List of place names of French origin in the United States explained
Several thousand place names in the United States have names of French origin, some a legacy of past French exploration and rule over much of the land and some in honor of French help during the American Revolution and the founding of the country (see also: New France and French in the United States). Others were named after early Americans of French, especially Huguenot, ancestry (Marion, Revere, Fremont, Lanier, Sevier, Macon, Decatur, etc.). Some places received their names as a consequence of French colonial settlement (e.g. Baton Rouge, Detroit, New Orleans, Saint Louis). Nine state capitals are French words or of French origin (Baton Rouge, Boise, Des Moines, Juneau, Montgomery, Montpelier, Pierre, Richmond, Saint Paul) - not even counting Little Rock (originally "La Petite Roche") or Cheyenne (a French rendering of a Lakota word). Fifteen state names are either French words / origin (Delaware, New Jersey, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Vermont) or Native American words rendered by French speakers (Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Wisconsin).
The suffix "-ville," from the French word for "city" is common for town and city names throughout the United States. Many originally French place names, possibly hundreds, in the Midwest and Upper West were replaced with directly translated English names once American settlers became locally dominant (e.g. "La Petite Roche" became Little Rock; "Baie Verte" became Green Bay; "Grandes Fourches" became Grand Forks).
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
- Arkansas (named by French explorers from aboriginal word meaning "south wind")
- Antoine ("Anthony")
- Aurelle
- Auvergne (a French region)
- Barraque Township
- Bauxite, Arkansas
- Bayou
- Bayou Meto, Arkansas County, Arkansas
- Bayou Meto, Lonoke County, Arkansas
- Beauchamp (fair of beautiful field or plain)
- Beaudry
- Belleaire (from "belle aire", beautiful place)
- Belleville ("Beautiful City")
- Bellefonte (maybe from "belle fontaine", beautiful fountain)
- Boeuf ("Beef")
- Bonair (good air)
- Buie
- Burdette
- Cache
- Cadron ("sun dial")
- Calumet The French word for a Native American tobacco pipe.
- Calvin (Anglicized version of Cauvin, famous French Protestant)
- Champagnolle (meaning a person from Champagne)
- Chancel
- Chicot County (a stump)
- Claude
- Cloquet
- Cossatot River ("tomahawk")
- Dardanelle, Arkansas
- Darcy
- DeGray Lake ("sandstone")
- De Roche (of the rock)
- Deberrie
- Decatur
- Delaplaine (Of-the-plains, surname)
- Departee
- Devue
- Des Arc ("At the bend")
- Dumas (French surname, possibly for Alexandre Dumas)
- Ecore Fabre
- Fayetteville (named for French general, Marquis de La Fayette)
- Fontaine ("Fountain", a surname)
- Fourche ("Pitchfork")
- Fourche Lafave
- Fourche Valley
- Francure
- Frenchman's Bayou
- Galla Rock (from "gallets," meaning pebbles)
- Gallatin
- Glazypeau Mountain (Anglicization of "Glaise à Paul," meaning "Paul's clay pit")
- Grand Glaise ("Large Clay")
- Gravette
- Guion, Arkansas (named for a railroad conductor of French-Canadian descent)
- La Fave ("bean")
- La Grue (the crane)
- La Grue Springs
- Lacrosse
- Ladelle
- Lafayette County
- LaGrange ("the barn" (possibly for the plantation of the Marquis de Lafayette))
- Lamartine (French author Alphonse de Lamartine, also a surname)
- L'Aigle Creek ("the eagle")
- L'Anguille ("The Eel")
- Lapile ("a pile," possibly a surname)
- Larue (the street)
- Latour (the tower)
- Lave Creek
- Levesque ("Bishop", a common French-Canadian surname)
- L'Eau Frais Creek
- Macon (French city "Mâcon")
- Magnolia, Arkansas (named for the plant, which was named for the botanist Pierre Magnol)
- Marais Saline (saline marsh)
