of Maine in France, in COM
pliment to Queen Henrietta, Of Eng
land, who, II has been said, owned
that province. This is the commonly
received opinion.
New HAMpsHlRE-Namedb by John
Mason, in 1859 who with another Oh-
tanned the grant from the crown,
from Hampshire county, in England,
The former name of the domain was
LacOnia.
NERMoNf-From the French r,rd
| mont, or green mountain, indicative
Of the mountainous nature of the
State. The name was first officially
recognized Jan. Ii, III.
MAsSACHUSETTS--lndian name,
signiiying "the country about the
great hills
RHODE lSLAND-ThiI name was
adopted in l6ii from the Island of
Rhodes, in the Mediterranean, lee
cause OF its resemblance to that is
land.
COME, is the English
orthograph of the Indian word Quon-
eh-ta-cut, which signifies "the long
river"
New York Named by the Duke
of York, under the color of tie given
him by the English crown in 1864.
Il Ia,
of Sir George Carteret, who was Gov
ernor of the Island of Jersey, in the
British Channel.
PENNSYIvANIA-F'rom William
Penn, the founder of the colony,
meaning "Penn'S woods"
DELAwARE-In honor of Thomas
West, Lord dc-la-Warc, who visited
the bay and died there in 1910.
MARyLANp-Aftcr Henrietta Ma
ria, Queen of Charles L., of England.
NIRGINlA--So called in honor Of
Queen Elizabeth, the virgin Quecn.'
in whose reign Sir Walter Raleigh
made the first attempt to coloniIc
that region.
NoRTu and SoUrH CAROlLNA were
originally in one tract, called "Car"-
lana" after Charles IN, of France, in
1904 subsequently, in 1868, the name
was altered to Carolina.
GEoRGIA-So clled in honor ol'
George H., of England, who cstah-
lished a colony in that region in lT;i2.
FLORIDA-Poncc de Leon, who dis
covered this part of North America in
l5l2 named it FIoriday in commence
ration of the day he landed there,
which was the Pasquas de Flores of
the Spaniards, or "Feast of Flowers,
otherwise known as Easter Sunday.
ALABAMA-Formerly portion Of
Mississippi Territory, admitted into
the Union as a State in 1919. The
name is of Indian origin, signiIyinH
"Herc we rest"
MISsIssIprI-Formerly II portion
of the province of Louisiana. So
named in 1900 from the great river
on the western line. The term is of
Indian origin, meaning "long river.
| LOUISIANA-From Louis NV, of
France, who for some time prior to
1863 owned the Territory.
ADMINISTRATION "Kan>as,' the
| IuluIl Wolu lbl SUNNY Nh''lI WIN
the French prefix "arc,n bow.
TENNESSEE Indian for "thc river
of the big bend" "i.". ,lthe Mississippi,
which is its western boupdry.
KENTuCKY--Indian for "at the
head of the river"
| OHIO-FrOm the Indian, meaning
"beautiful.o Previously applied to
the river, which traverscs a greater
part of its borders.
MICHIGAN Previously applied to
the lake, the Indian name for Il fish
weir. So-called from the fancicd re-
scmblancc of the lake to a tish-trap,
INDIAN in 1902 from
the American Indian.
ILLNoIs--Fromth the Indian "iIlini,o
men, and the French suiliX "ois, to-
gethcr signifying tribe of men,
WIsCONSIN--lndian term for n
"wild-rushing chapnel.'
MISsouRI-Named in lS2l from the
great branch of the Mississippi which
flows through it. Indian term, mean-
ing muddy"
IOwA-frOm the Indian, signifying
"the drOwsy Ones.'
MINNESOTA-lndian for "cloudy
water.n
CALIFORNIA--The name given 10y
COrles, the discOverer Of that region.
He probably obtained it from an old
Spanish romance, in which an i'm
aginary island of that name is describ-
ed as abOunding in gold.
OREGON--According to some from the
Indian oregon, "river of the vest
Others consider it derived from the
Spanish "oregano," wild marjoram,
which grows abundantly on the Paci-
fic coast.