List of Iowa county name etymologies

This is a list of county name etymologies for the U.S. state of Iowa.

Counties, by first letter

Those 26 Iowa counties which have a name borne by no other county in the United States are indicated.

A

*Adair County, Iowa: Adair is named for John Adair, a general in the War of 1812 and eighth governor of Kentucky.
*Adams County, Iowa: Adams is named for either John Adams, the second president of the United States, or his son, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.
*Allamakee County, Iowa: Allamakee is named for either Allan Makee, a trapper and trader, or is of Native American origin. (Unique county name)
*Appanoose County, Iowa: Appanoose is named for Appanoose, a chief of the Sac and Fox Native American tribes who headed the peace party during the Black Hawk War. (Unique county name)
*Audubon County, Iowa: Audubon is named for John James Audubon, the famous naturalist and painter. (Unique county name)

B

*Benton County, Iowa: Benton is named for Thomas Hart Benton, a senator from Missouri who pushed for westward expansion of the United States.
*Black Hawk County, Iowa: Black Hawk is named for Black Hawk, the Sac and Fox Native American chief who led a revolt against resettlement of his tribe in the Black Hawk War. (Unique county name)
*Boone County, Iowa: Boone is named for Daniel Boone, the famous frontiersman, and his son, Daniel Nathan Boone, a colonel in the U. S. Dragoons.
*Bremer County, Iowa: Bremer is named for Fredricka Bremer, a Swedish novelist. (Unique county name)
*Buchanan County, Iowa: Buchanan is named for James Buchanan, the fifteenth president of the United States.
*Buena Vista County, Iowa: Buena Vista is named for the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican-American War. (Unique county name)
*Butler County, Iowa: Butler is named for William Orlando Butler, a Kentucky candidate for the vice presidency and general in the Mexican-American War.

C

*Calhoun County, Iowa: Calhoun is named for John Caldwell Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the United States.
*Carroll County, Iowa: Carroll is named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.
*Cass County, Iowa: Cass is named for Lewis Cass, a senator and presidential candidate from Michigan.
*Cedar County, Iowa: Cedar is named for the Cedar River.
*Cerro Gordo County, Iowa: Cerro Gordo is named for the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican-American War. (Unique county name)
*Cherokee County, Iowa: Cherokee is named for the Cherokee Native American tribe.
*Chickasaw County, Iowa: Chickasaw is named for the Chickasaw Native American tribe.
*Clarke County, Iowa: Clarke is named for James Clarke, a territorial governor of Iowa.
*Clay County, Iowa: Clay is named for Henry Clay, Jr., a general who died during the Mexican-American War and the son of Henry Clay, the famous U.S. statesman.
*Clayton County, Iowa: Clayton is named for John M. Clayton, a Delaware senator and the eighteenth United States Secretary of State.
*Clinton County, Iowa: Clinton is named for DeWitt Clinton, the seventh and ninth governor of New York and presidential candidate in 1812.
*Crawford County, Iowa: Crawford is named for William Harris Crawford, a presidential candidate as well as United States Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of War.

D

*Dallas County, Iowa: Dallas is named for George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh vice president of the United States.
*Davis County, Iowa: Davis is named for Garrett Davis, a United States Representative from Kentucky.
*Decatur County, Iowa: Decatur is named for Stephen Decatur, a naval hero of the War of 1812.
*Delaware County, Iowa: Delaware is named for either the state of Delaware or Delaware County, New York.
*Des Moines County, Iowa: Des Moines is named for the Des Moines River. (Unique county name)
*Dickinson County, Iowa: Dickinson is named for Daniel Stevens Dickinson, a United States senator from New York.
*Dubuque County, Iowa: Dubuque is named for Julien Dubuque, the first European settler of Iowa. (Unique county name)

E

*Emmet County, Iowa: Emmet is named for Robert Emmet, an Irish patriot.

