Ohio Auglaize River (corruption of the French eau glaise , meaning "muddy water")Auglaize County Belfort (named for Belfort , France)Bellaire Bellefontaine ("Beautiful Spring")Bellevue ("Beautiful View")Belmont County (Anglicized "Beautiful Mountain")Belmont Belpre (Shortened from "Belle Prairie," "Beautiful Meadow")Champaign County ("Open level country")Chardon (named for Peter Chardon Brooks , Massachusetts legislator)Clermont County (named for Clermont , FranceDecatur Delaware County Duchouquet Township (named for Francis Duchouquet, French-Canadian trapper)Fayette County (after the Marquis de Lafayette )Fayette Fremont (named for John C. Frémont , American explorer, military officer and politician of French-Canadian descent)Gallia County (Latin for Gaul , Roman name for France)Gallipolis, Ohio , largest city of Gallia CountyGirard (named for Stephen Girard , French-born American banker, philanthropist and slave owner)Grand Prairie Township Guernsey County (named for Isle of Guernsey )Huron County (French name for the Wendat tribe)Lafayette Lagrange (Named for the Château de la Grange-Bléneau , the French estate of the Marquis de Lafayette)LaRue (named for William LaRue, town founder)Leroy Township, Lake County (named for Le Roy, New York )Lorain County (for the French province of Lorraine )Lorain Louisville Marietta (to honor Marie Antoinette )Marion County (named after Francis Marion , Revolutionary War officer of Huguenot descent)Marne (named after a river in France)Marseilles (from the French city of Marseille )Martel ("Hammer")Massillon (after Jean Baptiste Massillon , French bishop)Moraine Oregon Paris Township, Portage County, Ohio (named for Paris, New York)Paris Township, Stark County, Ohio Paris Township, Union County, Ohio Portage County Vermilion River (Red River)Versailles (named for Versailles , France)
Oregon Oregon (possibly from "le fleuve aux ouragans", French for "river of the hurricanes", referring to the windiness of the Columbia River)Bellevue Bellfountain (named after Bellefontaine, Ohio)Bonneville (named after Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (1796–1878), a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer)Butteville Charbonneau (named after Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau son of Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau a French-Canadian trapper member of the Lewis & Clark expedition)Coquille ("Shell")Deschutes County ("of the falls")Deschutes River (from rivière des chutes meaning river of the falls)Deschutes National Forest (Waterfalls National Forest)Detroit ("Strait") (likely named after Detroit, Michigan)Gervais (named for Joseph Gervais , French-Canadian pioneer and trapper)Grand Ronde ("Big ring")Lafayette (named for the Marquis de Lafayette )La Grande ("The Big / Great One")Langlois (French surname. From "L'Anglais" = the Englishman)La Pine ("The Pine")Malheur County ("Misfortune")Marion County (named fpr Francis Marion , Revolutionary War officer of Huguenot descent)Maupin (named for Howard Maupin , local settler and postmaster)Mayger (named for C.W. Mayger, a settler from France)Nonpareil ("Unparalleled")Pompadour Bluff (named because of its resemblance to the pompadour hairstyle)Rainier (named for Peter Rainier , Royal Navy officer of Huguenot descent)Ruch ("Hive")Saint Louis Saint Paul Sauvie Island (named for Laurent Sauvé dit Laplante, a French-Canadian who managed a dairy for the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1830s and 1840s)Terrebonne ("Good land")The Dalles (from les dalles meaning "slabs" or possibly a type of rapids)Willamette River (French pronunciation of a Clackamas Indian village name)Willamette Valley
Pennsylvania Audubon (named for John James Audubon)Belle Vernon Bellefonte ("Beautiful Fountain")Bellevue ("Beautiful View")Blanchard (named for Jean-Pierre Blanchard )Boquet (named for Henry Bouquet , 18th-century Swiss-born British army officer of the 18th century)Bovard (named for a local settler)Calumet, Pennsylvania (French term for a peace pipe )Charleroi ("Charles King"—in reference to King Carlos II of Spain )Chartiers Township (named for Peter Chartier , fur trader of mixed Shawnee and French parentage)Clarion County ("clear")Conneaut Lake (named for a settler)Cresson ("water cress")Dauphin County (named for Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France )Decatur Township (named for Stephen Decatur , U.S. navy officer of French descent)Delano (after a scion of the famous Delano Family, originally Huguenots named "De Lannoye")Delmont (corruption of "du mont," "of the mountain")Dormont ("mount of gold")DuBois ("Of the Woods")[ i] Dupont (after the Dupont