The following list includes settlements, geographic features, and political subdivisions of Wisconsin whose names are derived from Native American languages.
Listings
Counties
Settlements
- Algoma
- Altoona
- Amnicon Falls
- Aniwa
- Antigo
- Arkansaw
- Ashippun
- Ashwaubenon
- Astico
- Aztalan
- Baraboo
- Carcajou
- Catawba
- Chetek
- Chenequa
- Chicago Junction
- Chippecotton, modern-day Racine (so-named Chippecotton or Kipiwaki, meaning "root"; Racine is French for "root")
- Coloma
- Couderay
- Dakota
- Horicon
- Huron
- Iola
- Kaukauna (named for early French settler pronunciation "Kakalin," and later Grand Kakalin, bastardized either from Menomonee Ogag-kane or O-gau-gau-ning, meaning "the place where fish stop" due to the massive amounts of fish they found where the river fell 52 feet beneath the falls. Because of the forceful rushing rapids, travelers were forced to carry their canoes around it)
- Kegonsa
- Kekoskee
- Keshena
- Kewaskum
- Kinnickinnic
- Koshkonong
- Koshkonong Mounds
- Lake Koshkonong
- Lake Nebagamon
- Lake Wisconsin
- Lake Wissota
- Manawa
- Manitowish Waters
- Mazomanie
- Menasha (from a Menominee phrase meaning "thorn in the island")
- Menomonee Falls
- Menomonie
- Mequon
- Merrimac
- Minnesota Junction (from Anishinaabe, meaning "azure waters")
- Minocqua
- Misha Mokwa (from Anishinaabe, meaning "great bear")
- Mishicot
- Monona
- Moquah
- Mosinee
- Mukwonago (from Potowatomi, meaning "a ladle/bend in the stream")
- Muscoda
- Muskego
- Nashotah
- Niagara
- Necedah
- Neda
- Neenah (from Winnebago Neenah, meaning "running water")
- Nekoosa
- Neopit
- Neosho
- Neshkoro
- Oconomowoc (from Potowatomi, meaning "waterfall")
- Oconto
- Oconto Falls
- Odanah
- Ogema
- Okauchee Lake
- Onalaska
- Ono
- Ontario
- Oshkosh â Menominee Chief Oshkosh, whose name meant "claw" (cf. Ojibwe oshkanzh, "the claw").
- Osseo
- Otsego
- Penokee
- Peshtigo
- Pewaukee
- Pokegama
- Potosi
- Poy Sippi
- Poynette
- Requa
- Shawano
- Sheboygan (of obscure but likely Algonquian origins, it may derive from Shawb-wa-way-kum, meaning either "thundering under the ground" or "path between the lakes"; bastardized through French Cheboigan)
- Sheboygan Falls
- Sioux
- Suamico
- Tamarack
- Taycheedah
- Tichigan
- Tomahawk
- Viroqua
- Wabeno
- Waubeka
- Waucousta
- Waukesha (originally known by local tribes as Tshee-gas-cou-tak, meaning "burnt, fire-land", possibly later derived from Ojibwe Wagosh meaning "fox", or alternatively from a Chief "Leatherstrap" or "Wau-tsha", met by the early white settler Morris Cutler, who honored him with the namesake)
- Waumandee
- Waunakee â Waunakee is called WanÃÂ
çi [wa-na-GHEE] in the HocÃÂ
k language, meaning "spirit", as in a spirit which has departed from the body. I was told by a tribal colleague that it was given this name due to the spirits who can sometimes be heard there at night, singing. WanÃÂ
çi is attested in other Wisconsin place names as well: WanÃÂ
çi Homïk ("where the spirit lies" or "cemetery") is the HocÃÂ
k name for Reesburg, WI.
- Waupaca
- Waupun (meaning "east, daybreak, dawn")
- Wausau (from Chippewa, meaning "far away")
- Wausaukee
- Wautoma
- Wauwatosa
- Weyauwega
- Winneboujou
- Winneconne
- Wisconsin Rapids
- Wonewoc
- Wyocena
- Wyoming (community)
- Wyoming, Iowa County
- Wyoming, Waupaca County
- Yuba
Bodies of water
See also
References
Citations
Sources
- Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. .