F

*Fayette County, Iowa: Fayette is named for Marie-Joseph-Paul-Roch-Yves-Gilbert Du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, the French general in the American Revolutionary War.
*Floyd County, Iowa: Floyd is named for either William Floyd, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, or Charles Floyd, the only man to die on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
*Franklin County, Iowa: Franklin is named for Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Father, printer, scientist, and statesman.
*Fremont County, Iowa: Fremont is named for John Charles Frémont, the U. S. general, explorer, and presidential candidate.

G

*Greene County, Iowa: Greene is named for Nathanael Greene, a general in the American Revolutionary War.
*Grundy County, Iowa: Grundy is named for Felix Grundy, an United States Attorney General and U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
*Guthrie County, Iowa: Guthrie is named for Edwin B. Guthrie, a soldier in the Mexican-American War. (Unique county name)

H

*Hamilton County, Iowa: Hamilton is named for William W. Hamilton, a president of the Iowa state senate who was influential in the creation of the county.
*Hancock County, Iowa: Hancock is named for John Hancock, the American patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
*Hardin County, Iowa: Hardin is named for John J. Hardin, a soldier in the Black Hawk War and Mexican-American War in which he lost his life.
*Harrison County, Iowa: Harrison is named for William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States.
*Henry County, Iowa: Henry is named for Henry Dodge, a governor of the Wisconsin Territory (which included present-day Iowa) and later U. S. senator from Wisconsin.
*Howard County, Iowa: Howard is named for Tilghman Ashurst Howard, an U.S. senator from Indiana and general in Tennessee and Indiana.
*Humboldt County, Iowa: Humboldt is named for Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, the famous German scientist, explorer and statesman.

I

*Ida County, Iowa: Ida is named for possibly Ida Smith, the first European-American child born in the county. (Unique county name)
*Iowa County, Iowa: Iowa is named for the Iowa River and the Iowa Native American tribe.

J

*Jackson County, Iowa: Jackson is named for Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.
*Jasper County, Iowa: Jasper is named for William Jasper, a hero of the American Revolutionary War.
*Jefferson County, Iowa: Jefferson is named for Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
*Johnson County, Iowa: Johnson is named for Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth vice president of the United States.
*Jones County, Iowa: Jones is named for George Wallace Jones, an U.S. senator from Iowa.

K

*Keokuk County, Iowa: Keokuk is named for Keokuk, the Sauk Native American leader. (Unique county name)
*Kossuth County, Iowa: Kossuth is named for Lajos Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot. (Unique county name)

L

*Lee County, Iowa: Lee is named for probably William Elliot Lee, a land dealer who owned an area of Iowa that included the future county.
*Linn County, Iowa: Linn is named for Lewis Fields Linn, an U.S. senator from Missouri.
*Louisa County, Iowa: Louisa is named for either Louisa Massey of Dubuque, Iowa, who, according to legend, killed the murderer of her brother; or Louisa County, Virginia.
*Lucas County, Iowa: Lucas is named for Robert Lucas, the first governor of the Iowa Territory and the twelfth governor of Ohio.
*Lyon County, Iowa: Lyon is named for Nathaniel Lyon, an Iowan soldier who was the first United States general killed in the American Civil War.

M

*Madison County, Iowa: Madison is named for James Madison, the fourth president of the United States.
*Mahaska County, Iowa: Mahaska is named for Mahaska, a chief of the Iowa Native American tribe. (Unique county name)
*Marion County, Iowa: Marion is named for either Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" general of the American Revolutionary War, or a leading pioneer whose name is not recorded.
*Marshall County, Iowa: Marshall is named for John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States.
*Mills County, Iowa: Mills is named for Frederick Mills, a major from Iowa killed in the Mexican-American War.
*Mitchell County, Iowa: Mitchell is named for either John Mitchel, an Irish patriot, or John Mitchell, an early surveyor.
*Monona County, Iowa: Monona is named for a word of uncertain Native American meaning. (Unique county name)
*Monroe County, Iowa: Monroe is named for James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States.
*Montgomery County, Iowa: Montgomery is named for Richard Montgomery, an U.S. general killed in the American Revolutionary War.
*Muscatine County, Iowa: Muscatine is named for either the Muscatine Native American tribe, the Native American word for prairie, or Muscatine Island in the Mississippi River. (Unique county name)

O

*O'Brien County, Iowa: O'Brien is named for William Smith O'Brien, an Irish patriot. (Unique county name)
*Osceola County, Iowa: Osceola is named for Osceola, the Native American leader in the Second Seminole War.