- Marche
- Maumee
- Maumelle (breasts)
- Monette
- Mont Sandels
- Montreal (royal mount)
- Moreau (feedbag, probably a family's proper name)
- Mount Magazine ("Magasin," meaning barn or warehouse)
- New Gascony (Gascony)
- Ozan, Arkansas
- Ozark (phonetic rendering of either aux Arks, "of the Ark(ansas)" or aux Arcs, "of the arches", or possibly aux arcs-en-ciel, "of the rainbows")
- Ozark Mountains as per immediately above
- Paris
- Paroquet
- Partain
- Petit Jean ("Little John" named after a French sailor on the Arkansas River)
- Pollard
- Prairie County ("prairie, meadow")
- Saline County
- Sans Souci (literally without concern)
- Segur (French city)
- Sevier County
- Smackover (Anglicization of chemin couvert, "covered way")
- Soudan
- St. Francis County
- Terre Noire (black earth)
- Terre Rouge (redland or red earth)
- Tollette
- Tully
- Urbanette
- Vallier (French surname)
- Vaucluse (French region)
- Vaugine Township
- Vidette
- Villemont (ville = city, mont = mount)
California
- Alsace (Region in France bordering Germany)
- Artois (named after Artois, France)
- Bel Air ("Beautiful Air")
- Belfort ("Beautiful Fort")
- Belmont ("Beautiful Mount")
- Bonnefoy ("Good Faith")
- Brisbane (French "brise" and Old English "bane," meaning bone)
- Cassel (a town in France)
- Chalfant
- Concord (from French "concorde" meaning agreement, harmony, or union)
- Delano (after a scion of the famous Delano Family, originally Huguenots named "De Lannoye")
- Disneyland (after Walt Disney, a descendant of the Norman family d'Isigny (Isigny, Normandie, France))
- Fremont (named for John C. Frémont, American soldier, explorer and politician of French ancestry)
- Friant
- Gasquet
- Guerneville
- Lafayette (named for the French general Marquis de La Fayette)
- La Grange ("The Barn")
- La Grange Reservoir
- La Porte ("The door")
- Le Grand ("The Big")
- Montague (pointed hill)
- Montclair ("Clear Mountain")
- Nice (After French city of the same name)
- Nord ("North")
- Orleans
- Piedmont (French spelling of the Piedmont region of Italy)
- Richmond (After Virginian city of the same name with French origins)
- Rubidoux (named for Louis Rubidoux)
- San Francisco (named after Saint Francis of Assisi, who had received that name because his mother was French or as a tribute to France)
- Vichy Springs (After French city of the same name)
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
- Illinois, French version of Illini, a local Native American tribe
- Illinois River
- Beaucoup Creek (plenty good)
- Belle Rive ("Beautiful Bank") (French military commander)
- Belleville ("Beautiful City")
- Bonpas Creek ("Good Step")
- Bourbonnais (named for François Bourbonnais, Sr., a fur trader)
- Bureau County ("Office"; person's name)
- Cache River (hidden river)
- Champaign (from Champaigne, a French surname)
- Chicago, although not a French place name in itself, shikaakwa or "wild onion" in the Native-American Miami-Illinois language, the pronunciation of the "chi" (as opposed to the "chi" as in China) is the result of early French settlement
- Creve Coeur ("Heartbreak"; early French fort)
- Decatur
- DePue (named for an early French fur trader by the name of De Pue)
- Des Plaines ("of the Plains")
- Des Plaines River
- Du Bois (from the woods)
- DuPage River
- Du Quoin (name of an Illiniwek chief)
- Embarrass ("Predicament")
- Fayette County (after LaFayette)
- Fort Massac
- Hennepin (named in honor of the 17th-century French explorer Father Louis Hennepin)
- Joliet (named after explorer Louis Jolliet)
- La Fayette
- La Grange ("The Barn")
- La Moille
- La Moine River ("The Monk", after an early monastery)
- La Salle (named after explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. La Salle literally means "the Hall.")
