The origin of every US state's name

Enjoy this etymological tour of the United States. And remember you can get TypeAI PREMIUM now! Start your FREE trial by clicking the link here: bit.ly/Mar24RobWords
This took a lot of research. For almost every state there are multiple stories behind the name, but I've done my best to double and triple-source each of the ones included.
In the cases of words from native American languages, I have cross-referenced the information with that given on the official websites of the relevant tribes and nations.
Here are some of my other sources:
1970s US govt press release (some dodgy stuff in there): www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-...
David Wilton from wordorigins.org has done brilliant work: www.wordorigins.org/big-list-...
Library of Congress for images and old documents: www.loc.gov/
Oxford English Dictionary for etymology: www.oed.com/dictionary/alabam...
Merriam-Webster for pronunications: www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...
⭐️PATREON COMMUNITY: patreon.com/robwords
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Check me out on the web, on Twitter & TikTok:
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Edited with Gling AI: bit.ly/46bGeYv
#USA #language #etymology
==CHAPTERS==
0:00 States with "New"
2:20 Named after monarchs
3:58 TypeAI
5:10 Named after colonists
6:22 Named after Native American peoples
12:24 From Native American descriptions
16:22 Alaska & Hawaii
17:46 From European languages
20:56 Dunno! Oregon & Rhode Island

[@RobWords]

Hit me with some more interesting US place name origins. Comment below. And remember you can get TypeAI PREMIUM now! Start your FREE trial by clicking the link here: bit.ly/Mar24RobWords

[@Verysx]

How the heck is this five hours ago

[@Into_Ingrid]

I am disappointed in seeing your use of AI generated images, and taking a sponsorship from a generative AI company. The amount of energy wastage, stolen artwork, and unethical business practices that goes into these image generators are way too high for any "benefit" they may have to a workflow. You are also using them to depict historical events and people, in which there are plenty of images and references that accurately depicts your historical references already available through stock photos. So choosing to use generated images that are known to create inaccuracies is baffling to me.

[@AnglephileSwedenGerman]

I'm from Fall River where there are many native American names still of the streets n rivers but it is called Fall River because the native Americans called it that cause many many hills n many river n streams n ponds that end up in the Taunton river n if u day dream when you look at all the now paved hills you can see why it's call "falling rivers" or now it is Fall River Massachusetts in fact the quecachan river still flows through the entire city n ends up in the Taunton river n my good friend from Taiwan who is a chemistry professor at UMass says we have some of the best tap water in the world n this city was mostly French Canadian then mostly saint Michael's accoreana which is the southern most island of the islands of accoreze owned by Portugal n it's common for us who well basically me n everyone my age have parents who were born in the accoreana soa Miguel we tattoo a 5 digit from a die or pair of dice in the middle of our thumb n pointer finger on the backhand of our left or right hand also the city has a "rolling rock" that is massive deposited by the retreat of glacier its a massive rock but it forms to a little point n looks like it will tip , other than that n a lot of native american names n old mills n factories , its not a must see

[@jsnsk101]

Grand Teton national park, someone once told me it was a funny name in some language or another

[@jcortese3300]

TONS of Welsh ones in the area of the old Barony in Pennsylvania. Might be interesting for you to look at Welsh place names around the world? Pennsylvania, Patagonia, maybe someplace else starting with P ...

[@nnirr1]

50% - Tribe X was living here 50% - Great River

[@RobWords]

A bit.

[@ROBYNMARKOW]

California was named for a Spanish novel about a mythical country so it’s the exception to that rule..

[@pltntn1337]

Pennsylvania means Penn's Forests

[@nicolettaveganthibeault8781]

For the states with vaguely indigenous names, yes kind of

[@zappababe8577]

@@pltntn1337 Have to let Penn Gillette know, he's seemingly come into a bit of land!

[@jeroenmeuleman8110]

About Vermont not being Montvert: there is evidence that when French and a Germanic language come into contact, sometimes placenames undergo a switch of word order, e.g. Neufchâteau (Belgium) or Neuchâtel (Switzerland). In some corner cases, French adjectives also come before the noun (e.g. "petit"), which is also thought to be a Germanic influence.

[@OaxBratt]

Another interesting aspect of Vermont’s name is that it was first called New Connecticut by a convention of the leaders of a rebellion against… the colony of New York. It’s a fascinating piece of U.S. history that I can’t summarize properly here, but worth looking up. At the time, most of the European settlers to the land had come from Connecticut Colony, and named the towns they founded after places in Connecticut (Windsor, Hartford, New Haven, etc.) My understanding is that the name was changed to Vermont to avoid confusion with the old Connecticut. The intention was always to join the other colonies, and eventually states. But New York did not allow it until 1791, and only after Vermont gave some of the disputed land back. During that time, Vermont had to sort out its identity as an independent place. Samuel de Champlain was the first European to see the lands that are now called Vermont and described them as « green mountains » (in French, of course). The rebels knew this, and named themselves the Green Mountain Boys. All this to say, I bet your theory is right, but it’s at least plausible that a group of Anglophone backwoods men would take the story about de Champlain and end up naming their new home in broken French.

