The Mississippi is a French-ified version of the original Anishinaabe name for the river. It was called "Misi-ziibi," which fittingly means "great river."

The Potomac gets its name from a Piscataway language, which is an Algonquin language. It's pronounced Pot-OH-mack, which most visitors from abroad tend to get wrong.

Koyukon natives called this mountain "great one" or Denali in their language. It was called Mount McKinley for a while, but has now taken back its old name!

Fun act about Hudson Bay: it's actually at the same latitude as the United Kingdom. New England Americans and Brits marveling at how their nations have such similar weather in spite of this can thank the Gulf Stream.

This state sounds like it has a Native name but really it comes from Spanish. The colonizers referred to the area as "Montaña del Norte."

The name comes from "oki" and "chobi" which together literally mean "big water." It is named by the Hitchiti tribe, who first found it.

The town is named for the river that borders its limits. That river was named for the Eucharist, Santisimo Sacramento, by a Spanish officer named Gabriel Moraga.

Huron was a French name given to an Iroquois tribe. It literally means "boar's head." due to the Hurons' bristly hairstyles.

This name comes from the Apalachee. They named the formerly inhabited area "abandoned fields," for they all left the area.

This name literally means "tree eater". It's an insulting term that the Mohawk tribe put on the Algonquin tribes who they saw as inferior. That is, we've somehow gone and named a mountain range after a local slur!

Concord has an English name with a very literal meaning. The European arrivals wanted to inspire people there to get on.

This town has a German name, for Otto von Bismarck, founder of modern Germany. It's in Dakota, which is a Sioux state whose name means "friend."

Pronounced "shy-ANN," Cheyenne means "people of different speech." It's a Lakota name for the local Cheyenne natives.

George Vancouver named Rainier for a friend of his. Its former Native name was Talol. Some are campaigning to restore this original name.

Lake Winnibigoshish has an Ojibwe name, since they lived there before the arrival of Europeans. The name literally means "dirty water," as the lake's water is brackish and not always good to drink.

These mountains are in Colorado. The tallest of them are called the Fourteeners, as they are over 14,000 feet. Culebra is the only one that is privately owned, costing $150 to climb!

Yukon is a Canadian territory and is very remote and vast. It has a very small population, being one of the most sparsely-inhabited areas of North America.

Pend Orielle means "ear pendant" in French. The name was given to the river because the natives had elaborate ear decorations.

A large piece of the Kissimmee River was routed into a straight canal to prevent flooding. However, it was an environmental disaster, and as a result, the process is slowly being reversed.

The state's name is possibly of Cherokee origin and may refer to the place of the great bend in the river. However, ethnographers generally agree that Tennessee's precise etylomology is lost.

This wilderness river is noted for its rapids. Adventurous kayakers take on the river, though the real challenge is arguably just getting there!

This name is a transliteration of an Algonquian name meaning "water people." The river is one of the biggest in the region, rivaling even the Columbia.

Ottawa comes from an Algonquin word that means "to trade." It is a trading post that is now a major city.

This Inuktitut name means "our land." Nunavut is a vast northern Canadian territory that is quite sparsely populated.

Ontario is an Iroquois word that means "beautiful lake." It's one of the major Canadian provinces.

Ths city is named for Prince Frederick, Duke of York. However, it used to be called Saint Anne's Point, before it was renamed in 1785.

Juneau is not the biggest city in Alaska, but it is the capital. The largest city in the state is Anchorage, which is considerably further north.

Little Rock is an Anglicized name for a Native settlement that is now the capital of Arkansas. It is named for a rock in the nearby river that was used to navigate.

Chugach is a national park that is named for its native inhabitants. Europeans arrived in the 1700's and later on, gold was found in the area.

The name of this forest comes from Baron Alexander von Humboldt, in whose honor it was named. Its second name is a Shoshane word that means "mountain."

You need a permit to hike in this beautiful narrow canyon. Only a few lucky people can stay overnight! It's on the Utah-Arizona border.

Seneca Falls was the site of a noted suffragette convention. The work done there resulted in women achieving the vote some years later.

The name comes from Ventureño, an extinct language. It poetically describes the loud surf that is the hallmark of Malibu beach.

This name literally means "long water land." The state itself is named for the Connecticut River, which bisects it, and means something akin to "long tidal water,"

The name means literally "along or beside the water." That is, the Mojave call themselves the people who live beside the river.