- L'erable, Illinois (Settled by French Canadians)
- Libertyville
- Marion
- Marseilles (after Marseille)
- Massac (French Minister)
- Menard County (after Pierre Menard)
- Prairie du Rocher ("Prairie of the Rock")
- Paris
- Rochelle
- St. Anne (Anne is spelled in French. Founded by French-speaking Canadians. See Charles Chiniquy)
- St. Georges (Note: retains the silent "s" from the French)
- Sublette
- Toulon
- Versailles (for the French city and palace)
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Cities
Counties
Louisiana
- Louisiana (Louisiane in French - named in honor of King Louis XIV of France in 1682)
- Abbeville (after Abbeville, France) (One of several communities in the United States named "Abbeville".)
- Algiers New Orleans neighborhood
- Ascension Parish, named from the French l'Ascension
- Arnaudville
- Assumption Parish, named from the French l'Assomption
- Audubon New Orleans neighborhood
- Avoyelles Parish
- Baton Rouge ("Red Stick")
- Bayou Cane
- Bayou Chicot
- Bayou Gauche ("Left Bayou")
- Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds
- Bayou L'Ourse
- Beauregard Parish
- Belle Alliance ("Beautiful Alliance")
- Belle Chasse ("Beautiful Hunting")
- Belle d'Eau
- Belle Rose ("Beautiful Rose")
- Belmont
- Bienville Parish
- Blanchard (named after a Louisiana governor of French ancestry)
- Bonnet Carré, flood prevention spillway on the Mississippi River ("square bonnet")
- Bossier City (after Pierre Bossier)
- Bossier Parish
- Bourg (ancient French word for "town")
- Breaux Bridge
- Breton National Wildlife Refuge (on and around Breton Island)
- Broussard (after merchant Valsin Broussard, of Acadian descent)
- Butte La Rose
- Calcasieu
- Cancienne
- Chalmette ("Pasture land, fallow land")
- Chandeleur Islands
- Charenton (named after Charenton asylum)
- Chataignier ("Chestnut tree")
- Chauvin Chenier Au Tigre ("Tiger oak tree")
- Chenal
- Cocodrie (dialect word for "crocodile")
- Cossinade
- Coteau Bourgeois ("Bourgeois hill")
- Davant
- Delacroix Island
- Delcambre
- Des Allemands ("of the Germans")
- Destrehan (named in honor of Jean Noel Destréhan, Creole politician)
- Deville
- Dulac ("of the lake")
- Evangeline Parish
- Faubourg Marigny New Orleans neighborhood
- Faubourg Tremé New Orleans neighborhood
- Fontainebleau New Orleans neighborhood
- Fort De La Boulaye
- Garyville
- Gentilly New Orleans neighborhood
- Grand Bayou ("great bayou")
- Grand Ecaille ("great scale")
- Grand Ecore
- Grand Isle ("great island")
- Grand Chenier ("great oakwood")
- Grand Coteau ("great hill")
- Grosse Isle ("big island")
- Grosse Tête ("fat or big head")
- Gueydan
- Iberville Parish (named for Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville)
- Iberville Projects New Orleans neighborhood
- Jean Lafitte (named for Jean Lafitte, a famous pirate)
- Labadieville
- Lacamp
- Lacassine ("small house")
- LaCour
- Lacombe
- Lafayette (named for the Marquis de La Fayette)
- Lafitte Projects New Orleans neighborhood
- Lafourche Parish (from la fourche, referring to a forked path)
- Lake Borgne ("one-eyed")
- Lake Pontchartrain
- L'Anse Grise ("the gray cove")
- LaPlace (named for early settler Basile LaPlace.)
