How Did The State Capitals Of The USA Get Their Names? 

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8:05 In case anyone is wondering, North Dakota failed to attract German investors, but Otto himself sent them a nice note.

So in short: Named after People: Alabama 3:15, Alaska 3:24, Colorado 4:00, Kentucky 5:46, Maine 6:07, Maryland 6:16, Michigan 6:30, Minnesota 6:38, Nevada 7:10, New Jersey 7:14, New York 7:44, North Carolina 7:54, North Dakota 8:00, Ohio 8:10, Pennsylvania 8:23, South Carolina 8:40, South Dakota 8:44, Tennessee 8:50, Texas 8:53, West Virginia 9:36 Named after Other Places: Connecticut 4:08, Delaware 4:18, Indiana 5:12, Massachusetts 6:25, New York 7:44, Oklahoma 8:13, Vermont 9:06, Wyoming 9:52 Named After a Geographic Feature: California 3:50, Hawai'i 4:44, Idaho 4:53, Illinois 5:03, Utah 9:02, Washington 9:29 Named After Sights: Arkansas 3:42, Louisiana 5:53, Virginia 9:13 Names of Aboriginal Origin: Florida 4:23, Indiana 5:12 (exonym), Oklahoma 8:13, Wyoming 9:52 (exonym) Named after US Presidents: Mississippi 6:42, Missouri 6:48, Nebraska 7:04, Wisconsin 9:47 Names of ambiguous origin: Georgia 4:31, Iowa 5:18, Kansas 5:38, Montana 6:52 Names of religious origin: California 3:50, Minnesota 6:38, New Mexico 7:33, Rhode Island 8:31 Names of Francophone origin: Alaska 3:24, Arkansas 3:42, Louisiana 5:53, South Dakota 8:44, Vermont 9:06, Wyoming 9:52 Scottish Influence: New York 7:44 German influence: North Dakota 8:00 Greek influence: Washington 9:29 Named for other reasons: Arizona 3:32, New Hampshire 7:14, Oregon 8:16

“Phoenix” : Shows picture of Los Angeles

“The name in Maine that we need to explain” 😆

Why is Jordan a countries name as well as a general name? Why are there two types of plaques-dental plaque and memorial plaques? Why were there two Thebes? One in Greece, the other in Egypt. Why is there a real life animal and a mythological creature(a Greek half-woman, half-snake) both called echidna? Why are there two Galicia's? One in Spain, the other in Eastern Europe.

I’m curious of Otto Von Bismarck’s reaction upon hearing that a US state thousands of miles away had randomly decided to name their provincial capital after him

It's odd how there are so many springfields in the United States, yet there are very few that are state capitals

Fun fact about the SC state capital: It was moved to Columbia before the Civil War to make it more accessible to the entire state since it's directly in the middle. The previous capital was Charleston, an evolved form of Charlestowne named for King Charles

I memorized all the U.S. capitals and states back in elementary but I never knew the meaning behind the names. Really cool and informative video, Patrick 👍

Indianapolis was named after Indiana, which was named after the Indians in the region. They were called Indians by colonists because they looked like the people from the islands of the Caribbean. Europeans called those people Indians because Christopher Columbus thought he was in the Indies in Southeast Asia. Those islands were called the Indies because the people there looked like the people from India. India got its name from the Greeks and Persians, who used that name to refer to everything east of the Indus River, in what is now Pakistan. So, in short, Indianapolis literally means "city of the land of the people who look like the people from the land mistaken to be the land of the people who look like the people from the land east of a river in Pakistan".

Boston. As a native of Massachusetts, I happen to know the story behind a contiguous suburb of Boston, Cambridge. It was originally called Newtown¹, but was renamed by students from Harvard after that college's founder, John Harvard, who was a theology graduate of Cambridge University in England. ⅙And it's a good thing it was renamed as there's another contiguous suburb of Boston called Newton. Founded much later but all the same.