[@Hepad_]

Totally agree ! I'm from Northern France, which has quite the Germanic influence, and we still sometimes use a word order closer to German !

[@wellard3862]

my theory is that Vermont comes from the French vers les monts (towards the mountains or hills), and was slowly condensed over time by English speakers, but no one will ever know!@@OaxBratt

[@mimzim7141]

The switching of word order does not sound that odd to me as french speaker when it is about names of places.

[@Kumagoro42]

It's not a matter of corner cases. In French, like in Italian, there's not a fixed position for adjectives, so there's plenty of cases where they come before the name. Cf. Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) or simple common sentences like "C'est une belle femme" (She's a beautiful woman). In fact, in reference to your examples, neuf/neuve and nouveau/nouvelle (slightly different ways to say "new") almost always come before the name (mon nouveau travail, sa nouvelle voiture, le nouveau film de Tarantino), but the art movement is called Art Nouveau and in Paris there's the Pont Neuf (just like in Florence there's Ponte Vecchio, but we usually say "un vecchio amico" /an old friend or "una nuova vita" / a new life, and Fellini's movie is "La dolce vita"). (In fact, in some cases the position changes the meaning, because "un vecchio amico" means a friend we've known for a long time, while "un amico vecchio" means a friend who is old of age).

[@biligator]

The most fun theory of how Oregon got its name comes from the 1945 book "Names on the Land" by George R. Stewart. As the story goes, a French explorer in 1715 made a map where he labeled an upper tributary of the Mississippi the "Ouisconsinc" (this would later be Anglicized as "Wisconsin"). But a careless scribe back in France created a copy of the map where he mistakenly changed "Ouisconsinc" to "Ouariconsint." The copier also ran out of room, so he put the "sint" underneath the rest of the word, with a hyphen. Subsequent copiers missed the "sint" entirely, leaving "Ouaricon." Eventually, in the minds of explorers, "Wisconsin" and "Ouaricon" became two distinct rivers: one the existing Wisconsin River we know today, the other a great, mythical river that we will surely find if we just keep going west. But they pushed all the way to the Pacific and didn't find the river, so they named the coastal region they'd found after the nonexistent river. Only by this time the name of the river had morphed from Ouaricon to Ouragon to Ourgan to Ourigan to-you guessed it-Oregon. So Oregon is literally just the word Wisconsin after a long game of telephone.

[@Brussels413]

but he says in the video that the columbia river was originally called the oregon river and the state named after the river, so maybe they found that mythical river. i bet that was exciting for whoever found it.

[@FriedPi-mc5yt]

Being a tribal member and living in Oklahoma. We don’t have a problem with the state name here. It works for us.

[@Avinkwep]

You can call someone a white person no problem. it’s ok to call someone black as well. But to say that someone has red skin is an insult

[@FriedPi-mc5yt]

@@Avinkwep Only to the overly sensitive.

[@mossknight6118]

A point about the name of Vermont and the possibility of it coming from French with a strange word order: French actually does reverse noun and adjective order quite often when it comes to place names and more generally for poetic reasons, or at least it used to. It's a feature that has dropped from modern French, but might still have been commonplace back then. I can totally picture the French looking at said mountains and calling it "le Vert-Mont"

[@RobWords]

Thanks for this, I had no idea it was a poetic tool. Consider me educated.

[@AndreaAvila78]

😮❤Wow that makes so much sense because Spanish does the same thing for poetic purposes!

[@halo7oo]

Interesting that English sometimes does the same for poetic reasons, for example "Upon the mountain green, so beautiful!"

[@Christian_Martel]

Absolutely. The reverse order in French is a feature of literature, but also in the popular language with some adjectives, like beau, bon, grand, petit, etc.. Examples: Other French names formed in this way: Beauport, Beaufort, Belmont, Beaulieu, Grand-Pré, Vieux Carré, Neufchâtel, Neuville, etc….

[@frenchcoyote5198]

Blanche Neige and Snow White

[@glenmorrison8080]

You did a great job of presenting this at a pretty rapid pace, while somehow making it feel casually paced. Well done.

[@r12raul]

Rhode Island's name originally referred to Aquidneck Island (southern part of the state where city of Newport is), named by early explorers who compared its appearance to the Greek island of Rhodes. The name later extended to the entire state, formally known as "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," but recently shortened to "State of Rhode Island" in 2020 to avoid associations with the term "plantations."

[@hakimkashiamya3142]

only in 2020? Pff.. better late than ever I guess...

[@carlosfontanez9804]

I believe the term island was given to the land because the settlers of the state were fleeing religious prosecution and separated them selves from the rest of the land like an island. Not religious prosecution from Europe though but from those living in Connecticut. This would be why the state is so small as well being that it was just a small group of people wishing to separate themselves from the rest of the land compared to the other colonies.

[@r12raul]

​@carlosfontanez9804 that was the homie Roger Williams who came down from Massachusetts to settle what is now Providence.

