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List of Indiana placenames of Native American origin

Many places throughout the state of Indiana take their names from Native American indigenous languages. This list includes rivers, lakes, counties, townships and towns. Some of the names have been anglicized, while others have been translated into English or French.

The primary Native American languages in Indiana are Miami-Illinois and Potawatomi; the largest number of place names on this list are from these two languages. Some place names are derived from other native languages, such as Kickapoo, Shawnee, and the Delaware languages Munsee and Unami. These are all Algonquian languages.

This list also includes names of ultimate Native American origin even if they were not used by Native Americans as place names in Indiana, such as Osceola and Wanatah, which were named by white settlers in honor of Seminole and Dakota leaders respectively.

The name of Indiana means 'land of the Indians' or "Indian Land."

Indigenous Tribes of Indiana

  • Miami
  • Wea - The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking people.
  • Piankeshaw - The Piankeshaw, Piankashaw or Pianguichia Peoples are members of the Miami Indians.
  • Potawatomi - The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé.
  • Kickapoo - The Kickapoo People (Kickapoo: Kiikaapoa or Kiikaapoi) are an Algonquian-speaking people.
  • Mascouten
  • Shawnee, post 1794
  • Delaware, post 1818

Places

A

B

  • Baugo is a shortening of "Baubaugo", which is claimed by some local historians to be a Potawatomi word meaning "devil" or "devil river", referring to the intensity of its floods.
  • Baugo Creek, in Elkhart County
  • Baugo Township, Elkhart County, Indiana

C

D

E

F

  • Fish Lake, Indiana - translated from ("at the buffalo fish"), probably via French ("buffalo fish lake").

H

I

K

  • Kankakee River - From a Miami-Illinois word teeyaahkiki, meaning: "Open country/exposed land/land in open/land exposed to view", in reference to the area's prior status as a marsh.
  • Kewanna - Named for Kee-Wau-Nay, a Potawatomi chief. The name means "prairie chicken", and in modern Potawatomi is written .
  • Kokomo - Probably borrowed from the Miami-Illinois personal name ("bear chief").
  • Kokomo, Indiana
  • Indiana University Kokomo

M

  • The Maumee River, historically also known as the "Miami" in United States treaties with Native Americans, is an anglicized spelling of the Ottawa or Odawa name for the Miami people, . An Odawa village was located near the mouth of the Maumee in present-day Ohio. The Miami in their turn called the river the "Odawa river" .
  • Lake Maxinkuckee is from the Miami-Illinois term ("it is big-stone country"). The Potawatomi version of the name was recorded by Jacob Piatt Dunn as , which appears to be a borrowing from Miami-Illinois, as it does not correspond to any known Potawatomi words.
  • Metea is named for the Potawatomi warrior and leader Metea (1778–1827), whose name in Potawatomi means "to sulk".
  • Miami - named for the Miami, a Native American people, many of whom still live in this area.
  • Miami County, Indiana
  • Great Miami River
  • Michigan, borrowed via French from names meaning "great water" in one or more Algonquian languages, likely with particularly heavy influence from Old Potawatomi .
  • Lake Michigan
  • Michigan Road
  • Michigan City, Indiana
  • Mississinewa River - from the Miami-Illinois name for this river, ("it lies on an incline").
  • Mishawaka - from Potawatomi and Miami-Illinois placenames meaning "firewood-tree land", referring to the large number of standing dead trees in the area.
  • Mongo - shortened from Mongoquinong, representing ("in the loon land"), which was the name of one of the Miami signatories of the 1840 Treaty of the Wabash.
  • Monon first landed on the map as the name of Big Monon Creek, a tributary of the Tippecanoe River. The creek's name is also recorded in early 19th-century sources as Metamonoung and Old Woman's River. The name may derive from the Old Potawatomi term ("at the corn", modern Potawatomi ), which may have been a Potawatomi re-analysis of the Kickapoo place name ("at the old woman's place"). The Kickapoo lived in the area near the creek in the 18th century.
  • Monon Bell
  • Monon, Indiana
  • Monon Township, White County, Indiana
  • The Monon Railroad was named based on an incorrect belief that "monong" was a Potawatomi word meaning "swift running" or "carry".
  • Monon Trail
  • Muncie, originally Munsee Town, from the name of the Munsee Delaware people, originally from Munsee .

N

O

P

  • Patoka River is likely from the Miami-Illinois word , "Comanche", which appears as a personal name in some historical records. It may also be from the Munsee ("it thunders"), referring to the noisy waterfall at Jasper, Indiana.
  • Pottawattamie Park, Indiana is named for the Potawatomi, who occupied this area when it was settled.

S

T

V

W

Y

  • Yellow River (Indiana) - translation of Miami-Illinois ("yellow river") or Potawatomi ("at the yellow water").

See also

References