- Larose ("the rose")
- Lebeau ("the beautiful")
- Le Blanc ("the white")
- Lecompte
- Leonville
- Le Moyen
- Mandeville (named for developer Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville)
- Maringouin (Cajun French in origin and means "mosquito")
- Marion (named after an American soldier of Huguenot ancestry)
- Maurepas
- Meaux (after the town of Meaux)
- Meraux
- Mermentau
- Mer Rouge ("red sea")
- Metairie (from a French word for sharecropping)
- Michoud New Orleans neighborhood
- Montegut
- Montpelier
- Moreauville
- Napoleonville (for French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte)
- New Orleans (named for the duke of Orléans, France)
- Ossun (named after the town of Ossun)
- Paincourtville ("short of bread town")
- Paradis ("Paradise")
- Parlange
- Pierre Part
- Plaisance
- Plaquemines Parish
- Plaucheville
- Point Au Fer Reef Light
- Pointe aux Chenes ("Oak Point")
- Pointe à la Hache ("Axe Spike")
- Pointe Coupee Parish (from pointe coupée, "cut spike")
- Port Barre
- Port Fourchon
- Pont Des Mouton
- Prairieville ("meadow town")
- Presquille (from presqu'île, "peninsula")
- Provencal
- Rosaryville
- Saint Benedict
- Saint Bernard
- Saint Maurice
- St. Amant
- St. Claude New Orleans neighborhood
- St. Francisville
- St. Gabriel
- St. Landry Parish
- St. Malo
- St. Martinville (originally named Poste des Attakapas-Atakapas Post)
- St. Roch New Orleans neighborhood
- St. Rose
- Saline
- South Vacherie
- Terrebonne Parish ("Good Land")
- Timbalier Island ("timpani player")
- Tulane/Gravier New Orleans neighborhood named after Paul Tulane, philanthropist and son of Louis Tulane, a French immigrant
- Vacherie ("Cowshed")
- Verdun
- Versailles
- Vieux Carré ("Old Square") also known as the French Quarter in New Orleans
- Ville Platte ("Flat City")
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
- Allouez (named after missionary Claude-Jean Allouez)
- Au Gres (French for "at the sandstone")
- Au Sable
- Au Sable River
- Au Train
- Barbeau
- Beaugrand Township
- Belle River
- Belleville ("Beautiful City;" named for a Paris district)
- Bellevue
- Benzie County "Bec Scie", meaning "Saw Beak" or "Saw Bill", a kind of duck
- Berrien County
- Bete Grise ("Gray Beast")
- Bete Grise (community also meaning "Gray Beast")
- Bois Blanc Island ("White Wood")
- Cadillac (named after explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac)
- Chapin Township
- Charlevoix (named for Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix (1682–1761), a French Jesuit in New France)
- Cheviers
- Delaware Township
- De Tour Village
- Detroit (of the "Strait")
- Doty
- Eau Claire
- Ecorse (from Rivière aux Écorces, "Bark River")
- Fort Gratiot Charter Township
- Fremont Township
- Grand Blanc ("Great/Large White")
- Grand Marais ("Large Marsh")
- Grand Traverse County
- Grande Pointe
- Gratiot County
- Grosse Ile ("Big Island")
- Grosse Pointe ("Big Point")
- Grosse Pointe Farms
- Grosse Pointe Park
- Grosse Pointe Shores
- Grosse Pointe Woods
- Hamtramck (named for the French-Canadian soldier Jean François Hamtramck from Québec, became a decorated officer in the American Revolutionary War)
- Isle Royale National Park ("Royal Island")
- Lac La Belle ("Beautiful Lake", community)
- Lac La Belle ("Beautiful Lake", lake)
- Lachine
- Lamotte Township
- L'Anse ("The Cove")
- Lapeer County
- Lasalle
- LeRoy ("The King")
- Les Cheneaux Islands ("The Channels")
- Marion Township
- Marlette
- Marne (named after a river in France)
- Marquette (named after explorer Jacques Marquette)
- Marquette County
- Montcalm County (named for Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander in the French and Indian War).