Your arrow for NY’s star is pointing at the area of Rochester, not Albany. Albany is closer to MA. But that’s fine. Albany is a beautiful city. This was great and educational to watch

Why are people in the comments obsessing over the arrows in the video? They aren't meant to show where the city is located. They are meant to show what state the city is located in. He didn't point out the location of any of the state capitals. He just made it clear what state the capital was in by either putting a star with the capital's name within the state borders or an arrow pointing to the state when the star with the capital's name was outside the state's borders

Another fact: The full original name of Santa Fe (and still written on its city seal) is "El Pueblo de la Santa Fe de San Fransisco de Asis" (in other words, the town of The holy faith of St. Francis of Assisi". It's also the oldest capital city in the country (and one of the 2 oldest European settlements in the US - Santa Fe, NM and St. Augustine, FL were founded the same year), having been the capital of New Mexico pretty much continuously since the founding of New Mexico as a Spanish territory (there was about a 20 year period where the capital was actually El Paso del Norte - today's El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico - due to the Pueblo revolt, but Santa Fe became the capital again after the reconquista).

Nashville, Tennessee was originally named for Nash, but as Fort Nashborough. The more English borough ending was swapped out for the more French ville. There's a reconstruction of Fort Nashborough on the riverfront today. Thanks for the video, I thought it was awesome. Don't know why people are mad you just centered the stars on the states the capitols are in, makes sense to me. They can look them up if they want to know where they are actually located. And one final thought: aren't you glad we didn't end up with Oklahomapolis?

As an Arkansan whose capital is at Little Rock, I appreciate this video! Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊

“...with my big silly hair and my big silly glasses, which I can get cut at the moment for some reason” I hate when I can’t get my glasses cut for some reason

Wrong capitals: Alaska: Juneau is placed in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, where it should be on the panhandle. Florida: Tallahassee is not Tampa/St. Petersburg, and should go in the panhandle. Georgia: The placement is closer to Macon, as it should be more toward the northwest. Hawaii: Honolulu is not on the Big Island, but rather on O'ahu (just west of the Maui complex). Illinois: Springfield is southwest of its star; where it is now is Peoria. Kansas: Topeka is further east than it is located, as the current location is Salina. Kentucky: Frankfort is further east than Louisville. Louisiana: Baton Rouge is southeast, closer to New Orleans. Maine: Augusta is not in the middle of nowhere, and is actually located closer to the southern portion of the state. Maryland: Annapolis is relatively forgivable. Michigan: Lansing is far more south; current location is in the middle of a forest. Minnesota: St. Paul could be moved further south. Mississippi: Jackson is southwest of where it is marked. Montana: Helena is not Great Falls. Nebraska: Lincoln is closer to the east of the state. Nevada: Carson City is quite close to Sacramento, actually. New Hampshire: Concord is very much further south than it is shown to be. Very close to Boston, actually. New Jersey: Trenton? In Atlantic City? Seriously? It's situated along the Delaware, close to the average center of the state. New York: Albany is far more west than Rochester, parallel with the Massachusetts/Vermont state line. North Carolina: Move the marker toward the corner of the top-left third of the screen and you'll have Raleigh. North Dakota: Bismarck is further south than that. Oregon: Salem is south of Portland, not east. Pennsylvania: Harrisburg is closer to Philadelphia than Pittsburgh, and is certainly not as far north as that. South Carolina: I think you confused Columbia with Charleston/Myrtle Beach. It is the most central capital of all the states, both in terms of population and geography. South Dakota: PIerre is slightly more south than the marker. Texas: How could you confuse Austin with Dallas/Fort Worth? Austin is a ways' south of that. Utah: SLC is slightly further north. Virginia: Richmond is nowhere near Virginia Beach. Washington: Olympia is way more southwest, and does not border Canada. Wyoming: I think you mixed up Cheyenne and Casper. Thank you! Anybody have any questions:

Salem, Oregon was named after Salem, Mass because it was founded by a native of that historic city. Portland, Oregon was founded by two friends one from Maine and one from Boston, Mass. The city's name was decided by a coin flip. Not sure which one won.

North Carolinian here. Not Only is our state capitol named after a European person, but our largest city is named after Queen Charlotte von Mecklenburg of Germany, and the County that Charlotte is in is named Mecklenburg county. Hence Charlotte is often called "Crown City" or "Queen City".