[@erisculpepper8867]

H. B. Cushman, author of "History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez" (first published 1899) spent his early years around the Choctaw. In his book, he recounted stories he heard growing up. One of them was the Choctaw origin story from their oral history. The story tells of the time of the great migration from the west to the east. When the people came to the river, they were amazed. Never had they seen such a moving body of water. According to Cushman, the people called the river "Misha Sipokni" ("beyond age") saying that surely it could have neither beginning nor end. But... going quite a bit further north we find the name Mississauga which would indicate that Mississippi is not of Choctaw origin. The book is actually an interesting read since it is his childhood memories living among the Choctaw before The Removal. And as always, love the video!!

[@johnransom1146]

Do the same with Canadian provinces and territories. I live in Nova Scotia, New Scotland, but there’s tons of English, German, Irish, Danish, even Icelandic people here.

[@Christian_Martel]

Yea. I’m Canadian too and I live in the Province of Where the River is Narrow.

[@wyattstevens8574]

​@@Christian_MartelQuebec! (I had to look it up, but I used to know about a lot of all 61 states/provinces in N.A.)

[@Hisscreeper46]

@@wyattstevens857461? 50 states and 10 provinces... where's the last one?

[@wyattstevens8574]

@@Hisscreeper46 I got confused- but did Canada (sometime in the past 10 years- see "International Relations" by Studio C, where I think one of them mentions 11 and not just 10) actually have 11?

[@Hisscreeper46]

@@wyattstevens8574As a Canadian, no. It used to have two territories but now it has three, and they are basically provinces these days, but its number of provinces hasn't changed since 1949, when Newfoundland joined.

[@jamescaron6465]

Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg officially known as Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake in Massachusetts. It has the longest name of any land mark in the US It translates roughly from the nipmuc language to "fishing place at the boundary" Up until 2020 the official name of Rhode Island was State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Providence plantations being the City of Providence.

[@mikep3226]

And, I'll point out that the population of the Providence metro area is higher than the population of the state (because much of the metro area is actually in nearby Massachusetts).

[@jamescaron6465]

@@mikep3226 Yes it is! Bristol County, MA

[@oldsoldier181]

I have been to that lake many, many times :)

[@trekkiejunk]

I loved their hit song....I get knocked down, but i get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down!!

[@jamescaron6465]

@@trekkiejunk LOL

[@9494349]

I hadn't give the origins of the U.S. state names any thought, but this was really fascinating, thank you so much. I love your gently informative style as well. All together a real delight.

[@eugenetswong]

Thank you Rob & team! You all deliver in spades.

[@Grobohalic]

For Minnesota, according to Šišókaduta, a Dakota language instructor at the university of Minnesota: "A literal translation would be clear water," Šišókaduta said. "But what it ... really refers to is where the waters reflect the skies, because the water is clear and still." Some people interpret that as the source of the cloudy water - it’s simply water reflecting clouds. I’ve always heard it translated as “water that reflects the sky,” and I thought that was such a beautiful name for our state. The land of the waters that reflect the sky.

[@Phlarx]

Came here to say the same thing! (Although you have me beat on details). Hello fellow Minnesotan!

[@Sea0fTime]

"from the land of sky blue waters .."

[@user-yp6kn2uw4k]

Why don’t you like the clouds?? Clouds save in the heat, clouds are a source of heavenly water, the clouds themselves are beautiful and not banal, like the ordinary, unpoetic, plain blue sky.🙄🙄🙄😬

[@stephgreen3070]

I wondered about that too because sometimes the waters will be so still it feels like you’re canoeing in the sky. And sometimes it’s so windy, the breaking waves feels like you’re boating through the clouds, so I guess it could go either way lol.

[@stephgreen3070]

@@Sea0fTimegood ole Hamm’s.

[@anonymous34779]

Love your work rob! Please keep posting!

[@BakaBunz]

California and caliphate has me rofl

[@trevinbeattie4888]

The final two made me laugh. 😆 Maybe Oregon is where people wound up after the California gold rush ended. “Ore gone.” 😉

[@PygKLB]

There was a joke at the time that where the California Trail split from the Oregon Trail, one signboard said “Oregon” and the other had a picture of a gold nuggets. Thus the literate went to Oregon.

[@StereoSpace]

On Oregon: According to the records of the state, "The first written record of the name "Oregon" comes to us from a 1765 proposal for a journey written by Major Robert Rogers, an English army officer. It reads, "The rout... is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon." Also, the name was originally applied to the entire region, in 1848 the United States Congress approved the formation of the Oregon Territory. At the time, the Oregon Territory included all the present day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and even parts of Montana and Wyoming. The route the homesteaders (pioneers) followed through a pass in the northern Rockies and along the Snake and Columbia Rivers to reach the Pacific coast was called the Oregon Trail.

[@Kineticboy2K1]

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest they hammer you with the history of the Oregon Trail, Lewis and Clark, and various local tribes and Wild West towns that still exist today. My school even held a play, multiple years in a row, where we acted out different pioneer scenarios and sang songs about them. I still have some lines memorized: Lewis: It's Lewis and Clark! Clark: That's Clark and Lewis! Both: Going down the trail to see what we can find!~ It was a while before I learned anything about any state beyond the PNW, let alone any other countries.