- Montmorency County (named for the Montmorency family, a noble family influential in the administration of New France)
- Napoleon (for Napoleon Bonaparte)
- Parisville
- Pere Marquette River (for Father (père) Jacques Marquette)
- Pere Marquette Township
- Pointe Aus Barques
- Pointe aux Tremble
- Pointe Mouillee State Game Area
- Portage
- Presque Isle (from presqu'île, "peninsula")
- Presque Isle County
- Reno Township
- River Rouge
- Saint Clair Haven
- Saint Clair Shores
- Sans Souci
- Sault Ste. Marie ("St. Mary's Rapids")
- Sebille Manor
- St. Clair
- St. Clair County
- St. Clair Shores
- St. Ignace (French rendition of St. Ignatius)
- St. Joseph
- Traverse City
- Vermilion
- Vermontville
Minnesota
- Albertville, named after a city in France
- Argyle (from the French Argile, "clay") (or from Argyll in Scotland?)
- Audubon
- Baudette
- Beaulieu
- Belle Plaine http://mnplaces.mnhs.org/upham/city.cfm?PlaceNameID=216&BookCodeID=6&County=70&SendingPage=Results.cfm
- Belle Prairie Township
- Bernadotte
- Big Fork River (originally Rivière Grande Fourche)
- Bois de Sioux River ("woods of the Sioux")
- Bois Forte Indian Reservation ("hard wood")
- Brule River (from the Ojibwe name Wiisakode-ziibi "half-burned wood river", which was translated directly into French as Bois Brulé. Half of the river disappears into a pothole in the Judge C. R. Magney State Park).
- Calumet
- Cloquet
- Coteau des Prairies ("slope of the prairies")
- Delano (after a scion of the famous Delano Family, originally Huguenots named "De Lannoye")
- Detroit Mountain, thus Detroit Lakes
- Duluth (named after Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut)
- Faribault
- Faribault County, named for Jean-Baptiste Faribault, French-Canadian trader
- Fond du Lac Indian Reservation ("source of the lake")
- Frontenac State Park
- Frontier ("Border" refers to its position on the Minnesota / Ontario border)
- Gentilly
- Glese (From the French "glaise" or clay)
- Grand Marais ("Big Marsh"; some speculate "Big Harbor" in founders' accent)
- Grand Portage ("Large Portage")
- Grand Rapids
- Hennepin County (named in honor of the 17th-century Belgian explorer Father Louis Hennepin)
- Huot, Minnesota named after French-Canadian settler Louis Huot
- La Moille - corruption of La Mouette 'the seagull' from a Vermont city name
- La Porte (The Door)
- La Prairie
- Lac qui Parle ("lake that speaks")
- La Crescent
- Lac Vieux Desert ("lake of the old clearing")
- Lake Pepin named after French-Canadian settler Jean Pepin
- Lake Traverse
- La Salle (named for René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a french explorer)
- Le Roy
- Le Sueur (named for Pierre-Charles Le Sueur)
- Leech Lake (originally lac sangsue, "leech lake", a translation from the Ojibwe Ozagaskwaajimekaag-zaaga'igan "Lake abundant with leeches")
- Little Fork River (originally Rivière Petite Fourche)
- Little Marais (originally Petit Marais, "Little Marsh")
- Mille Lacs County
- Mille Lacs Lake ("thousand lakes")
- Nicollet County
- Orleans
- Pelland
- Platte
- Pomme de Terre ("potato")
- Red Lake (originally lac rouge, "red lake", a translation from the Ojibwe Miskwaagamiiwi-zaaga'igan "Red-colored Waters Lake")
- Rainy Lake (originally lac à la pluie, "rainy lake")
- Renville County, Minnesota
- Roseau ("reed")
- Roseville
- St. Cloud (named after a Paris suburb; St.Cloud is Saint Clodoald, grandson of the Frankish king Clovis I)
- St. Croix River
- St. Hilaire
- St. Louis Park
- Saint Paul (once known as Pig's Eye Landing after Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant - French: l'Oeil du Cochon, a French-Canadian trader and innkeeper, renamed Saint Paul by French-Canadian pastor Lucien Galtier when he built the first Roman Catholic chapel in the area)
- Sedan (named after the french city of the same name)
- Terrebonne ("good land")
- Traverse County
- Vadnais Heights, suburb of Saint Paul
- Lake Vermilion
- Voyageurs National Park, (named after the French-Canadian explorers - "travellers")
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
- Barada (named after Antoine Barada, whose father was French fur trapper and interpreter Michel Barada)
- Bayonne (named for the city)
- Bellevue ("Beautiful Sight")
- Bordeaux (named for the creek, below)
- Bordeaux Creek (named for a fur trader)
- Cabanné's Post
- Chadron, Nebraska
- Decatur
- Du Bois ("of the Woods")
- Fontanelle, Fontenelle Forest, Fontenelle Boulevard, Hotel Fontenelle, Logan Fontenelle Housing Project (Named after Logan Fontenelle, Omaha Tribe chief who was the son of a Creole and Omahan mother)
- Fremont (named for John C. Frémont, French-American pioneer and politician)
- Grand Island
- La Platte
- Loup County, Loup River ("Wolf", named after the Skidi Pawnee people who called themselves the Wolf People)
- Louisville
- Loup River
- Lyons
- Papillion (from papillon, "butterfly")
- Platte County
- Platte River ("flat river")
- Robidoux Pass
- Sarpy County (named after Peter Abadie Sarpy, a fur trader of French origin born in New Orleans, Louisiana)
- St. Deroin (named after a family called Du Roins).