family)Dushore (simplification of "du Thouars," the name of a local settler)Duquesne (named after Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville , governor-general of New France)Eau Claire Embreeville (named after a local family of Huguenot descent)Fayette City (named for Marquis de Lafayette )Fayette County (named for Marquis de Lafayette )Fayetteville (named for Marquis de Lafayette )Fort Duquesne (named for Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville , governor-general of New France)Fort Le Boeuf Fort Machault (named for Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville , French Minister of the Marine at the time of the fort's construction)Fort Presque Isle Girardville (named after Stephen Girard )Hulmeville (named after a local family of Norman descent)La Belle ("the beautiful")Lamartine (named after Alphonse de Lamartine )Lanse ("l'anse" means "land")Laporte (named for John Laporte , former Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives)Latrobe (named for Benjamin Henry Latrobe )Lemont ("the mountain")Le Raysville (named for Vincent le Ray de Chaumont )Ligonier (named for Field Marshal John Ligonier , a British noble and officer with French ancestry)Luzerne County (named for Anne-César de La Luzerne , 18th-century French Minister to the United States)Luzerne Township Mercer Township Montour County (named for Andrew Montour , a prominent Métis interpreter who served with George Washington during the French and Indian War)North Versailles Township Paris Poyntelle (corruption of "pointillé," meaning "dotted")Revere (named for Paul Revere )Roulette ("little wheel")South Versailles Township Versailles , named after the Palace of Versailles Wilkes-Barre (named after Isaac Barré , English soldier and politician of Huguenot descent)
Rhode Island Bernon , a neighborhood in Woonsocket, RI (named for a local settler)Lafayette Village , a historic district in North Kingstown, RI (named for the Marquis de Lafayette)Marieville , a neighborhood in Providence, RI
South Dakota Belle Fourche ("Beautiful Fork")Belle Fourche Reservoir Belle Fourche River Belvidere ("beautiful overlook")Big Sioux River Bois de Sioux River ("Woods of the Sioux" River)Bon Homme County ("Good Man" County)Burdette Claire City ("clear")Claremont ("clear mountain")Conde (named for the Princes of Condé )Corsica Coteau des Prairies ("Slope of the Prairies")Missouri Coteau ("Slope of the Missouri")Delmont ("the mountain")De Smet (named for Pierre-Jean De Smet , a Belgian priest)Dupree (named for Fred Dupris, a pioneer settler)East Sioux Falls , a ghost townEdgemont Flandreau (named for Charles Eugene Flandrau , judge of Huguenot ancestry)Fort Pierre Huron (named for the Native American tribe)Jerauld County Joubert (a common French surname)Lake Traverse La Bolt (named for a local settler)La Plant LeBeau Mellette County (named for Arthur C. Mellette , the first governor of the State of South Dakota)Montrose (possibly from "pink mountain")Moreau River North Sioux City Pierpont Pierre (named for Pierre Chouteau, Jr. , a St. Louis-born fur trader of French descent)[ j] Platte Roubaix (a ghost town whose name was chosen in honor of Roubaix , France, the hometown of Pierre Wibaux , an investor in a local mine)Roubaix Lake , a lake located in the Black Hills (from the French city of Roubaix)Sioux Falls Vermillion, South Dakota West Branch Lac qui Parle River ("Lake that Speaks" River)White River ("la rivière blanche")
Texas Austin -named for Stephen F. Austin , whose surname is of Norman French origin.Bayou Vista Bellevue ("beautiful view")Belmont ("beautiful mountain")Biloxi Blanchard Burnet County (named after early Texas leader David Gouverneur Burnet )Castroville (founded by Henri Castro , a French diplomat)Clairemont ("clear mountain")Colmesnil Crockett County (Davy Crockett 's ancestors were Huguenots named Croquetagne, one of whom was captain in the Royal Guard of Louis XIV)Dallardsville DeBerry Decatur (named after Stephen Decatur , U.S. navy officer of French descent)Detroit ("strait") Doucette Dumas , named after its founder Louis DumasDumont Duval County (named after Burr H. Duval , a soldier in the Texas Revolution who died in the Goliad MassacreFayette County and Fayetteville (named after the Marquis de Lafayette )Gary City Girard (named for Stephen Girard , a French-born banker)Grand Prairie LaBelle La Grange (Named for the Château de la Grange-Bléneau , the French estate of the Marquis de Lafayette)La Marque La Porte ("The Door")La Salle County and La Salle (named after explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle )Lamar County (named after early Texas leader Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar , of Huguenot descent)Magnolia (named after the tree, which gets its name from botanist Pierre Magnol )Marion County (named after Francis Marion , Revolutionary War officer of Huguenot descent)Mauriceville Menard Menard County (named after Michel Branamour Menard , French-Canadian trader and merchant)Mont Belvieu Montague County (named after Daniel Montague , surveyor and soldier in the Mexican–American War)Paris (named after the French city)Sabine Lake ("cypress")