P

*Page County, Iowa: Page is named for John Page, a captain in the Mexican-American War.
*Palo Alto County, Iowa: Palo Alto is named for the Battle of Palo Alto in the Mexican-American War. (Unique county name)
*Plymouth County, Iowa: Plymouth is named for Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first settlement of the Pilgrims in 1620.
*Pocahontas County, Iowa: Pocahontas is named for Pocahontas, the famous Native American who played a leading role in the history of the first permanent English settlements in North America.
*Polk County, Iowa: Polk is named for James Knox Polk, the eleventh president of the United States.
*Pottawattamie County, Iowa: Pottawattamie is named for the Potawatomi (Pottawattamie) Native American people. (Unique county name)
*Poweshiek County, Iowa: Poweshiek is named for Poweshiek, a Fox chief that supported peace in the Black Hawk War. (Unique county name)

R

*Ringgold County, Iowa: Ringgold is named for Samuel B. Ringgold, a soldier who was killed in the Mexican-American War. (Unique county name)

*Sac County, Iowa: Sac is named for the Sac Native American tribe. (Unique county name)
*Scott County, Iowa: Scott is named for Winfield Scott, the general and commander of the U. S. Army in the years leading up to the American Civil War.
*Shelby County, Iowa: Shelby is named for Isaac Shelby, a general in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 who served as the first governor of Kentucky.
*Sioux County, Iowa: Sioux is named for the Sioux Native American tribe.
*Story County, Iowa: Story is named for Joseph Story, a justice of the United States Supreme Court.

T

*Tama County, Iowa: Tama is named for any of several Native American chiefs or chief's wives, over which there is dispute. (Unique county name)
*Taylor County, Iowa: Taylor is named for Zachary Taylor, the twelfth president of the United States.

U

*Union County, Iowa: Union is named for the union of the United States threatened by the American Civil War.

V

*Van Buren County, Iowa: Van Buren is named for Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States.

W

*Wapello County, Iowa: Wapello is named for Wapello, a Native American chief in the Black Hawk War. (Unique county name)
*Warren County, Iowa: Warren is named for Joseph Warren, the patriot who died at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
*Washington County, Iowa: Washington is named for George Washington, the first president of the United States.
*Wayne County, Iowa: Wayne is named for Anthony Wayne, the American Revolutionary War general.
*Webster County, Iowa: Webster is named for Daniel Webster, the statesman, senator, and United States Secretary of State.
*Winnebago County, Iowa: Winnebago is named for the Winnebago Native American tribe.
*Winneshiek County, Iowa: Winneshiek is named for Winneshiek, a chief of the Winnebago Native American tribe. (Unique county name)
*Woodbury County, Iowa: Woodbury is named for Levi Woodbury, a governor of New Hampshire, United States Secretary of the Navy, United States Secretary of the Treasury, and Justice of the United States Supreme Court. (Unique county name)
*Worth County, Iowa: Worth is named for William Jenkins Worth, a general in the Black Hawk War and Mexican-American War.
*Wright County, Iowa: Wright is named for Silas Wright, an U. S. senator from New York and sixteenth governor of New York; and Joseph A. Wright, an U. S. senator from Indiana.

ource

* [http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/regions/region.htm Histories of Iowa Counties]

ee also

*Iowa
*List of counties in Iowa
*County (United States)
*Lists of U.S. county name etymologies