[@ellinganderson5434]

Another possible origin of the name Oregon is from the smelt, a small greasy fish traded throughout the west known to the natives as ooligan or oorigan. This is just another theory being explored.

[@StereoSpace]

@@Kineticboy2K1 I don't know if you've read "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but it's a fantastic book.

[@Kineticboy2K1]

@@StereoSpace Wow, what a blast from the past! Yes, my teacher had dozens of copies and handed them out for us to read aloud from during class. I didn't remember the title when you said it, but googling it gave me such a nostalgia trip seeing the cover. Wild!

[@4runningaway417]

@@Kineticboy2K1. What about chief Joseph’s cuneiform tablet ?

[@brolol3136]

That's so cool! Thank you for your work 🎉💯🎯✨

[@halo7oo]

Etymology of U.S. Territories & The Federal District: Puerto Rico: Rich Port (Spanish) Guam: What We Have (Chamorro, "Guahan") American Samoa: Place of the moa (Maori) U.S. Virgin Islands: Named for St. Ursula Northern Mariana Islands: Named for Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria Washington D.C.: President Washington, District of Columbia (Columbia is a Poetic name for the U.S., named after Christopher Columbus) Etymology of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands: Baker Island: Named for Michael Baker (Nicknamed, New Nantucket)(Hawaiian laborers named Baker Island "Paukeaho", meaning "out of breath") Howland Island: Named Howland after the lookout who spotted it (Originally named Worth by a whaling ship's captain) Jarvis Island: Named for Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis (Nicknamed, Bunker Island) Johnston Atoll: Named for Captain Charles James Johnston Kingman Reef: Named for Captain W. E. Kingman (Previously charted as, Caldew Reef and Maria Shoal) Midway Atoll: Midway is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia (Hawaiian, "Kuaihelani", the backbone of heaven, & "Pihemanu", The loud din of birds) Palmyra Atoll: Named for U.S. trading ship Palmyra (Itself named for the ancient Syrian city) Wake Island: Named for either Captain Samuel Wake or Captain William Wake (Marshallese, "Ānen Kio", island of the kio flower) Navassa Island: Named Navaza from Spanish for plain or flat (French, "Île de la Navasse", Haitian Creole, "Lanavaz") Etymology of U.S. Compact of Free Association Nations: Marshall Islands: Islands of the Marshallese (Marshallese, "Ṃajeḷ") Micronesia: The region of small islands (Italian) Palau: Village (Palauan, "Belau" or "Beluu")

[@beachboysandrew]

This comment should definitely be pinned!

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

This is a good summary of the names of the territories, Minor Outlying Islands, and the associated states! Also, Guam's "what we have" reminded me of some of the states with Native American names (which are often self-referential, such as the "allies in Texas and the Dakotas), while the Northern Mariana Islands is of the same genre of names as Virginia, Maryland, or Lousiana. Thanks for the added information!

[@dr.atlantis2194]

Spanish "rico" means beautiful, not rich.

[@fitito500]

​@@dr.atlantis2194means a lot of things could be "yummy" if you talk about a food, could be "rich, wealthy" if you talk about money, could be "a lot of..." If you talk about concentration "Rico en azucar" (have a lot of sugar), etc. .... Could be a lot of thing but in this case it would be"wealthy port or rich port" (in terms of natural resources, gold, silver, fish, etc).... Spanish is my mother tongue Greetings bro 👍

[@fitito500]

​@@dr.atlantis2194Rico like "beautiful" sounds weird maybe could be a slang in central America in places, but it's not used in that way... Something beautiful is "lindo", "bello", "hermoso", "precioso", "bonito", etc

[@tywco]

I almost didn’t watch this, because I’ve seen other channels cover the topic, but this is definitely the best one. Well done, from the Four Corners region.

[@iccnsprcy]

Very well presented and informative. Thank you.

[@suekennedy1595]

I found your channel yesterday it’s great really enjoying it learning so much.

[@arbremonde13]

The funny thing about Arkansas is that in French, at least here in Canada, we do pronouns the final S

[@amethyst1826]

I often wonder if Arksnsas is pronounced Arkansaw why isn't Kansas pronounced Kansaw?

[@zetectic7968]

@@amethyst1826IIRC it was the US government that decided the confused pronunciation (ar-kan-saw and ark-kansas) & distinguished it from Kansas

[@HueghMungus]

@@zetectic7968 Reject boomer English, use new English; "Ar-can sauce" and "Can sauce" 😂😂😂👌 don't be negative, be "can" positive!

[@Jimeo722]

My mother, from rural Ireland, pronounced Arkansas by adding "Ar" to the beginning of the state name Kansas, until i corrected her. She said that's how she was taught to pronounce it in school.

[@sydhenderson6753]

@@Jimeo722The river is pronounced that way in Kansas. In Oklahoma, it's pronounced like the state of Arkansas.

[@BarbarosaAlexander]

Loved the joke about splitting Carolina and Charles.

[@ThinWhiteAxe]

I live in NC myself and I very much appreciated it 😂

[@IamRobotMonkey]

King Charles had a split personality.

[@Jadeschannel255]

King Charles had a splitting headache.

[@cardinalgin]

I love the historical references you put into it. Very interesting and instructive.