Virginia Amissville Barboursville (named for James Barbour , 18th governor of Virginia)Basye Bavon Belmont Belle Isle State Park Belvoir Bertrand (A common French given name)Boissevain Bon Air Botetourt County (named for Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt )Capron Caret Cedon Champlain Chantilly (named after Chantilly , France)Clary Claudville (A common French given name)Claremont ("clear mountain")Crozet (named for Claudius Crozet , French-born civil engineer who directed the construction of the Blue Ridge Tunnel)Delaplane Fauquier County (named for Francis Fauquier , 18th-century lieutenant governor of Virginia of Huguenot descent)Fort Belvoir ("see well")Fremont (named for John C. Frémont , pioneer and politician of French-Canadian descent)La Crosse Lafayette (named for the Marquis de Lafayette)Lagrange Luray (named after Luray , a village in Normandy)Macon Manquin Mauzy Montpelier (named after Montpellier , France)Orlean Paris (named after the French city)Renan (named for Ernest Renan , French philosopher and theologian)Richmond , from "riche mont", a name given first to the castle founded in North Yorkshire by a Breton family, and from there to Richmond near LondonRochelle Sabot Turbeville
Washington Beaux Arts Village (from "fine arts")Bellevue ("Beautiful View")Belfair Belmont ("Beautiful Mountain")Blanchard (Old French for "Whitish")Boistfort Bonneville Dam (named for Benjamin Bonneville , an explorer of French descent)Brier Coulee City Coupeville (named for the founder of the city)Decatur Island Deschutes ("of the Falls")Des Moines ("of the Monks")Doty Dupont (likely for the Dupont family )Duvall Esperance ("Hope")Fauntleroy (Old French for "Child of the King")Guerrier ("Warrior")Grand Coulee (from coulée or couler , meaning "to flow")La Center La Crosse La Grande Lamont La Push (Clallam County, along the Quileute River on the Olympic Peninsula . Home to the Quileute Indian Tribe . From la bouche, meaning "mouth", as infused into Chinook trading jargon )Laurier (Named after Sil Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian Prime Minister)Loup Loup (from loup , "wolf")Malo Maury Island Monte Cristo (named for The Count of Monte Cristo , a novel by French author Alexandre Dumas )Mount Rainier (named after Captain Peter Rainier , grandson of the Huguenot refugee Daniel Regnier)Normandy (named after Normandy , France)North Bonneville (named after Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (1796–1878), a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer)Ozette Palouse (from pelouse , meaning "lawn")[ l] Pend Oreille County (named after the Pend d'Oreilles tribe. French for "earring" and a reference to heavy earrings and distended lobes of the people of the same name)Pomeroy (Old French for "Apple Orchard")Portage Portage Island Puget Sound named after Peter Puget, an officer in the Royal Navy of Huguenot descentQuimper Peninsula Roche Harbor Touchet Touchet River Vashon Vashon Island named after James Vashon, an officer in the Royal Navy of Huguenot descent
Wisconsin Wisconsin (anglicized from the French "Ouisconsin", which in turn is a corruption of the Ojibwe "Meskonsing")Allouez (named after Claude-Jean Allouez , French-born missionary and explorer)Apple River (corruption of the French Rivière Pomme de Terre des Cygnes , which in turn is a translation from the Ojibwe Waabiziipinikaani-ziibi , "River abundant with swan potatoes ")Argonne (from the Forest of Argonne in France)Ballou Belle Plaine ("beautiful plain")Bellevue ("beautiful view")Belmont ("beautiful mountain")Benoit Bois Brule River ("burnt wood")Brule (named for the Brulé Sioux , whose historic English name comes from the French word for "burnt")Butte des Morts ("hill of the dead")Calumet County (French for Menominee peace pipe)Cassel (a town in France)Couderay (from lac courte oreilles , "short ears")Dell Prairie De Pere (from les rapides des pères , "the rapids of the fathers" after Jesuit mission at the location)Dovre Durand (French surname)Eau Claire ("clear water")Eau Claire County Eau Galle (from "Rivière aux Galets," "Gravel River")Eau Pleine ("full water")Flambeau ("torch")Fond du Lac ("bottom of the