- St. Paul
Nevada
- Frenchman
- Frenchman Flat
- Lamoille
- Montreux
- Pioche, named after François Louis Alfred Pioche, a financier who purchased the town in 1869.
- Primeaux
- Reno, named after Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the American Civil War. (Reno's family name was a modified version of the French surname "Renault")
- Valmy, named after the place in France of a famous battle during the Revolutionary period.
New Hampshire
- Belmont (named for August Belmont, German-born financier who changed his name to Belmont upon arriving in the United States)
- Pinardville (named for Edmond Pinard, Québec native and early resident[8])
New Jersey
New Mexico
- Bayard (named for George Dashiell Bayard, Union general in the Civil War of French ancestry)
- Clovis (named for Clovis, first Christian King of the Franks)
- Lamy, New Mexico (named for the French born and educated Santa Fe, New Mexico Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy (1814 - 1888)
- Ledoux, New Mexico (named for Abraham Ledoux (1784-1842) and Antoine Ledoux (1779 - ?), two French brothers born in Québec, who became trappers and settled in Mora, New Mexico and Taos, New Mexico)
- Antoine Leroux, New Mexico (named for Antoine Leroux (1801 - 1861), a famous trader and scout, born from French - Canadian parents, who settled in Taos, New Mexico)
- St. Vrain, New Mexico (named for Ceran St. Vrain (1802 - 1870), a Western American trader of French descent.
New York
- Au Sable, New York Au Sable
- Ausable River ("sand river")
- Barre
- Bellerose
- Belle Terre
- Boquet or Bouquet River
- Buffalo (One theory holds that the city gets its name from an English corruption of the French "beau fleuve" ("beautiful river").)
- Chateaugay (named after Chateauguay, Québec)
- Chateaugay River
- Champlain (named after French explorer Samuel de Champlain)
- Chaumont
- Chaumont Bay
- Chaumont River
- Chazy
- Clermont
- Decatur
- Delaware County
- Dunkirk (named after the city of Dunkirk or Dunkerque, France, because of the similar harbor.)
- Esperance
- Fayette
- Fayetteville
- Fremont
- Fremont Center (named after John C. Frémont, Franco-American explorer, military officer and politician)
- Gouverneur
- Grand Island
- Granville
- Grasse River (named after the Comte de Grasse, a French admiral who decisively defeated the British fleet in the Battle of the Chesapeake in September 1781 during the American Revolution)
- Huguenot
- Jacques Cartier State Park (park located along the St. Lawrence River and named after 16th-century French explorer Jacques Cartier)
- La Chute River
- LaFayette
- LaGrange
- Lake Champlain (lake named after French explorer Samuel de Champlain)
- Le Ray
- Le Roy
- Lorraine
- Louisville
- Maine
- Marion
- Massena (named after André Masséna, one of Napoleon's field marshals.)
