List of Minnesota placenames of Native American origin

The following list includes settlements, geographic features, and political subdivisions of Minnesota whose names are derived from Native American languages or are popularly known by a Native-language name.

Placename linguistic origins

The primary Native languages in Minnesota are Dakota and Ojibwe. Some Dakota and Ojibwe placenames are based on Iowa language, a people that had significant presence in the Southern portion of the state until the 16th century.

Many Minnesota placenames are translations or mistranslations, mispronunciations, or Romanized transcriptions of Native placenames and descriptions. Dakota, Ojibwe, and Iowa people had no written language at the time these names were popularly adopted.

One of the most common mispronunciations is that of the Dakota-language consonant "b", which is a combination of "m" and "b" consonants in English. In English there is no equivalent. Placenames were often recorded verbally and textually by European colonizers with the English consonant "m" in place of the Dakota consonant "b". In modern Dakota language, "b" is typically the correct consonant for words such as , whose deprecated form in the historical record is . Cities such as Mendota, Minnesota take their name from with the European colonizer mispronunciation of the Dakota "b" consonant.

State name

• Minnesota – from the Dakota name for their homeland : Where the Water Reflects the Sky.

Native names by county

• Anoka County – named for the city of Anoka
• City of Anoka – Dakota for "the other side" or "both sides" for the city being on both sides of Rum River. Possibly also from Ojibwe meaning "I work", referring to local logging sites.
• Big Stone County – English translation of the Dakota name for Big Stone Lake : "very big stone"
• Blue Earth County – English translation of the Sisseton Dakota name for the Blue Earth River : "the river where blue earth is gathered"
• City of Blue Earth
• Chippewa County – named for the Chippewa River, which takes its name from the Chippewa people, known in modern times as Ojibwe
• Chisago County – named for Chisago Lake, from Ojibwe "large" and "beautiful"
• Clearwater County – named for the Clearwater River. Clearwater is an English translation of the Ojibwe name for the river : "clearwater".
• Cottonwood County – named for the Cottonwood River, which takes its name from an English translation of the Dakota name : "cottonwood"
• Crow Wing County – named for the Crow Wing River, which takes its name from an English translation of the Ojibwe name : "Raven Feather River"
• Dakota County – named for the Dakota people
• Isanti County – named for the Santee Dakota
• Shared with the city of Isanti
• Kanabec County – from Ojibwe "snake", for the nearby Snake River
• Kandiyohi County – from Dakota "buffalo fish" and "arrive in": "where the buffalo fish come"
• Shared with the city of Kandiyohi
• Koochiching County – from Cree or Ojibwe : "At the inlet"
• Lac qui Parle County – named for Lac qui Parle Lake, which takes its name from the French translation for the Dakota name : "lake that speaks"
• Mahnomen County – from Ojibwe : wild rice
• Shared with the city of Mahnomen
• Otter Tail County – named for Otter Tail Lake and Otter Tail River, which take their names from an English translation of the Ojibwe name : "Otter Tail"
• Red Lake County – named for the Red Lake River, which takes its name from the English translation of the Ojibwe name referring to red sunsets reflecting off the lake
• Redwood County – named for the Redwood River, which takes its name from the Dakota name for the river : red wood
• Rock County – named for a prominent outcropping of rock noted by the Dakota and named : River of the Rock
• Traverse County – named for Lake Traverse, originally called in French, a translation of the Dakota name for the lake : "lake lying crosswise"
• Wabasha County – for the city of Wabasha, which takes its name from a line of Dakota leaders (probably specifically Wapasha II)
• Shared with the city of Wabasha
• Wadena County – from Ojibwe for "little round hill"
• Shared with the city of Wadena
• Waseca County – from Dakota : rich or fertile (as of soil)
• Shared with the city of Waseca
• Watonwan County – from Dakota : "where fish bait abounds"
• Winona County – for Dakota Chief Wapasha III's cousin Winona
• Shared with the city of Winona
• Yellow Medicine County – English translation of the Dakota name for the Yellow Medicine River : "yellow medicine" or "yellow plant root"

