Here’s an oddity: No doubt you’ve noticed that some of our states bear Native American names. But have you ever counted how many? Illinoisans, of course, know we’re surrounded by such states: Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and, of course, our own Illinois (a Frenchification of a Native American tribe, the Illini).
We’re so used to it, we take it for granted. But keep going: Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Twenty-eight out of 50. More than half! Add the six states with Spanish names, California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon (a little less definitively), and the tally is 34. For good measure, throw in the French-derived states, Louisiana, Maine (also less definitive), and Vermont, plus one from the Dutch, Rhode Island (anglicized from Roode Eylandt, referring to the red clay near the shore, which resolves the mystery of why a state that isn’t an island should be named “Island”).
That brings the total to 38 out of 50 states bearing non-Anglo names (the remaining 12 are Washington, Virginia, West Virginia (Kanawha, the lovely name of a principal river, regrettably, didn’t make the cut), North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Georgia, New York (changed from New Netherland when the English took over), Pennsylvania (William Penn wanted it named just “Sylvania” for the forests), and Delaware (which sounds Native American, and there is a Delaware tribe, but the state was named after Lord De La Warr, the first governor of Virginia, go figure).
One would expect, in a country culturally “descended” from the British, that the majority of states would bear Anglo names. No, they are but a small minority. And one would definitely not expect —…
