Every State With a Native American Name

Massachusetts is named after the Massachusett tribe. Their name is a Wampanoag word that translates to “by the range of hills” and refers to the Blue Hills outside of Boston.

Michigan comes from the Ojibwe name for Lake Michigan, misshikama, which translates to “great lake.”

Minnesota is derived from the Dakota Sioux name for the Minnesota River, mnisota, which means “cloudy water.”

Named after the Mississippi River, Mississippi is a derivation of the Ojibwe name for the river, misiziibi, which means “great river.” The Ojibwe weren’t native to what is now Mississippi but rather to the area around the river’s headwaters in what is now Minnesota.

Missouri is named after the Missouri people, a southern Siouan tribe. Their name is derived from the Algonquin word ouemessourita, which means “wooden canoe people.”