[@EngineerLewis]

Wow what a treat Rob ! I really enjoyed your tour of the US states and the background to the names. Thanks 👍

[@romad357]

I've heard that "Oregon" somehow comes from a word(s) meaning "great storm" or "hurricane" and is supposedly French related.

[@RobWords]

The French for hurricane is "ouragan". I bet it's that!

[@TestUser-cf4wj]

​​@@RobWordsIt's very probable that the French had a hand in the establishment of the name since they were active traders all across the northern tier of the modern US. I'll just point out that it may also be the case that the name derives from "ooligan," which was a type of fish based food that was traded in western north America and made from salmon smelt caught in the Columbia river and tributaries. It remains a question though if olligan is the original name of the food or if the food was named after the river .

[@peztopher7297]

@@TestUser-cf4wj Hmm, there is a car parked in my apartment complex that has the word "ooligan" stenciled on it. I thought they misspelled 'hooligan' (like 'gangster'?). Bet we're in southern California, not Oregon.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

​@@RobWords Hurricane comes from Hurakan, the Maya god of storms. Almost certainly the same origin for French ouragan, perhaps via English.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

​​@@TestUser-cf4wj You're thinking of oolachan, or candle fish. These fish are extremely oily, and were threaded on sticks and dried to be burned for light, like candles or torches. As you say, important use and trade item in the area, not just the Columbia watershed but much further north, all along coastal British Columbia.

[@ZombasticRex]

The pronunciation of vitamin is the one that gets me the most.

[@LeCrenn]

Fascinating. Thank you for this excellent video, it's clear how much work went into it. You did a fine job with a very interesting subject. I'll second the request to do Canada next.

[@jeremytrepanier2202]

Québec a été inventé par le peuple Québécois,qui sont les habitants fondateurs de la civilisation en américaine

[@Ditchdigger2005]

OK so regarding Hampshire. The ham actually comes from Southampton and the location of it in an "area enclosed by a river", 2 in fact, the Test and the Itchen. The first name of the settlement was Hamwic with the wic meaning "trading area" it being a port 'n' all. As it gained importance the name was changed to Hamtun and the wider administrative area Hamtunscir. One of the earliest known uses of scir was when Hamtunscir was mentioned in records in 755CE. It was recorded as Hantescire in the Domesday book (Southampton as Hantune) and apparently the p was first used in later additions to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The South was later added to Hampton to differentiate it from other similarly named places, most notably Northampton. The shire never got that added whereas Northamptonshire does exist, probably because Northampton already had its North (Northantone in Domesday) when it gave its name to the Shire. Fun fact: George Washington's Great-grandfather emigrated from Northamptonshire and an earlier ancestor was mayor of Northampton!

[@lucylane7397]

I thought it was named after Washington in Tyne and wear

[@Ditchdigger2005]

@@lucylane7397 Yes, that's where the surname comes from, but one of the descendents of the first person to take that name moved to Lancashire in the early 14th century and then one of his descendents moved to Northamptonshire. In an ironic twist the family was loyal to King Charles during the civil war and the fact that they lost their property as punishment after he lost may have been a factor in George's Great-grandfather leaving for the New World!

[@kovskaja]

Interesting. Hamburg/ Ham(me)-burg means swamp enclosed by a river & castle. (old saxon)

[@bartmannn6717]

Caliphate - California 🤯😆!?! I don't think I can ever unhear/ unsee that (and it was in plain sight all the time!). And I'll have to tell that now to everyone.

[@RonNorwood]

Yeah, my mind was blown by that one too. It makes sense with the Muslim influence in Spain for a long time.

[@meatmoneymilkmonogamyequal5583]

I feel the VERY SAME WAY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@shape816]

That was really excellent, man. Very intelligent and well researched. A rarity in these parts. Nice work.

[@chinet95]

Excellent (also brilliant) presentation. Stuff I don't need to know, but tremendously enjoy learning.

[@ptizim]

Thanks a lot Rob, I like etymologie and yours videos are huge sources of knowledge for this. Besides I almost understand everything you say, thanks to your clear oral expression and good English accent. Cheers from France.

[@johnforgrave7125]

I read that Rhode Island was possibly named "Roodt Eylandt" by a Dutch explorer, meaning "Red Island" after the red clay shoreline. Eventually it would either be misunderstood and/or Anglicized to Rhode Island, likely since people were already familiar with the Isle of Rhodes. I'm not sure how accurate this story is or if it's just apocryphal, but I thought I'd share.

[@adamcetinkent]

Wasn't that literally explained in the video?

[@gunkulator1]

Formally, the full name of the state is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The smallest state has the longest name.

[@goekhanbag]

@@gunkulator1used to be

[@jamescook6564]

Rhode Island actial name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantation

[@johnforgrave7125]

@@adamcetinkent Not exactly. The video seems to suggest that the etymology is either the Dutch name OR being named directly after the Isle of Rhodes. I was just trying to clarify that to my understanding nobody thought Rhode Island or any part of it looked like the Isle of Rhodes and nobody initially meant to name it after the island in the Aegean, but that the name itself was appropriated simply for it's familiarity to the primarily English-speaking colonists who either misunderstood the existing Dutch name or just found it too cumbersome to say.