lake")Fond du Lac County Grand Chute ("great fall")Juneau County (Named for Solomon Juneau , French-Canadian fur trader and a founder of Milwaukee )La Crosse (Named for the Native American game with sticks played there)La Crosse County La Farge (likely named for a settler)Lafayette County (Named for the Marquis de Lafayette )La Grange La Pointe (from la pointe de Chequamegon , the area around Chequamegon Bay)La Valle ("the valley")Lac Courte Oreilles ("lake short ears")Lac du Flambeau ("lake of the torch")Lac La Belle ("Lake the beautiful or beautiful lake")Lake Butte des Morts ("hill of the dead")Langlade County (Named for Charles Michel de Langlade , fur trader of mixed French-Canadian/Ottawa descent)Lyons (named for Lyon )Marinette County Marquette (after Father Jacques Marquette )Marquette County Montreal ("Royal Mountain", after Montréal, Québec)Nicolet National Forest (named after Jean Nicolet , first European to set foot in present-day Wisconsin)Pepin County (named for Pepin the Short )Portage (originally named for the Fox-Wisconsin portage)Portage County Poynette (Originally named "Paquette," for Pierre Paquette , the current name derives from a clerical error).Prairie du Chien ("dog prairie")Prairie du Sac ("prairie of the Sac people ")Presque Isle (from presqu'île , "peninsula")Racine ("root", after the Root River)Racine County Radisson (named for Pierre-Esprit Radisson , early French-Canadian explorer)Roche a Cri St. Croix Falls (after the St. Croix ("Holy Cross") river, named c. 1689)St. Croix County Superior (from Lake Superior / Lac Supérieur – meaning "upper" in this context)Theresa (named for Thérèse Galarneau Juneau, the mother of Solomon Juneau , French-Canadian fur trader and a founder of Milwaukee )Trempealeau River (from "trempe à l'eau", "plunge into the water")Trempealeau County Waterloo (named for the battlefield in Belgium)
Wyoming Belle Fourche River ("beautiful fork")Blazon (named for a blazon on a coat of arms)Bondurant Bordaux (named for a settler)Bonneville (named for Benjamin Bonneville )Cheyenne (from the French pronunciation and spelling of the Dakota word Sahi'yena , a diminutive of Sahi'ya, a Dakotan name for the Cree people .[ 292] )Cheyenne River Dubois (named after U.S. Senator Fred Dubois , of French-Canadian ancestry)Fontenelle (named for a settler)Fort Laramie Fremont County (named for John C. Frémont , French-American pioneer and politician)Grand Teton National Park (from French grands tétons , "large teats" – presumably referring to the mountains' shape)Gros Ventre Range ("big stomach")Gros Ventre River La Barge (named for Joseph Marie LaBarge, Senior , French-Canadian fur trapper and trader)La Bonte (named for a settler)La Grange (named for the home of the Marquis de Lafayette)Laramie (named from Jacques LaRamie , French-Canadian trapper who disappeared in the Laramie Mountains in the late 1810s)Laramie County Laramie Mountains Laramie River Little Laramie River , as well as the North , South , and Middle Fork Laramie RiversNorth Laramie River North Platte River ("flat")Platte County Ranchettes Sublette County (named for William Sublette , American frontiersman of French descent)Teton County Teton Range Teton Village
Notes ↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 1 suggests that this town is named for a French settler.↑ Gudde 1998 , p. 263 suggests this town was named from German, which also has "Nord" as its word for "North."↑ Savage 2007 , p. 129 states that this place was named for a local attorney, Le Grand Byington.↑ Rennick 1984 , p. 20 suggests that this town's originated with a furnace belonging to the Belmont family.↑ Rennick 1984 , p. 163 states that the town was originally named "La Centre," but the spelling was anglicized by the postal service.↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 100 notes that the town could also have been named from the German word for "step." Although, another explanation is that the town was named for Frenchman Jules Trappe.↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 131 gives the source for this name as "an early French settler," but Ramsay 1952 , p. 56 argues that this town was named for American politician Albert Gallatin .↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 160 suggests that this town was named for explorer Louis Joliet .↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 184 suggests that this town was named for a luberman named John DuBois.↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 203 suggests that this city was named for Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye .↑ Coulet du Gard & Coulet du Gard 1974 , p. 211 suggest that this town was named for August Belmont .↑ This is disputed; Palús is the name of the aboriginal people who lived at the mouth of the river and the name has been connected to a group of rocks at the same area. French fur traders referred to the river as pavillon (flag).[ 277]
