State
|
Origin
|
Hint
|
City
|
ME
|
Micmac: "qalipu" (snow shoveler)
|
Named after a horned animal
|
Caribou
|
TN
|
Muskogee: from "cvto" (rock)
|
Civil War railroad city bordering the Cumberland Plateau; names a "Choo Choo" song from the 1940s
|
Chattanooga
|
VA
|
Algonquin: "Chesepiooc" ("at a big river")
|
Shares its name with a bay between Maryland and Virginia and the largest estuary in the US
|
Chesapeake
|
WY
|
Dakota: "Šahíyena" (diminutive of "Cree")
|
Capital of Wyoming
|
Cheyenne
|
IL
|
Miami-Illinois: "Shikaakwa" (wild leek)
|
Biggest city in Illinois, home to the Bulls, Bears, Cubs, and Fire
|
Chicago
|
NC
|
Algonquin: (there is less vegetation)
|
Shares its name with a Cape and Inlet in the Outer Banks, along with a famous Lighthouse
|
Hatteras
|
CA
|
Ventureño Chumash: "Humaliwo ("the surf sounds loudly")
|
Beach city in Los Angeles County; setting of "Two and a Half Men," "Hannah Montana;" namesake of a coconut liqueur
|
Malibu
|
FL
|
Mayaimi: "mayaimi" (big river)
|
Home to the Dolphins, Heat, and Marlins
|
Miami
|
WI
|
Algonquin: "Millioke" ("the good/beautiful land;" "gathering place by the water")
|
The most populous city in Wisconsin, home to the Bucks
|
Milwaukee
|
MN
|
Dakota: "mníȟaȟa" (waterfall) (with Greek suffix for city)
|
The bigger of Minnesota's Twin Cities
|
Minneapolis
|
UT
|
Paiute: "moapa" (mosquitoes)
|
Site of both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks
|
Moab
|
NY
|
Iroquoian: "Onguiaahra" ("the strait")
|
Near famous transnational set of waterfalls shared with Canada
|
Niagara
|
PA
|
Lenape: "nekwti ahtəne" (single mountain)
|
Same name as the Mountain that gives Penn State its mascot
|
Nittany
|
NE
|
(Language is same as city): "Umoⁿhoⁿ" ("upstream people")
|
Nebraska's most populous city, home of Berkshire Hathaway
|
Omaha
|
RI
|
Algonquin: (Name is same as city): ("at the falls in the river [tidal stream]")
|
Fourth-largest RI city; home to Slater Mill, a symbol of the Industrial Revolution; names the Family Guy brewery
|
Pawtucket
|
FL
|
Choctaw: "pashi oklah" (hair people)
|
Westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, base of the Blue Angels flight team
|
Pensacola
|
MI
|
Ottawa: "Bwandiag" (the name of an Ottawan war chief
|
Former site of General Motors plants, namesake of a "Silverdome" and a GM companion brand
|
Pontiac
|
MD
|
Algonquin: approx. "Patawomeke"("place where people trade")
|
Named after the nearby river that also passes through Washington, DC
|
Potomac
|
PA
|
Lenape: "Punkwsutenay" (town of little sandflies)
|
Its resident groundhog "Phil" predicts the advent of spring or continuation of winter
|
Punxsutawney
|
NC
|
Algonquin: "rawrenoc" (a kind of shell used as money)
|
Its island was home of the "lost colony" that the English founded in the late 1500s
|
Roanoke
|
NY
|
Iroquoian: "se-rach-ta-gue" (debatably "floating scum upon the water")
|
It and its "Springs" neighbor were the site of a namesake Fort and Battle, the site of the turning point of the American Revolution
|
Saratoga
|
WA
|
Lushootseed "dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič" ("little crossing-over place")
|
Biggest city in the Pacific Northwest, home to the Seahawks, Mariners, and Sounders
|
Seattle
|
CA
|
Miwok/Pomo/Suisin(?): (valley of the moon" / "many moons"
|
Bay area wine city with namesake "International Film Festival"
|
Sonoma
|
AL
|
Muscogee: "italua" (town), and "atigi" (at the end, on the border)
|
South of a town with a namesake "Superspeedway" which inspired a 2006 racing film
|
Talladega
|
FL
|
Muscogee: "talahá:ssi" (old tribal town)
|
The state capital, home to Florida State University
|
Tallahassee
|
NM
|
(Name and language are same as city): ("(place of) red willows")
|
Home to a namesake "Pueblo," the northernmost in the state, having been occupied for nearly 1000 years
|
Taos
|
NY
|
Mohawk: "tekontaró:ken" ("it is at the junction of two waterways")
|
Namesake of a famous Revolutionary War fort, now also a pencil brand
|
Ticonderoga
|
KS
|
Kansa: "dóppikʔe" ("a good place to dig wild potatoes")
|
State capital of Kansas
|
Topeka
|
AZ
|
O'odham: "cuk ṣon" (black base)
|
Second-largest city in Arizona
|
Tucson
|
AL
|
Koasati "tasquiqui" (warriors)
|
Home of a historic "Institute" and its famous "Airmen"
|
Tuskegee
|
WA
|
Walawalałáma: same as language ("many waters")
|
Alliterative name with the state with a namesake river; close to the Oregon border
|
Walla Walla
|
OR
|
Kalapuyan/Clackamas: "Wallamt" (still water)
|
Shares its name with a namesake River, National Forest, and Valley in the Pacific Northwest
|
Willamette
|