Can you explain names of cities that have corruption after corruption in their etymological history (like Chicago)

I had thought, Frankfort has similar roots than the two german cities Frankfurt.

"The Holy Sacrament of Christianity"-- That's not really a very clear...explanation? Considering the Spaniards were Catholics and they were bringing priests and friars as missionaries wherever they went, the Sacrament being referred to is the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine.

3:58 Christianity is not really a sacrament, but Baptism, Marriage, and Confession are all sacraments.

I dare you to do each county’s capital with an in depth anaylisis

Fun fact: Des Moines is not the original capital of Iowa; that honor belongs to Iowa City. That’s why one of the University of Iowa’s most famous buildings is called the Old Capitol, because that used to be the state capitol building of Iowa. :)

I prefer his hair in reality to in small statue :-0

Salem comes from Hebrew, not a native American language. It comes from the word "shalom" or from a shortage of the name of "jeruSALEM"

8:55 Stone Cold Stephen F Austin

Thank you for pronouncing Pierre correctly! Also, fun fact, of the 50 states, only 17 of them (34%) have the largest city as the capital.

Phoenix: Shows pictures of LA umm...

3:40 That's the downtown Los Angeles skyline! If you're looking for a skyline shot of Phoenix, I suggest perhaps a shot at the Camelback mountain, or a shot looking from the Sky Harbor airport. There's also a "westward ho!" hotel downtown that might be cool to include. As a newly-minted Phoenician, I must say I really miss Los Angeles (except the traffic).

That was really cool to learn about Frankfort, KY! I’m American (though not from Kentucky), and I remember learning in school that it was named after Frankfurt, Germany. But after looking into it myself, you are correct. :)

The name of Salem, OR actually comes from an anglicisation of Hebrew 'שָׁלוֹם, shalom' meaning peace. The original name, Chemeketa, meaning 'resting place', comes from Santiam (Central Kalapuya).

A lot of places are named Columbia in America but its not because of Christopher, otherwise they'd be named Columbus like Columbus, Ohio. Places named Columbia come from America's goddess pre 1920s national personification, Columbia, similar to Britannia in Britain or Marianne in France, it was a thing countries did back then, personifications (especially of the Goddess type). America has had 5 Amerique (when the americas were discovered), Columbia, Brother Jonathan, Uncle Sam, and Lady Liberty. (Columbia was indeed named after Columbus, but the places named Columbia are named after our old personification)

4:27 As a native Floridian, I find it funny you're actually pointing at Tampa Bay. Thanks for the shout out! :p *EDIT* -- Also, you can tell a non-Floridian because of the crazy Native American city names we have here. Thonottosassa, Withlacoochee and Ocochobee to name a few. FELLOW FLORIDIANS, WHERE U AT? :p (Boost Mobile pun, haha..)

4:32 Whoa! Throwback (from 3 days ago).

As a South Dakotan, I appreciate you pronouncing "Pierre" correctly.

Please tell me why you used a picture of Kansas City, MO to describe Topeka, KS?

I have always been fascinated by name & word origins.Naturally,I like this video.

Hate to be that guy, but for Salem, OR- the "place of rest" is from it's original name of Chemeketa (which is still the name of the community college here). The actual origin for "Salem" is similar to Salem, MA, that it's a derivation of "shalom" or the Hebrew for peace.

The picture for Phoenix is a picture of downtown Los Angeles. 🙃

Saint Paul in Minnesota wasn't the first name of the town, it was originally Pig's Eye Landing, but the Bishop of the Catholic Church wouldn't build a cathedral there unless they changed the name to something more respectable.

Atlanta was originally called Terminus, because it was the terminus of that railroad.

I am from Nevada. I do not think I have ever heard Kit Carson referred to as Christopher Carson.

Patrick, for as much as I love your videos in regards to USA, you are British and I would like to know more about the UK of GB and NI. With that said, I suggest the UK equivalent of this video, please. I guess the subdivisions of every home nation.

As a Phoenician, Phoenix will always be the coolest state Capital name to me

At a time when horse travel may have been the fastest transportation available, a lot of the state capitals were selected because they were centrally located and gave everyone a more or less equal chance of getting there in time.Later on as transport improved and didn't matter that much many of what were originally smaller towns grew and became the most important city in their states precisely because they were the capitals.

