List of place names in Nebraska of Native American origin

This is a list of Native American place names in the U.S. state of Nebraska. These include state, county, townships, cities, towns, and villages.

State

Nebraska - The name of the state is derived from an Omaha name meaning "flat water." In the Omaha language the name is Nibthaska; ni, water, and bthaska, flat.

Counties

Red Willow - From the Dakota name "Caŋṡaṡa Wakpala", which literally means Red Osier Dogwood Creek; this shrub being abundant along its banks.
Cheyenne
Dakota
Keya Paha County, Nebraska
Loup - Named for the Skidi Pawnee, whose name means "wolf", which in French is loup.
Nemaha
Otoe
Pawnee
Sioux
Keya Paha - Means "turtle hill", is descriptive of the small hills in its vicinity.

Villages, towns and cities

Anoka - A Dakota Indian word meaning "on both sides."
Arapahoe
Birdwood - A translation of the Dakota name Ziŋtka-c̣aŋ Wakpala (False Indigo Creek). False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa), commonly grows along the stream and in Dakota is literally called "birdwood."
Battle Creek - Named after a nearby stream where Nebraska volunteer militiamen were prepared to fight a battle against the Pawnee Indians that never happened.
Barada - Named after Antoine Barada, a French-Omaha settler on the Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation.
Blackbird - Blackbird is the English translation of the name Wash-ing-guhsah-ba, or Chief Blackbird of the Omahas who lived and died in the vicinity.
Bone Creek Township, Butler County, Nebraska
Brule - Named after the Brule tribe of the Teton Sioux.
Council Creek Township, Nance County, Nebraska
Elkhorn Township, Dodge County, Nebraska
Fontenelle - Named after Omaha chief Logan Fontenelle.
Hyannis - Named after Hyannis, Massachusetts, which was named after Iyannough, a sachem of the Cummaquid tribe.^[1]
Iowa Township, Holt County, Nebraska
Kenesaw Township, Adams County, Nebraska
Leshara - Named after Chief Petalesharo.
Lodgepole - Named after a nearby creek that is named after a literal translation of the Dakota name, Tushu Wakpala.
Logan Township, Adams County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Antelope County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Buffalo County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Burt County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Clay County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Cuming County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Dixon County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Dodge County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Gage County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Kearney County, Nebraska
Logan Township, Knox County, Nebraska
Loup Ferry Township, Nance County, Nebraska
Loup Township, Buffalo County, Nebraska
Loup Township, Custer County, Nebraska
Loup Township, Merrick County, Nebraska
Loup Township, Platte County, Nebraska
Mankota - Mankota is from the Dakota Indian word Maḳaṭo, meaning "blue earth". Named for Mankato, Minnesota.
Minatare - From the Hidatsa word mirita'ri, meaning "crosses the water."^[2]
Monowi - Meaning "flower", this town was so named because there were so many wild flowers growing in the vicinity.
Nehawka - An approximation to the Omaha and Otoe Indian name of a nearby creek meaning "rustling water."
Nemaha - Named after the Nemaha River, based on an Otoe word meaning "swampy water."^[3]
Niobrara - The Omaha and Ponca word for spreading water or spreading river.
Oconee - Named for Oconee, Illinois. Oconee was the name of a Creek town.
Oconto - A Menominee word meaning the "place of the pickerel." Named for Oconto, Wisconsin.
Ogallala - named for the Oglala people.
Omaha - Named for the Omaha people who lived nearby
Oneida Township, Kearney County, Nebraska
Osceola
Ottercreek Township, Dixon County, Nebraska
Leshara. Named after Petalesharo, a Pawnee chief.
Platte Township, Buffalo County, Nebraska
Platte Township, Butler County, Nebraska
Platte Township, Dodge County, Nebraska
Pohocco - A precinct in the northeastern part of Saunders county, the name derives from Pahuk, meaning headland or promontory, the Pawnee name of a prominent hill in the vicinity.
Ponca
Quinnebaugh Township, Burt County, Nebraska
Red Cloud
Rosalie - Named for Rosalie La Flesche, a daughter of Omaha chief Joseph La Flesche.^[4]
Santee
Sappa Township, Harlan County, Nebraska
Saratoga Township, Holt County, Nebraska
Sioux
Skull Creek Township, Butler County, Nebraska
St. Deroin - A ghost town on the former Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation founded by a French-Omaha settler who was killed near his trading post along the Missouri River.
Tecumseh
Tekamah - Located on the site of a historic Pawnee village, the surrounding hills were used for burying grounds and the highest point was used as a fire signal station. The origin of the name is not definitely known.
Tonawanda - Named for Tonawanda, New York.
Unidilla - An Iroquois word meaning "place of meeting." Named after Unadilla, New York.
Venango - An eastern Native American name in reference to a figure found on a tree, carved by the Erie.
Waco - Named after Waco, Texas, which is the name of one of the divisions of the Tawokoni whose village stood on the site of Waco, Texas.
Wahoo
Weeping Water is a translation of the French "L'Eau qui Pleure", and has an interesting Native American legend connected with its name.
Winnebago
Wyoming - Derived from a corrupted Delaware word meaning "large plains" or "extensive meadows."
Wyoming Township, Holt County, Nebraska
Yutan - Named for an Otoe chief.

Natural features

Other places

References

^ "Profile for Hyannis, Massachusetts". ePodunk. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
^ Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 258. ISBN 080613576X.
^ Network, University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Web Developer. "CASDE | Nemaha -- Nemaha County". www.casde.unl.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-01.
^ Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder A.M. (1925) Nebraska Place-Names. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism. p 140.

Bibliography

Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder A.M. (1925) Nebraska Place-Names. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism. p 140.
Fontenelle, Henry. (1885) Indian Names of Streams and Localities. Translations and reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society, vol. 1, p. 76, 1885.
Gilmore, Melvin R. (1919) Some Indian Place Names in Nebraska. Nebraska State Historical Society, vol. 19, pp. 130–139.