List of place names in Nebraska of Native American origin
It has been suggested that this article be merged with List of place names of Native American origin in Nebraska. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2013. |
This is a list of Native American place names in the U.S. state of Nebraska. These include state, county, townships, cities, towns, and villages.
State
- Nebraska - The name of the state is derived from an Omaha name meaning "flat water." In the Omaha language the name is Nibthaska; ni, water, and bthaska, flat.
Counties
- Red Willow - From the Dakota name "Caŋṡaṡa Wakpala", which literally means Red Osier Dogwood Creek; this shrub being abundant along its banks.
- Cheyenne
- Dakota
- Loup - Named for the Skidi Pawnee, whose name means "wolf", which in French is loup.
- Nemaha
- Otoe
- Pawnee
- Sioux
- Keya Paha - Means "turtle hill", is descriptive of the small hills in its vicinity.
Villages, towns and cities
- Anoka - A Dakota Indian word meaning "on both sides."
- Arapahoe
- Birdwood - A translation of the Dakota name Ziŋtka-c̣aŋ Wakpala (False Indigo Creek) for the because False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa), which in Dakota is literally called "birdwood", commonly grows along the stream.
- Battle Creek - Named after a nearby stream where Nebraska volunteer militiamen were prepared to fight a battle against the Pawnee Indians that never happened.
- Barada - Named after Antoine Barada, a French-Omaha settler on the Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation.
- Blackbird - Blackbird is the English translation of the name Wash-ing-guhsah-ba, or Chief Blackbird of the Omahas who lived and died in the vicinity.
- Brule - Named after the Brule tribe of the Teton Sioux.
- Fontenelle
- Hyannis - Named after Hyannis, Massachusetts, which was named after Iyannough, a sachem of the Cummaquid tribe.[1]
- Leshara
- Lodgepole - Named after a nearby creek that is named after a literal translation of the Dakota name, Tushu Wakpala.
- Mankota - Mankota is from the Dakota Indian word Maḳaṭo, meaning "blue earth". Named for Mankato, Minnesota.
- Minatare
- Monowi - Meaning "flower", this town was so named because there were so many wild flowers growing in the vicinity.
- Nehawka - An approximation to the Omaha and Otoe Indian name of a nearby creek.
- Nemaha
- Niobrara - The Omaha and Ponca word for spreading water or spreading river.
- Oconee - Named for Oconee, Illinois. Oconee was the name of a Creek town.
- Oconto - A Menominee word meaning the "place of the pickerel." Named for Oconto, Wisconsin.
- Ogallala - named for the Oglala people.
- Omaha
- Osceola
- Leshara. Named after Petalesharo, a Pawnee chief.
- Pohocco - A precinct in the northeastern part of Saunders county, the name derives from Pahuk, meaning headland or promontory, the Pawnee name of a prominent hill in the vicinity.
- Ponca
- Red Cloud
- Rosalie - Named for Rosalie La Flesche, a daughter of Omaha chief Joseph La Flesche.[2]
- Santee
- Sioux
- St. Deroin - A ghost town on the former Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation founded by a French-Omaha settler who was killed near his trading post along the Missouri River.
- Tecumseh
- Tekamah - Located on the site of a historic Pawnee village, the surrounding hills were used for burying grounds and the highest point was used as a fire signal station. The origin of the name is not definitely known.
- Tonawanda - Named for Tonawanda, New York.
- Unidilla - An Iroquois word meaning "place of meeting." Named after Unadilla, New York.
- Venango - An eastern Native American name in reference to a figure found on a tree, carved by the Erie.
- Waco - Named after Waco, Texas, which is the name of one of the divisions of the Tawokoni whose village stood on the site of Waco, Texas.
- Wahoo
- Weeping Water is a translation of the French "L'Eau qui Pleure", and has an interesting Native American legend connected with its name.
- Winnebago
- Wyoming - Derived from a corrupted Delaware word meaning "large plains" or "extensive meadows."
- Yutan - Named for an Otoe chief.
See also
References
- ^ "Profile for Hyannis, Massachusetts". ePodunk. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder A.M. (1925) Nebraska Place-Names. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism. p 140.
Bibliography
- Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder A.M. (1925) Nebraska Place-Names. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism. p 140.
- Fontenelle, Henry. (1885) Indian Names of Streams and Localities. Translations and reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society, vol. 1, p. 76, 1885.
- Gilmore, Melvin R. (1919) Some Indian Place Names in Nebraska. Nebraska State Historical Society, vol. 19, pp. 130-139.