[@magicmofy2871]

I just discovered your channel because of the video about the elements. So many great videos wow :D

[@dawnfowler2194]

That was very enjoyable! Thanks for doing this and researching it so well. Im an American and a Historian but some of these name derivations I had never heard.

[@carmenm.4091]

Love this sort of historical information. Thank you for sharing this.

[@mariannerichard1321]

About Vermont, it's quite common in French to inverse the adjective, "les vertes collines" (the green hills) or "les vertes contrées" (the green country side) are poetic inversions you hear often, "le vert mont" would be well in line with these.

[@pitman4121]

Very well done. I learnt a lot of new things, thank you for the video.

[@igortseitkin2961]

Such a great, elaborate story! Thank you!

[@FrogeniusW.G.]

Interesting is also, why it's the "New York YANKEES"! Yankee is the english version (pronunciation) of the (quite typical) dutch name Janke, which translates to little John. So it was the City of the (dutch) Jankes, bc. NY was New Amsterdam in the beginning. 😅

[@WaterShowsProd]

In a marginally connected tangent: I'm currently in a show about the history of Samut Prakan, which is the area around the mouth of The Chaophraya River as it flows into The Gulf of Thailand. Before doing this show I was completely unaware that region was also named New Amsterdam, due to the Dutch traders who settled there.

[@DickDiamond74]

People just liked it better that way.

[@stevetalkstoomuch]

We were taught in Connecticut that "Yankee" came from the Dutch pronunciation of an English insult at the time. The insult was to call someone a "John Key", which the CT settlers called the Dutch. They in return would reply to the CT settlers in their pronunciation and call them "Jahn Key". And it stuck.

[@FrogeniusW.G.]

@@stevetalkstoomuch No, it's not Jahn/John Key. It's really just Ja(h)n-ke, little John. Which in itself is/is meant as an insult. Calling grown men "little.." is mostly not taken too well. The ending "-ke" in Dutch (and northern Germany) is marking a diminutive. In middle Germany it's "-che(n)" and in the south "le". In Swisse, even more south it's "li". Perterke, Peterche(n), Peterle, Peterli. Janke, Janche(n), Janle, Janli. 🤷‍♀️

[@adamfox9651]

The story I heard was that Yankee or Yankees comes from Jan Kees meaning John Cheese, an insult Dutch colonists in New Netherlands had for their neighbors in New England. As for how the baseball team in the Bronx got its name, the team was originally called the Highlanders, probably in reference to the fact that their original 1903 ballpark sat on the highest elevation in Manhattan. (It's now the sight of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.) Eventually, in 1912, the ball club moved into the Polo Grounds on the Harlem River, sharing it with Giants, before moving into their own stadium on the opposite bank in 1923. While still at the Polo Grounds, sportswriters began calling the team by the nickname Yankees, possibly because of the number of New Englanders playing on the team at the time.

[@sendmejunk]

In western Montana there's a town called "Paradise." Despite being a very beautiful location, the town's name originally was actually Pair Of Dice - it was originally somewhat of a wild west "Las Vegas" of sorts!

[@davidguthary8147]

Incidentally, most of what the general public thinks of as "Las Vegas" is actually in the unincorporated town of Paradise, Nevada.

[@cptawesome11]

What's your source on that? Just curious. Only thing I found was a single sentence in a random person's blog which was posted in 2015: "Many argue that the name originally was “Pair o’ Dice” but not by the railroads accounts." I don't think you could conclusively say it's the origin of the town name. Edit: There's a lot more info online about the same origin name but for a town in California called Paradise. The story is that there was a bar there called 'Pair o' Dice', however according to a Snopes article there has been no documentation of any bar or establishment there by that name. The article provides a source from a former Mayor of a nearby town who was also the president of the local historical society, they say that story is not true and provides a different explanation.

[@jeanbeard178]

I live in the portion of Las Vegas called Paradise, or was it Pair o' Dice. That name is more fun!

[@LeCrenn]

Whether or not that's true, it's a fun story.

[@ZubairKhan-vs8fe]

I love you videos and the amount of research and effort you put into this free content. Thank you for your efforts.

[@stefanoraz27]

This is so well put together! I love how you correlate to eachother the name origin of the states

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

I love your channel because I love words, too, especially their etymologies. I’m always looking them up.

[@Not_That_Chris]

Idaho man here! I’m not sure how confident you are about the name of Idaho. It has been my understanding that the name was somewhat made up and slapped on by the senate. Surprisingly, I do not recall learning about the names origin during state history class (although we are not known for our education). Here’s a fun tidbit though: the nickname of Idaho is “The Gem State”. Very appropriate for the mining operation you mentioned. It is actually a treasure trove of precious and semi precious gems.

[@kenster8270]

I have also heard/read that the name Idaho was an entirely made-up name meant to sound "genericly Indian" and coined as a working titled for a newly organized territories out west: Colorado Territory and Idaho Territory.

[@sewmeonekenobi639]

I’m from Idaho and I agree with your comment. I was looking forward to hearing what he said, to see if he got it right.