- Montague
- Montour
- New Paltz (named by French Huguenots)
- New Rochelle (founded by French Huguenots and named after La Rochelle, France.)
- Orleans
- Orleans County
- Portage
- Raquette River
- Rouses Point (named after early settler Jacques Rouse.)
- Point Au Roche State Park (park located on the shores of Lake Champlain)
- St. Armand
- St. Lawrence County (for the Saint Lawrence River, English form of Fleuve Saint-Laurent.)
- Valcour Island (island located in Lake Champlain)
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
- Auglaize River (corruption of the French eau glaise, meaning "muddy water")
- Auglaize County
- Belfort (named for a town in France)
- Bellaire
- Bellefontaine ("Beautiful Fountain")
- Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
- Belmont County (Anglicized "Beautiful Mountain")
- Belmont
- Belpre ("Beautiful Meadow")
- Champaign County
- Chardon
- Cheviot
- Clermont County (from the city Clermont, France. "Clair" = clear, "mont" = mount)
- Conneaut
- Decatur
- Delaware County
- Duchouquet Township
- Fayette County (after the Marquis de Lafayette)
- Fayette
- Fremont
- Gallia County (Latin for Gaul, Roman name for France)
- Gallipolis, Ohio, largest city of Gallia County
- Girard
- Grand Prairie Township
- Guernsey County
- Huron County (French name for the Wyandot tribe)
- Lafayette
- Lagrange ("The Barn")
- LaRue ("The Street")
- Leroy Township, Lake County ("The King")
- Lorain County (for the French province of Lorraine)
- Lorain
- Louisville
- Marietta (to honor Marie Antoinette)
- Marion County
- 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
- Paris Township, Stark County, Ohio
- Paris Township, Union County, Ohio
- Portage County
- Vermilion River (Red River)
- Versailles
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
- Belle Vernon
- Bellefonte ("Beautiful Fountain")
- Bellevue
- Boquet
- Calumet, Pennsylvania
- Charleroi ("Charles King"—in reference to King Carlos II of Spain)
- Chartiers Township
- Dauphin County
- Decatur Township
- Delano (after a scion of the famous Delano Family, originally Huguenots named "De Lannoye")
- DuBois ("Of the Woods")
- Duquesne, named after the Marquis Duquesne, governor of New France
- Eau Claire
- Fayette City
- Fayette County, named to honor the Marquis de LaFayette
- Fort Duquesne, original name of what is now Pittsburgh
- Fort Le Boeuf
- Fort Machault
- Fort Presque Isle
- Laporte ("The door")
- Ligonier, named after Field Marshal John Ligonier, a British noble and officer with French ancestry
- Luzerne County
- Luzerne Township
- Mercer Township
- Montour County
- North Versailles Township
- Paris
- South Versailles Township
- Versailles, named after the Palace of Versailles
- Wilkes-Barre (Barre was a British politician with Huguenot ancestry, favorable to the cause of US colonies)
Rhode Island
- Lafayette Village, a historic district in North Kingstown, RI
- Louisquisset, a neighborhood and major parkway in Providence, RI
- Marieville, a neighborhood in Providence, RI
South Carolina
South Dakota
- Belle Fourche ("Beautiful Fork")
- Belle Fourche Reservoir
- Belle Fourche River
- Big Sioux River
- Bois de Sioux River ("Woods of the Sioux" River)
- Bon Homme County ("Good Man" County)
- Burdette
- Conde (maybe from the noble French family of Condé)
- Corsica
- Coteau des Prairies ("Slope of the Prairies")
- Missouri Coteau ("Slope of the Missouri")
- East Sioux Falls, a ghost town
- Edgemont
- De Smet, named for Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian priest
- Dupree (maybe from "du pré")
- Flandreau, named for Charles Eugene Flandrau, judge of Huguenot ancestry
- Fort Pierre
- Jerauld County
- Joubert (a common French surname)
- Lake Traverse
- La Plant
- LeBeau
- Mellette County
- Montrose (possibly from "pink mountain")
- Moreau River
- North Sioux City
- Pierpont