Native names by municipality

• Ah-gwah-ching – from Ojibwe : outdoors
• Bejou – from Ojibwe : bobcat or lynx
• Bemidji – from Ojibwe : "Traversing lake"
• Lake Bemidji
• Bena – from Ojibwe : grouse or partridge
• Chanhassen – Dakota for "sugar maple"
• Chaska – named for the founding business Shaska Company, which takes its name from the given name for a first born son in Dakota
• Chengwatana – from Ojibwe : "Pine-town"
• Chokio – from Dakota or Sioux word for "the middle"
• Cohasset – named after Cohasset, Massachusetts, from the Massachusett word "Conahasset," possibly meaning "long rocky place" or "fishing promontory."
• Cokato – named after a Siouan word meaning "amid"
• Endion – from Ojibwe : "where I live"
• Eyota – from the Dakota , meaning "greatest" or "most"
• Hackensack
• Hanska
• Hokah
• Kabetogama – from Ojibwe : "Place of paralleling water-body"
• Kanaranzi
• Kasota
• Keewatin – from Ojibwe : North
• Keewaydin, Minneapolis – from Ojibwe : North
• Mahtomedi
• Mahtowa
• Mankato – named for the Blue Earth River, called by the Dakota: "the river where blue earth is gathered"
• Menahga
• Mendota – mispronunciation of Dakota , the confluence of the Minnesota River and Mississippi River, which is the Dakota religious center of the universe
• Mendota Heights
• Minneapolis – from Dakota () and the Greek language suffix (city)
• Minnehaha
• Minnehaha Creek
• Minnehaha Falls
• Minneiska
• Minneola
• Minnetonka
• Muskoda
• Nashwauk
• Nokomis – from Ojibwe : "my grandmother"
• Nokomis East
• Nisswa
• Ogema Township – from Ojibwe : chief or leader
• City of Ogema
• Okabena
• Onamia
• Otsego
• Ottawa
• Owanka
• Owatonna
• Pequot Lakes
• Pokegama – from Ojibwe : "Side Lake"
• Puposky
• Red Wing – for the village of Dakota chief Tatanka Mani (), known as Red Wing for the red-dyed swan wing carried as part of his standard
• Saco
• Saginaw
• Sebeka
• Shakopee – from Dakota : "Six"
• Squaw Lake
• Wabasso
• Waconia
• Wahkon
• Wakemup
• Wannaska
• Wasioja
• Waubun – from Ojibwe : dawn or East
• Waukenabo
• Wawina
• Wayzata
• Wenonah
• Winona
• Yucatan

Bodies of water

• Bde Maka Ska – Dakota for "Lake White Earth". The lake was dubbed "Lake Calhoun" by European colonizers. The original name is likely a Dakota translation of the placename given by the Iowa people who inhabited the area until the 16th century. Early settlers and maps call it "Lake Medoza" after another Dakota name for the lake: .
• Big Stone Lake
• Blue Earth River
• Chippewa River
• Chisago Lake
• Clearwater River
• Cottonwood River
• Coldwater Spring – translation of the Dakota name :
• Crow Wing River
• Lake Esquagama
• Esquagamah Lake – from Ojibwe "last lake"
• Inguadona Lake
• Lake Kabetogama
• Kawishiwi River
• Kitchi Lake
• Minnehaha Falls – from the Dakota name : . A common legend mistranslates as "laughing waters" due to the similarity to the English onomatopoeia "haha" for laughter.
• Minnesota River – from the Dakota name :
• Mississippi River – mispronunciation of the Ojibwe name :
• Nemadji River
• Lake Ogechie
• Ogishke Muncie Lake
• Otter Tail Lake
• Otter Tail River
• Pokegama Lake
• Red Lake River
• Redwood River
• Lake Saganaga
• Sauk River
• Snake River (Elk River), Minnesota
• Snake River (Isabella River tributary), Minnesota
• Snake River (Red River of the North tributary), Minnesota
• Snake River (St. Croix River tributary), Minnesota
• Lake Traverse
• Lac qui Parle
• Lake Shakopee – from Dakota : "Six"
• Lake Sisabagama
• Siseebakwet Lake
• Us-kab-wan-ka River
• Watab River
• Lake Winnibigoshish
• Yellow Medicine River

Landforms

• Bdóte – , the Northern tip of Pike Island and the surrounding area, known to the Dakota as the center of the universe and start of all life
• Cayuga Range
• Kaposia Landing – location of the former (Little Crow's Village)
• Mesabi Range

See also

• Bdóte
• Dakota language
• Ojibwe language
• Siouan languages
• List of place names in the United States of Native American origin

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading