Place Name Explanations, Essay Example

American cities gain their names from a wide variety of sources. Among the most significant are cities named by Europeans after various people and places in Europe. Also, cities sometimes take on the names of people and places that have religious significance. And finally, many cities in the U.S. still maintain the names given them, or the area in which they are located, by Native Americans.

U.S. Cities Named After Religious Figures or Places

The city of Bethlehem, PA was founded by a religious group called the Moravians in 1741. They settled on the banks of the Monocacy River in northeastern Pennsylvania. The first settlers lived in a small building with only two rooms. Along with the settlers themselves, they also had some animals living in the building. This recalled the Manger from the story of Christ’s birth, and they decided to name their new home “Bethlehem.” [1]

The city of St. Louis, Missouri was settled by the French in the late 1700s at “the junction of the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.” It started as a trading post founded by Pierre Laclede.[2] Like many of the cities in the area, it was given a French name. Saint Louis was once the King of France, and he was the only French king to have been made a saint. In this case, while the city is named after a religious figure, it was not actually settled by a religious order.[3]

The area of California where the city of San Francisco now resides was originally established by Spanish settlers in the 1700s. Among the explorers from Spain were missionaries of various orders who established missions all over California with the intention of converting the area’s native inhabitants to Catholicism. In the case of San Francisco, a Franciscan monk named Francisco Palou established the Mission San Francisco de Asis, in honor of his order’s namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi. Over time, many of these missions had cities grow up around them; these cities often took their names from the missions, such as San Diego and San Francisco.[4]

U.S. Cities Named After European People or Places

In 1606, a group of British colonists settled the city of Jamestown, VA. The city was named after King James, who had funded their expedition. The site of the city was near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, along the banks of the James River. The area was originally inhabited by the Algonquin Native Americans, who often fought with the settlers. The city almost didn’t survive the first winter, due to famine, disease, and the Algonquins.[5]

In the 1600s, the first European settlers arrived in what is now the state of Indiana. At the time, the area was heavily populated by the Miami tribe of Native Americans, though by the 1800s, most of the natives had been wiped out by war and disease. In 1836, the county of Kosciusko was established in Indiana. It was named by one of the county’s first official residents, John B. Chapman. Chapman christened the county in honor of a Polish soldier, Tadeusz Kosciusko, who had emigrated from Poland to America and fought alongside George Washington in the Revolutionary War. In keeping with the connection to Kosciusko, the county seat was named Warsaw in honor of the capital of Poland.[6]

In 1778, King Louis XVI of France had offered financial assistance to some of the early U.S. colonies. In 1780, a settlement in Virginia was named Louisville in his honor. When Kentucky was granted statehood in 1797, the settlement became part of Kentucky.[7]

U.S. Cities with Native America Names

The city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin began as a collection of settlements founded by French and French Canadian trappers and hunters. The area was originally populated by various Native American tribes. The name of the city itself is believed to have been derived from a word from the Potowatomi tribe. The word “mahn-a-wauk” means “council grounds,” and the area was a meeting place for various tribes.[8] Following is a passage from the website “Milwaukee History”:

“The first written mention of a word closely resembling Milwaukee was recorded in 1761. A British officer stationed in Green Bay, Lt. James Gorrell, transcribed the name of the area as Milwacky. A traveling companion of the French explorer LaSalle, Father Zenobe Membre, wrote in 1697 of a river called Mellioke.” 8

So it appears that the name “Milwaukee” could be a combination of a few different Native American words, such as “mahn-a-wauk” and “mellioke.” It is difficult to say for certain, as these are English translations of Native American words.

Tallahassee, Florida was established in an area populated by the Apalachee Native Americans. The name means “land of old fields,” which makes sense, as the Natives were “agricultural,” meaning they planted and harvested crops. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived, but by the 1800s, the Spanish had given up the area to the U.S.[9]

Tallahassee was selected as the site of the territory’s central government because it was located roughly between the Florida cities of Pensacola and St. Augustine. When Florida became a state in 1845, Tallahassee became the state capitol. 9

The city of Chicago has an interesting name. Both the Illinois and the Miami tribes lived in the area, and they referred to the area that is now known as Chicago by the Native word chicagoua, which is the name of a local plant called a “wild onion” or “wild garlic.” The origin of the name was documented by a French Canadian explorer named Henri Joutel. He studied the languages of the local Native American inhabitants, as well as the animal and plant life found in the area. In his memoirs, he wrote down many words the natives used to describe this plant and animal life. The word chicagoua was used to describe several different plants found in the area.[10]

Because the area that would eventually become Chicago was in the center o several major trade routes, it makes sense that Joutel would pay attention to the local resources.  In some other written references to the word chicagoua, it was spelled with the letter “a” on the end. In Joutel’s memoirs, he dropped the letter “a,” and referred to the area as Chicagou, which is obviously very close to the way it is spelled now. 10
The history of U.S. cities, and how they got their names, is an interesting area of study. There are many more U.S. cities named after religious figures and places, and many that have their origin in European cities and places. And, of course, there are many more that have their roots in Native American words. These have been just a very few of the many hundreds of interestingly-named U.S. cities.

Bibliography

A Brief History of Milwaukee and City Hall (online) available from http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/TheHistoryofMilwauke  1 June 2010

Casey, Chris St. Louis History 2010 (online) Available from http://www.stlouis.com/history  1 June 2010

History of Bethlehem (online) available from <http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/about/history/index.htm>  1 June 2010

History of Jamestown (online) available from http://www.preservationvirginia.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=6  1 June 2010

King Louis XVI of France 2009 (online) available from http://www.louisville.cc/people/louis-xvi.html  1 June 2010

Knight, Kevin St. Louis IX 2009 (online) Available from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09368a.htm  1 June 2010

National Register of Historic Places for Tallahassee, Florida (online) available from http://www.hellotallahassee.com/History.Cfm 1 June 2010

Soulé, Frank; Gihon, John H., M.D.; and Nisbet, James The Annals of San Francisco 1855 (online) Available from http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hbann1-3.htm  1 June 2010

Swenson, John F. Chicagoua/Chicago: The Origin, Meaning, and Etymology of a Place Name 1991 (online) available from http://www.dig.lib.niu.edu?ISHS/ishs-1991winter235.pdf  1 June 2010

“What’s the history behind the name?.” Kosciusko County Visitor’s Bureau. N.p., 2010. Web. 10 Jun 2010. <http://www.koscvb.org/UniquelyKosciusko/History/tabid/112/Default.aspx>.

[1] History of Bethlehem (online)

available from http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/about/history/index.htm  1 June 2010

[2] Chris Casey, St. Louis History 2010 (online) Available from http://www.stlouis.com/history  1 June 2010

[3] Kevin Knight St. Louis IX 2009 (online) Available from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09368a.htm  1 June 2010

[4] Frank Soulé, John H. Gihon, M.D., and James Nisbet The Annals of San Francisco 1855 (online) Available from http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hbann1-3.htm  1 June 2010

[5] History of Jamestown (online) available from http://www.preservationvirginia.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=6  1 June 2010

[6] “What’s the history behind the name?.” Kosciusko County Visitor’s Bureau. N.p., 2010. Web. 10 Jun 2010. <http://www.koscvb.org/UniquelyKosciusko/History/tabid/112/Default.aspx>.

[7] King Louis XVI of France 2009 (online) available from http://www.louisville.cc/people/louis-xvi.html  1 June 2010

[8] A Brief History of Milwaukee and City Hall (online) available from http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/TheHistoryofMilwauke  1 June 2010

[9] National Register of Historic Places for Tallahassee, Florida (online) available from http://www.hellotallahassee.com/History.Cfm 1 June 2010

[10] John F. Swenson Chicagoua/Chicago: The Origin, Meaning, and  Etymology aPlace Name 1991 (online) available from http://www.dig.lib.niu.edu?ISHS/ishs-1991winter235.pdf  1 June 2010