Born in South Dakota. Thank you for pronouncing the city's name correctly.

I always understood that the Cheyenne Indians where named for the French word for dog because they ate dogs.

Say it with me: mare-land not mary-land. I know how it's spelled. But just like how Worcester is pronounced wooster, it's the same thing. No one says mary-land except foreigners. You wouldn't pronounce Illinois phonetically, would you? Edit: Just so everyone know, I have lived in Maryland all my life (33 years); I think I know how it's pronounced. This isn't even that controversial. At least Appalachian Mountains I can understand. People on west coast say app-eh-latch-an whereas people who actually live here (at least in Maryland) say app-eh-lay-tchin.

Guthrie, Oklahoma was actually Oklahoma's first capital. It was names after John Guthrie a jurrist in Topeka Kansas. The capitol was actually moved to Oklahoma City in 1910. The governor actually stole the state seal and moved it to Oklahoma City in the middle of the night.

For Topeka, your photo was the skyline of Kansas City, Missouri. Very close to Kansas but not Kansas.

Cheyenne is from Dakota (Dakhóta).

I hate my state’s capitals name. Named after a man who 1. Never set foot in the state 2. Killed and enslaved natives and cut off hands for not finding gold. I would love it to be renamed after Rutledge ( first and only President of South Carolina) or even Conagree after the river.

Nobody: Powerful people in the US:Hmm..... I’ll name this city and be creative about it. How about... (insert their name possibly followed by a suffix here) Cities in the USA:Hmm... I’ll name myself...(insert name of a city/town in the UK)

For Alabama: Montgomery is actually a small village in Wales that has a Castle. (I know it because of the ballad from Arany János-Bards of Wales). So Mr.Montgomery is named after that village :D

Marge: "742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, o-hiya, Maude!..."

For anyone wondering why Minnesota choose St.Paul as the person to name the city after, they technically didn't. The city was named after the local church, which was named after the saint. Also, if I remember correctly, the city is older than the state.

Your photo for Topeka, KS is actually the skyline of Kansas City, MO.

I'm from Missouri and I never really thought of it, but it makes sense that our state capital is named after Thomas Jefferson. He was the president that responsible for the Louisiana purchase, which includes Missouri.

State capitals with a religious element in their names: Providence, St. Paul, Santa Fé, Sacramento, Salem [short for Jerusalem, meaning “peace”], and Olympia [after Mt. Olympus in Greece, home of the Greek gods]. The last three are the Pacific Coast states of the lower 48.

Name Explain: Trenton Star arrow: Points at Atlantic City

Fun fact about Sacramento: it wasn’t really named after the Christian sacrament. The natives considered the river sacred so the Spanish called it Sacramento.

I think Dave Berry said it best: the Capitol of Iowa is Des Moines, which is French for some of those moines.

Florida man here, big fan of the video pointing to Tampa and calling it Tallahassee, I can understand why you'd rather talk about stuff on the peninsula though.

Some interesting bits of trivia about a few of these cities: Honolulu is the only state capital that a touch typist on a standard QWERTY keyboard would type with one hand. Try it with all fifty! Little Rock is the English translation of the Latin word applied to a branch of mathematics: calculus. Olympia and the Olympic Mountains were named for Mount Olympus in Greece, where the Greek gods were believed to reside; Salem was named after the Massachusetts town of witch hunting infamy, but the name is from the Bible and means “peace.” Salem (Shalom) is an abbreviation of Jerusalem (Yerushalayim), meaning “habitation of peace.” Along with Sacramento, they make a trifecta of religious capital city names for the three Pacific Coast states of the “lower 48.” Someone could start a newspaper in the Nebraska capital with the old time name of “the Lincoln Mercury.” Augusta and Juneau are the only state capitals that begin with names of months. And Augusta is the closest state capital to any part of the coast of Africa. Some people feel that the capital of Florida should be in Orlando, which is closer to the population center now,

A thing about Denver is that it was named after the governor of the Kansas Territory since it was a part of it at the time.

