Land of the Indians

I came across a glossary of Indian names and found some of them humorous. Here's a few:

• Chicago - "Place Of Wild Onions, Bad Smell", a river; city in Il., founded in 1833, site of Ft. Dearborn.
• Indianapolis - Chan-tun-oon-gi, "Make A Noise Place", Capital of Indiana.
• Mishawaka - "Country of Dead Trees", name of Shawnee princess, city east of S. Bend, Indiana.
• Tuxedo - "Place of beans"
• Wakaruso - "Hip Deep In Mud", town in Indiana.
• Winnebago - "People Of The Stinking Water", a tribe in WI.

I'm loving Chicago and Winnebago. There were also some very nice names:

• Idaho - "It Is Morning", our 43rd state.
• Passaic - "Peaceful Valley", a river in NJ.
• Ohio - "Beautiful River", an Iroquois word, river, and our 17th state.

My fave is Willamette ("Running Water", a river in Oregon). A few months ago I was joking with my brother that if I had an Indian name, it should be Running Water. Tallulah pretty much means the same thing, too. I don't know the tribe that Willamette originated from, but Tallulah seems to come from the Choctaws--so not really Miami. Oh, well.