List of place names in Nebraska of Native American origin

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

• Native American tribes in Nebraska
• History of Nebraska
• French people in Nebraska

References

1. "Profile for Hyannis, Massachusetts". ePodunk. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
2. 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.

External links

• Indian Place Names in New Jersey