[@BareRoseGarage]

Just seen your comment and I too am from the great state of Idaho! I'm right next to the Sho-Ban Reservation and have many friends from the tribe, and the comment I just left on where the word "Idaho" came from is from what they've long said about it. I remember back in the late 70's and early 80's stopping into the Ft. Hall Trading Post and buying those T-Shirts that said "Eye-eEe-Dah-How, not your idaahe` and never quite understanding what the heck it meant until much later when I asked the right people about it.

[@EmrahUncu]

The information here is great as always but as someone dabble in video editing, the editing of the video is superb.

[@RobWords]

Thank you. I'm slowly improving.

[@gilmotier]

@@RobWordsYou do your own editing? You’re incredible! ❤

[@vaguelyspecific9955]

Great video! Thanks! Never heard these explanations anywhere else

[@user-yh8ik3xw8s]

Thank you sooooo much RobWords. Have been watching and listening to your videos, with great interest. Love History/Geography/Etymology which you fulfill my every question. Surely, you were/are a professor somewhere. Thanks again. Good evening.

[@donavin51]

Wonderful explanations! Thank you!

[@tammygross144]

Thanks from sunny Florida for remembering your American pals! That was fun &, as ever, informative.

[@christopherhenry8061]

Very cool of you to take the time.. 😌 Thank You 🙏🏽

[@heffo67]

Brilliant video Rob, really interesting. 👍👍👍

[@Nihilism4U]

I am very much enjoying this channel. Its a great mix of things I already knew and new interesting things I didn't. One of the more informative and intelligent subscriptions I have found on KZbin.

[@timcooper4699]

Colorado the river was initially named the Grand river, hence Grand Canyon and Grand Junction. The Colorado River did not go through the eponymous state. In earlier nomenclature, the Colorado River began at its confluence with the Green River. Above the confluence, Colorado was called the Grand River. July 25th, 1921, Congress passed House Joint Resolution 460, which officially changed the name of the Grand River to the Colorado River to appease the Coloradans.

[@RobWords]

Excellent knowledge. I spotted Grand River on a few old maps.

[@jfdavis668]

Came here to explain the same thing. When Colorado was named, they didn't even know the river was there. Colorado Territory was named after Old Colorado City, which was named after the red rocks in the area. Garden of the Gods being the best example. The river was named Colorado in California, since it is red when full of silt. It starts in Grand Lake, largest lake in the state, and was named the Grand River. Hence Grand Junction Colorado and Grand Canyon. Only later did they figure out it was the same river as the Colorado.

[@shawns242]

Yes, the real Colorado River is in the Austin, Texas area... that other one to the west is an imposter!

[@ellingtongriffin5521]

I grew up in Grand Junction! Wild to see it here ❤

[@gerardodwyer5908]

Insightful, informative and very interesting.

[@obscurazone]

This was so wonderfully fascinating and put together! Rivetting, thanks :) I'm from York, and now live in Amsterdam...so the New Amsterdam into New York always makes me smile. Bookends.

[@Astrobrant2]

Very enjoyable, very informative. Thank you.

[@jovetj]

Really interesting (and, of course, well done!) video, Rob! 🤗

[@topherthe11th23]

20:28 - The "green mountain" etymology for Vermont ("vert mont") is supported by the fact that the mili'tary force led by Ethan Allen (not the furniture company) was named "Green Mountain Boys". So at least THEY believed the etymology, whether it was the correct explanation of the origin or not.

[@caryheuchert]

Fascinating. Great work!!!

[@Hongaars1969]

Brilliant presentation thank you

[@srilankarelaxation5889]

I always delight when I see you’ve uploaded another robwords

[@Paco-nq5yz]

J’adore ça, tellement bien raconté! Merci pour le partage! Vert Mont is a poetic way to say Mont Vert… u’ve got the same in « verts pâturages »

[@RobWords]

Oh really! So it can be that way round. Thanks.

[@AndreaAvila78]

La même chose en Espagnol : los verdes prados (suena más poético)

[@Hepad_]

C'est assez courant, quand on nomme un lieu, en fait. Tout le monde dit "la Grand Place", par exemple.

[@Paco-nq5yz]

@@AndreaAvila78 así es

[@UncleMilosSideshow]

I went to college in Oregon. On of the classes I took was on the natural history, modern history, geography, demographics and industries of the state. The hypothesis stated by my professor was that it was related to old French maps and how they were drawn. Before the middle of the continent was mapped in the 1800s there were just lines drawn westward for territories that are now in the mid west. As Europeans moved westward and defined territories and mapped the area those lines would be chopped of and territories formed (hence the rather square shapes of the western states.) the name on some of these French maps for Wisconsin was “ouaricon” and that the name migrated west as the territories were formed. Several maps were able to be found that support this idea.

[@jvl4832]

Rob, you never fail to fascinate. Particularly interesting was the root of Virginia, in reference to the virgin Queen, Elisabeth the first and New Mexico, being named before Mexico . Thoroughly enjoyable!

[@XD9scCC]

Wonderful work, Rob. This is definitely in the top 10 videos that I have ever watched on KZbin. Absolutely wonderful way to spend 20 minutes.

