From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of Wisconsin county name etymologies:
- Adams County: Adams is named for U.S. President John Quincy Adams.
- Ashland County: Ashland is named for Henry Clay's home in Kentucky.
- Barron County: Barron is named for Wisconsin state legislator and judge Henry D. Barron.
- Bayfield County: Bayfield is named for Henry Bayfield, a British naval officer who performed the first survey of the Great Lakes region.
- Brown County: Brown County is named after Major General Jacob Brown, who was the commanding general of the U.S. Army from 1815 until 1828.
- Buffalo County: Buffalo is named for the Buffalo River.
- Burnett County: Burnett is named for Wisconsin state legislator Thomas P. Burnett.
- Calumet County: Calumet is named for the French language word for a Menominee peace pipe.
- Chippewa County: Chippewa is named for the Ojibwe (or Chippewa) people.
- Clark County: Clark is named for either American Revolutionary War leader George Rogers Clark or A.W. Clark, who founded Clark's Mill.
- Columbia County: Columbia is named for Christopher Columbus.
- Crawford County: Crawford is named for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Harris Crawford.
- Dane County: Dane is named for Continental Congressman Nathan Dane.
- Dodge County: Dodge is named for governor of Wisconsin Territory Henry Dodge.
- Door County: Door is named for a dangerous strait near the peninsula which was known to the French as porte des mortes, or, in English, as the door of the dead.
- Douglas County: Douglas is named for U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas.
- Dunn County: Dunn is named for Wisconsin state legislator and judge Henry Dodge.
- Eau Claire County: Eau Claire is named for Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which takes its name from the Eau Claire River, which, in turn, takes its name from the French for clear water.
- Florence County: Florence is named for the first woman pioneer in the region Florence Julst.
- Fond du Lac County: Fond du Lac is named from the French bottom of the lake for its location at the south end of Lake Winnebago.
- Forest County: Forest is named for the dense forest which once covered the county.
- Grant County: Grant is named for an early pioneer who opened a trade with local Native Americans.
- Green County: Green is named for American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene.
- Green Lake County: Green Lake is named for Green Lake, Wisconsin's deepest.
- Iowa County: Iowa is named for the Iowa Native American people.
- Iron County: Iron is named for the iron distributed throughout the county.
- Jackson County: Jackson is named for U.S. President Andrew Jackson.
- Jefferson County: Jefferson is named for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.
- Juneau County: Juneau is named for Solomon Juneau, the first mayor of Milwaukee.
- Kenosha County: Kenosha (ginoozhe) is named for an Ojibwe word meaning pike (fish).
- Kewaunee County: Kewaunee is named either for a Potawatomi word meaning river of the lost or an Ojibwe word meaning prairie hen, wild duck or to go around.
- La Crosse County: La Crosse is named for the city of La Crosse, which takes its name from Prairie La Crosse or Prairie de la Crosse [1] (although folk etymology associates its name with the game of lacrosse).
- Lafayette County: Lafayette is named for the Marquis de la Fayette.
- Langlade County: Langlade is named for adventurer and soldier Charles Michel de Langlade.
- Lincoln County: Lincoln is named for U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
- Manitowoc County: Manitowoc (manidoowag) is an Ojibwe word meaning spirits.
- Marathon County: Marathon is named for Marathon, Greece.
- Marinette County: Marinette is named for Marinette, a 19th century trader who was the daughter of a French-Canadian trapper and a Menominee woman.
- Marquette County: Marquette is named for French missionary Father Pere Jacques Marquette.
- Menominee County: Menominee is named for the Menominee people and the Menominee Indian Reservation.
- Milwaukee County: Milwaukee received its name from the Indian word Millioke which means "The Good Land", or "Gathering place by the water." Another interpretation is "beautiful or pleasant lands".[1]
- Monroe County: Monroe is named for U.S. President James Monroe.
- Oconto County: Oconto is named for the Oconto River.
- Oneida County: Oneida is named for the Oneida Native American people.
- Outagamie County: Outagamie is named for the Outagamie (Meskwaki, Fox) Native American people.
- Ozaukee County: Ozaukee (Ozaagii) is named for the Ojibwe word for the Sauk people.
- Pepin County: Pepin is named for the explorers Pierre and Jean Pepin of Chardonnets.
- Pierce County: Pierce is named for U.S. President Franklin Pierce.
- Polk County: Polk is named for James K. Polk.
- Portage County: Portage is named for the overland carry between the Fox River and the Wisconsin River.
- Price County: Price is named for Wisconsin state legislator W.T. Price.
- Racine County: Racine is named for the Root River, racine being the French word for root.
- Richland County: Richland is named for the rich farmland found within the county.
- Rock County: Rock is named for the Rock River.
- Rusk County: Rusk is named for Governor of Wisconsin Jeremiah Rusk.
- Sauk County: Sauk is named for the Sauk Native American people.
- Sawyer County: Sawyer is named for U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Philetus Sawyer.
- Shawano County: Shawano (zhaawanong) is named for an Ojibwe word meaning southern.
- Sheboygan County: Sheboygan is named for a Native American word meaning great noise underground
- St. Croix County: St. Croix is named for French explorer Monsieur St. Croix who drowned in the St. Croix River in the 17th century.
- Taylor County: Taylor is named for Governor of Wisconsin William Robert Taylor.
- Trempealeau County: Trempealeau is named for Trempealeau Mountain.
- Vernon County: Vernon is named for George Washington's home Mount Vernon in Virginia.
- Vilas County: Vilas is named for U.S. Postmaster General, U.S. Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Senator from Wisconsin William Vilas.
- Walworth County: Walworth is named for New York judge Reuben Hyde Walworth.
- Washburn County: Washburn is named for Governor of Wisconsin Cadwallader Washburn.
- Washington County: Washington is named for U.S. President George Washington.
- Waukesha County: Waukesha is named for a Potawatomi meaning little foxes.
- Waupaca County: Waupaca is named for a Menominee word meaning white sand bottom or brave young hero.
- Waushara County: Waushara is named for a Native American word meaning good earth.
- Winnebago County: Winnebago is named for the Winnebago Native American people.
- Wood County: Wood is named for Wisconsin state legislator Joseph Wood.
[edit] References
- ^ Bruce, William George (1936). A Short History of Milwaukee. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Bruce Publishing Company, 15. LLCN 36010193.
[edit] See also
