The United States was founded over 200 years ago. With such history, it brings many questions. One of them being, how did the states even get their names? I’ll be going over some of the most interesting stories in this article.
California inherited it’s name from a Spanish romance named “Las Sergas de Esplandián” by Montalvo. There was a fictional mythical island in the romance named California.
Georgia was named after King George II of England. He also was the one to name it.
Washington was supposed to named the Territory of Columbia. Although, there was already a District of Columbia; so it was named after George Washington.
New York originally was named “New Netherlands” but changed in 1664 after being taken over by the English. It was named to honor the Duke of York.
Pennsylvania is the only state to be named after its founder, William Penn. He wanted the name to be Sylvania for the abundant forests.
Illinois comes from the Illini Indian word meaning “men” or “warriors” with an added french adjective (ois) at the end.
Alabama’s name comes from the Indian tribe of the Creek Confederacy called “Alabamas” or “Alibamons“. They named a river Alabama, and that’s where the name derived.
If you would like to read on how more states got their names, you can read this article.