References ↑ Kaetz, James P. (July 16, 2014). "Bayou La Batre". Encyclopedia of Alabama . Retrieved August 11, 2024 . ↑ Holmes, Jack D.L. (1967). "Dauphin Island's Critical Years: 1701–1722". Alabama Historical Quarterly . 29 (1): 40 – via HathiTrust. 1 2 Orth, Donald J. (1967). Dictionary of Alaska Place Names (PDF) . Washington: Government Printing Office. Retrieved August 11, 2024 . ↑ Granger, Byrd Howell (1983). Arizona's Names: X Marks the Place . Tucson: Falconer Publishing Company. p. 474. ISBN 0918080185 . ↑ "peridot" . Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi :10.1093/OED/8349623216. Retrieved August 16, 2024 .(Subscription or participating institution membership required.) 1 2 3 Hughes, Arthur H.; Allen, Morse S. (1976). Connecticut Place Names . Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society. 1 2 3 Krakow, Kenneth K. (1994). Georgia Place Names (2nd ed.). Macon, Ga.: Winship Press. ISBN 0915430002 . 1 2 3 Baker, Ronald L. (1995). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History . Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253328667 . 1 2 3 4 5 6 Baker, Ronald L.; Carmony, Marvin (1975). Indiana Place Names . Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253141672 . ↑ City of Marion – History (accessed August 2025) ↑ "Bee Branch Creek History | Dubuque, IA – Official Website". www.cityofdubuque.org . Retrieved 2022-09-04 . ↑ "An Indian Legend". Bellevue Herald Leader . 19 June 2019. Retrieved 2022-12-27 . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rydjord, John (1972). Kansas Place Names . Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806109947 . 1 2 3 4 5 McCoy, Sondra Van Meter; Hults, Jan (1989). 1001 Kansas Place Names . University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700603921 . ↑ "Crapo". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey , United States Department of the Interior . ↑ "About Fremont". Town of Fremont, NH . Retrieved April 27, 2025 . ↑ "Pinardville NH Home Page". Retrieved June 2, 2010 . 1 2 Julyan, Robert (1996). The Place Names of New Mexico . Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0826316883 . ↑ "History". Clovis-Curry County Chamber of Commerce . Retrieved April 27, 2025 . 1 2 3 4 5 Shirk, George H. (1974). Oklahoma Place Names (2nd ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806120287 . ↑ Thompson, Albert W. (1971). "The Early History of the Palouse River and Its Names". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly . 62 (2): 69– 76. ISSN 0030-8803. JSTOR 40488909. ↑ "Cheyenne | Origin and meaning of the name cheyenne by Online Etymology Dictionary".
Bibliography Branner, John C. (February 1899). "Some Old French Place Names in the State of Arkansas"(PDF) . Modern Language Notes . xiv (2). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press : 35. doi :10.2307/2917686. JSTOR 2917686 . Retrieved April 10, 2023 .Bright, William (2004). Colorado Place Names (3rd ed.). Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Printing Company. ISBN 1555663338 . HalliBurton, W. H. (1903). A Topographical Description and History of Arkansas County, Arkansas, from 1541 to 1875 . p. 47. hdl :2027/wu.89072963770. OCLC 5815561. Retrieved January 19, 2025 – via HathiTrust . Callary, Edward (2008). Place Names of Illinois . Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252033568 . Coulet du Gard, René; Coulet du Gard, Dominique (1974). The Handbook of French Place Names in the U.S.A . Chicago: Adams Press. Foscue, Virginia O. (1989). Place Names in Alabama . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 081730410X . Gudde, Erwin Gustav (1998). California Place Names (4th ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520213165 . Morris, Allen (1995). Florida Place Names . Sarasota, Fla.: Pineapple Press. ISBN 1561640840 . Powell, William S.; Hill, Michael (2010). The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places and Their History (2nd ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807833995 . Ramsay, Robert L (1952). Our Storehouse of Missouri Place Names . University of Missouri. Retrieved March 16, 2025 . Rennick, Robert (1984). Kentucky Place Names . Lexington: University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 0813115035 . Savage, Tom (2007). A Dictionary of Iowa Place Names . Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. ISBN 9781587295317 .