Actually Nashville comes from Fort Nashborough which in turn came from Nash

I'm surprised I didn't know up to this week that Atlanta was the actual capital of Georgia. I thought the US had only five capitals which are actually what you expect: Denver, Phoenix, Boston, Honolulu, and Okhlaroma City. Adding a new ciy to the rule messes things up a bit.

I come from Arkansas. Many towns are butchering of French and Spanish names. Petite Jean is pronounced like Pa-teet Jean (like blue jeans) . And El Dorado rhymes with tornado.

I've grown used to RU-vidrs looking worse than their avatars, so imagine my surprise when Name Explain turns out to actually look BETTER

Love these videos👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🎉🎉🎉🥳😃

Used a photo of Los Angeles for the city of Phoenix

I knew all of them, but not all their meanings. Also, you're one of the only people from outside the American Midwest to get the pronunciation of Pierre, South Dakota right. Even Americans get it wrong.

ONG he actually pronounced Des Moines right. Literally nobody outside of Iowa pronounces Des Moines right. Hell even people within the rural parts of Iowa mispronounce Des Moines.

way to specify the colonizer source languages but not the native source language "this capital is named in spanish, and this one is french, and this one is german!" "and this one is named after native americans" "and all of these are in native american!" that's about as useful as going into europe and describing the capitals as being named in etruscan, lithuanian, and in indo-european like i mean okay technically accurate but the video is barely over 10 minutes long for 51 capitals-like just our names would be nice-you don't even have to go into potential original meanings or original pronunciations or anything, just to remind people that the first nations of these lands are still here even though our lands are largely occupied by settlers at the moment

The Phoenix skyline in your video is really the Los Angeles skyline

Your hair is awesome! Keep it like that!

Brits always pronounce Los Angeles wrong. It's "An-gel-less" not "An-gel-lease"

Concord is pronounced con-kurd. Sometimes sounds like conquered.

Don't pronounce the s in Illinois. Ill-eh-noy not noise

The terminal S in Illinois is silent. Sorry. Similar to Arkansas but not Kansas. Strange.

Many of those nice state capitals seceded once I became President :(

What about the capitals of U.S. territories? Y'know Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Samoa and Virgin Islands, and the Northern Marianna Islands.

Sorry but i cant think of any ideas for a video😅, but i can say that the figurine looks very cool!

As a native Kansas City Missourian, that image of Topeka is 100% downtown Kansas City. If you look of Topeka Kansas skyline, you will be very underwhelmed.

You can tell if someone is from Iowa by how they say Des Moines. If they say it like Dez Moinez you have an out of stater.

Heya! Good video idea. Good channel. idk why but yt rarely ever(never) puts your videos on my recs

Unfortunately, you dropped the ball on Salem, Oregon. The name did not come from a Native American language. Per Wikipedia: Some possible sources for the name "Salem" include William H. Willson, who in 1850 and 1851 filed the plans for the main part of the city, and suggested adopting an Anglicized version of the Biblical Hebrew word "שָׁלוֹם, Shalom", meaning "peace" (as well as "hello" and "goodbye"). The Reverend David Leslie, President of the town's Trustees, also wanted a Biblical name, and suggested using the last five letters of "Jerusalem". Or, the town may be named after Salem, Massachusetts, where Leslie was educated. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem,_Oregon?wprov=sfti1

The s is silent in Illinois!

As noted in the video the town of Hertford in England inspired the name of Connecticut's capital, but in typical American fashion the spelling was changed to Hartford in order to bring it closer to the pronunciation.

Love your vid

the skyline used for phoenix is actually the Los Angeles skyline dude. I should know i live in LA and go to college in Phoenix

I find it very weird that Americans name cities after their famous leaders. Imagine Paris being called Napoleon, or London getting renamed to Nelson

Montpelier, Vermont is the smallest capital city in the Country. Phoenix, Arizona is the largest capital.

Lansing is way far north “Oh no Lansing where are you going!? No Lansing no!

The Capital of Tennessee was actually named after 2000s Phoenix Suns NBA Star. Steve Nash

Dover is located in the county of Kent,both in US and UK