U.S. State Names:

The Stories of How Our States Were Named

by Kathy Guyton

Lots of books will give you a “dictionary definition” for each state’s name, like “named for the river,” “Latin for ‘mountainous'” or “an Indian word meaning ‘dugout canoe'”.  But U.S. State Names tells the entire story for every state.  Delve into history with this book, and find out where the name comes from, what is its true meaning, what other names might have been considered, and who got to decide.