[@octaviatheappalled912]

I love this one, Rob. BTW, thanks for pronouncing Oregon properly.

[@danjsy]

Very interesting thanks, lots of work !

[@lajoyeusetroupe]

20:45 as a frenchie who studied languages and love poetry : it isn't weird to write "Vert Mont". Adjectives are not necessarily put after the names in french. This sounds more like an old way to talk, or a way of making it look more "poetic".

[@leighnbrasington]

I've seen several videos on the origins of the state names. Yours is my far the most comprehensive. Excellent, just like all your videos.

[@andrewwadage]

Fascinating. Thank you so much.

[@josephmak0865]

Excellent information and presentation

[@joeypitts140]

Great work. I appreciate what you're doing.

[@alsecen5674]

Love your channel! I always learn something. Thank you!

[@KirstyandCaleb]

Love all your videos! Can you do Canadian provinces and territories next?

[@RolandoAltoIVvlogs]

I liked how you seque to TYPE AI. To promote it. Very effective. Great job. Kudos to all the info. We appreciate it.

[@uisblackcat]

I was hoping you'd discuss the recent change in Rhode Island's name, because prior to 2021, it was "Rhode Island & Providence Plantations."

[@PygKLB]

The smallest state with the longest name!

[@garylancaster8612]

That sounds much cooler

[@sandeegrey5977]

Strange name change because "Plantations" at least in that context had nohting to do with of what we would call "slave plantations" today

[@GleeAllmighty]

Stellar work as always, Rob! Speaking of things you can’t unsee - Montana might be whispering to Idaho, but what about the giant chef (Minnesota hat, Iowa head, Missouri belly, Arkansas pants, Luisiana boots) holding a Tennessee pan and frying some Kentucky chicken. Try and unsee THAT. :D

[@peztopher7297]

😄

[@sakr-el-bahr272]

And Florida is a handgun! How appropriate.

[@evanseifert8858]

AKA Mimal

[@sandyjay276]

I've seen the chef, but not the frying pan, 😂😂😂

[@SimonASNG]

Criminally undersubscribed ;) Best of luck to you and your channel.

[@lorenfaibisch4842]

You are delight. So much fun to learn these names.

[@tomburns7544]

So interesting! I never knew about that silent "C" in Connecticut until I saw this. I am so glad I stumbled across your channel recently while meandering around KZbin! Thank you!

[@ChadGardenSinLA]

I really enjoyed this catagorical presentation format. At first I was confused why you weren't going by sequential admittance to the Union. Great video! Thanks.

[@dimitar297]

Everything was accurate except the part on Wisconsin which was named after a type of fish preparation.

[@caseymcadams5483]

Great video. Thanks for sharing

[@maxwellfujs6124]

Thanks for this video, fascinating learning about the names in my homeland. I was never taught this in school.

[@amherst88]

Appreciate all the work you do to give us such a one-of-a-kind education every week ❤

[@ronboff3461]

excellent presentation sir!

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

As usual, I found this quite an informative video! I knew about some of these names (New York from the Duke of York, and York from _Eboracum;_ California, my home state, from a novel; and Delaware from the Lord de la Warre), but I didn't know about many of these names! Also, I found the joke about the "separation" of Charles I to be grimly funny! Speaking of Charles, I have also learned about the army that Henrietta Maria raised on behalf of Charles. Thanks for the video!

[@rexmyers991]

You are a (very large) fountain of knowledge and you express this with ease. Thank you for your efforts.

[@ShitterMcGavin]

This is SO AWESOME! I love learning the meanings and reasons behind today's name for EVERYTHING. Thank you for doing this! Great vid! ❤❤

[@tonyzed6831]

Hi!! French guy here. Vert Mont does sound ok for old french language, the adjective was sometimes placed before the noun in certain occurences.

[@mawawiba2772]

This channel is 99.99% perfect for my brain that’s being fed with pure organic ethymology

[@DerekTJ]

So well researched!

[@mreverly]

i have to pause these videos quite a lot... a lot of information to soak in and quite to think about.

[@stoneynine]

im not sure if you did it already but maybe a video on the origins of slurs and curse words

[@willohnoitsme5702]

that one might be difficult to get around youtube's censors haha

[@dattebenforcer]

@@willohnoitsme5702 I think either Lindybeiger or Shadiversity did a video on medieval curses and swears. Quite interesting.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

Hey, this is a valid area of linguistics and anthropology! There's even a scholarly journal called Maledicta.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

@stoneynine, it’s weird how a large portion of society is non-religious, but yet a good deal of slurs and swear words reference someone being unclean.

[@dattebenforcer]

@@keithtorgersen9664 Well that's just it, in medieval times, when people were much more religious, cursing meant actually uttering a curse against someone, and swearing an oath meant actually swearing an oath, like "by the devil i swear you will be cursed to damnation", really serious stuff back then.

[@bdizzle1118]

Very interesting! I love your channel :)

[@Seahorse1414]

I really enjoy these videos, we all learn so much !

[@alyciab7417]

Very interesting; thanks Rob!