Where do cities, states, countries get their names?
Place names like cities, states, and countries get their names from a variety of sources. Sometimes a place is named for a particular person, like the state of Washington is named for George Washington or Pennsylvania (which means Penn’s Woods – after William Penn, one of the colony’s founders). Colombia was named after Christopher Columbus. Sometimes a place name comes from a geographic feature of the place – Mountain View CA is named such because it has.. a mountain view. Chicago is named from a Native American word meaning “wild onion” or “smelly onion”, which apparent grew in the area where the town was first built. Some place names are actually derived from the calendar. Early Spanish explorers often named locations after the feast day of the saint on which it was discovered. Thus Santa Ana was named because either the settlement was made or the area was explored on the feast day of Saint Ann. Christmas Island was named.. because it was explored on Christmas. Many place names come