- Pierre, named for Pierre Chouteau, Jr., an American fur trader of French Canadian origin
- Platte
- Roubaix, a ghost town named for the French city of the same name
- Roubaix Lake, a lake located in the Black Hills (from the French city of Roubaix)
- St. Francis
- Sioux Falls
- Vermillion
- West Branch Lac qui Parle River ("Lake that Speaks" River)
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
- Beaux Arts Village (from "fine arts")
- Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
- Belfair
- Belmont ("Beautiful Mountain")
- Blanchard (Old French for "Whitish")
- Boistfort
- Brier
- Coulee City
- Coupeville
- Decatur Island
- Deschutes ("of the Falls")
- Des Moines ("of the Monks")
- Doty
- Dupont
- 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
- 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")
- 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 descent
- Quimper Peninsula
- Roche Harbor
- Touchet
- Touchet River
- Vashon
- Vashon Island named after James Vashon, an officer in the Royal Navy of Huguenot descent
West Virginia
Wisconsin
- Wisconsin (anglicized from the French "Ouisconsin", which in turn is a corruption of the Ojibwe "Meskonsing")
- Allouez (after Claude-Jean Allouez)
- 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 Argonne Forest in France)
- Ballou
- Belle Plaine ("beautiful plain")
- Bellevue ("beautiful view")
- Benoit
- Bois Brule River ("burnt wood")
- 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")
- Dovre
- Eau Claire ("clear water")
- Eau Claire County
- Eau Galle ("gall water")
- Eau Pleine ("full water")
- Flambeau ("torch")
- Fond du Lac ("bottom of the lake")
- Fond du Lac County
- Grand Chute ("great fall")
- Green Bay (anglicized from the French baie verte, previously "Baie des Puants" - "Bay of Stinks")
- Juneau County ("Named for Solomon Juneau, born in Quebec")
- La Crosse ("the crozier")
- La Crosse County
- La Farge
- Lafayette County
- La Grange (originally "La Grane" after the native place of General La Fayette)
- 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
- Marinette County
- Marquette (after Father Jacques Marquette)
- Marquette County
- Montreal ("Royal Mountain", after Montréal, Québec)
- Nicolet National Forest (after Jean Nicolet)
- Pepin County
- Portage (originally named for the Fox-Wisconsin portage)
- Portage County
- 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 ("radish")
- 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
- Trempealeau River (from "trempe à l'eau", "plunge into the water")
- Trempealeau County
Wyoming
See also
Bibliography
- Some Old French Place Names in Arkansas . Modern Language Notes . Branner . John C. . 14 . 2 . 33-40 . JSTOR . 1899.
- Book: Coulet du Gard, René . The Handbook of French Place Names in the U.S.A. . Adams Press . 1974 . Chicago . Coulet du Gard . Dominique.
- Book: Foscue, Virginia O. . Place Names in Alabama . University of Alabama Press . 1989 . Tuscaloosa . registration.
Notes and References
- Web site: Kaetz . James P. . July 16, 2014 . Bayou La Batre . August 11, 2024 . Encyclopedia of Alabama.
- Holmes . Jack D.L. . 1967 . Dauphin Island's Critical Years: 1701-1722 . Alabama Historical Quarterly . 29 . 1 . 40 . HathiTrust.
- Book: Orth, Donald J. . Dictionary of Alaska Place Names . Government Printing Office . 1967 . Washington . August 11, 2024.
- Book: Granger, Byrd Howell . Arizona's Names: X Marks the Place . Falconer Publishing Company . 1983 . 0918080185 . Tucson . 474.
- peridot. 8349623216. August 16, 2024.
- Web site: Bee Branch Creek History Dubuque, IA - Official Website . 2022-09-04 . www.cityofdubuque.org.
- Web site: An Indian Legend . 2022-12-27 . Bellevue Herald Leader . 19 June 2019 . en.
- Web site: Pinardville NH Home Page. June 2, 2010.
- Web site: Cheyenne | Origin and meaning of the name cheyenne by Online Etymology Dictionary.
