List of Georgia (U.S. state) county name etymologies

This is a list of Georgia county name etymologies.

A

*Appling County, Georgia: Appling is named for Daniel Appling, a soldier in the War of 1812.
*Atkinson County, Georgia: Atkinson is named for William Yates Atkinson, the fifty-eighth governor of Georgia.

B

*Bacon County, Georgia: Bacon is named for Augustus Octavius Bacon, an U. S. senator from Georgia who earlier served in the Confederate Army.
*Baker County, Georgia: Baker is named for Colonel John Baker, a hero of the American Revolutionary War.
*Baldwin County, Georgia: Baldwin is named for Abraham Baldwin, a signer of the United States Constitution and U.S. congressman from Georgia.
*Banks County, Georgia: Banks is named for Richard Banks, a prominent physician.
*Barrow County, Georgia: Barrow is named for David Crenshaw Barrow Jr., former chancellor of the University of Georgia.
*Bartow County, Georgia: Bartow is named for Francis S. Bartow, a general killed at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Bartow County was originally named Cass County.
*Ben Hill County, Georgia: Ben Hill is named for Benjamin Harvey Hill, who served in the Georgia and Confederate legislatures and the U. S. Congress.
*Berrien County, Georgia: Berrien is named for John MacPherson Berrien, an U. S. senator and Attorney General from Georgia.
*Bibb County, Georgia: Bibb is named for William Wyatt Bibb, the first governor of Alabama and an U. S. senator from Georgia.
*Bleckley County, Georgia: Bleckley is named for Logan Edwin Bleckley, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
*Brantley County, Georgia: Brantley is named for either Benjamin D. Brantley, a member of a prominent local family; or William Gordon Brantley a Georgia state senator.
*Brooks County, Georgia: Brooks is named for Preston Smith Brooks, an U. S. congressman from South Carolina.
*Bryan County, Georgia: Bryan is named for Jonathan Bryan, an American Revolutionary War partisan.
*Bulloch County, Georgia: Bulloch is named for Archibald Bulloch, the second governor of Georgia.
*Burke County, Georgia: Burke is named for Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament who advised the repeal of the Stamp Act and reconciliation with the American colonies.
*Butts County, Georgia: Butts is named for Captain Samuel Butts, a soldier killed in the War of 1812.

C

*Calhoun County, Georgia: Calhoun is named for John Caldwell Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the United States.
*Camden County, Georgia: Camden is named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, a member of the British Parliament who opposed the Stamp Act.
*Campbell County, Georgia: Campbell is named for Col. Duncan G. Campbell, noted politician and lawyer. Campbell County was merged with Fulton County in 1932.
*Candler County, Georgia: Candler is named for Allen Daniel Candler, the fifty-ninth governor of Georgia.
*Carroll County, Georgia: Carroll is named for Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.
*Cass County, Georgia: Cass is named for Gen. Lewis Cass, President Andrew Jackson's Secretary of War. Cass County was later renamed Bartow County.
*Catoosa County, Georgia: Catoosa is named for Catoosa, a Native American chief.
*Charlton County, Georgia: Charlton is named for Robert Milledge Charlton, an U. S. senator from Georgia.
*Chatham County, Georgia: Chatham is named for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, the British Prime Minister who was sympathetic to the American cause during the period leading up to the American Revolutionary War.
*Chattahoochee County, Georgia: Chattahoochee is named for the Chattahoochee River which in turn was possibly named for a Creek Indian word for "painted rock"
*Chattooga County, Georgia: Chattooga is named for the Chattooga River.
*Cherokee County, Georgia: Cherokee is named for the Cherokee Native American tribe.
*Clarke County, Georgia: Clarke is named for Elijah Clarke, a soldier in the American Revolutionary War.
*Clay County, Georgia: Clay is named for Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman, United States Secretary of State, and presidential candidate.
*Clayton County, Georgia: Clayton is named for Augustin Smith Clayton, an U. S. representative.
*Clinch County, Georgia: Clinch is named for Duncan Lamont Clinch, a soldier in the First and Second Seminole Wars and U. S. representative.
*Cobb County, Georgia: Cobb is named for Thomas Willis Cobb, an U. S. representative and senator.
*Coffee County, Georgia: Coffee is named for John E. Coffee, a soldier in the War of 1812 and U. S. representative.
*Colquitt County, Georgia: Colquitt is named for Walter Terry Colquitt, a local judge, clergyman, U.S. representative, and senator.
*Columbia County, Georgia: Columbia is named for Christopher Columbus, the famous explorer.
*Cook County, Georgia: Cook is named for Phillip Cook, a Confederate army officer and U. S. representative.
*Coweta County, Georgia: Coweta is named for the Coweta Indians, a group of Creek Indians that lived in and around Coweta, one of the largest and most important of the Lower Towns.
*Crawford County, Georgia: Crawford is named for William Harris Crawford, the U. S. statesman and Secretary of War.
*Crisp County, Georgia: Crisp is named for Charles Frederick Crisp, a U. S. representative and Speaker of the House.

D

*Dade County, Georgia: Dade is named for Francis Langhorne Dade, an U. S. soldier killed at the Dade Battlefield in Florida in 1835.
*Dawson County, Georgia: Dawson is named for William Crosby Dawson, a judge and U. S. representative and senator.
*Decatur County, Georgia: Decatur is named for Stephen Decatur, a naval hero of the War of 1812.
*DeKalb County, Georgia: DeKalb is named for Johann DeKalb, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War who was killed at the Battle of Camden.
*Dodge County, Georgia: Dodge is named for William Earl Dodge, an U. S. representative from New York and earlier a supporter of peace before the breakout of the American Civil War.
*Dooly County, Georgia: Dooly is named for John Dooly, a Georgia militia officer killed by Loyalists in 1780.
*Dougherty County, Georgia: Dougherty is named for Charles Dougherty, a local judge.
*Douglas County, Georgia: Douglas is named for Stephen Arnold Douglas, the U. S. statesman and presidential rival of Abraham Lincoln.

E

*Early County, Georgia: Early is named for Peter Early, the twenty-ninth governor of Georgia.
*Echols County, Georgia: Echols is named for Robert M. Echols, a state legislator killed in the Mexican-American War.
*Effingham County, Georgia: Effingham is named for Francis Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham, a British noble sympathetic to the American colonies.
*Elbert County, Georgia: Elbert is named for Samuel Elbert, the fifteenth governor of Georgia.
*Emanuel County, Georgia: Emanuel is named for David Emanuel, the twenty-fourth governor of Georgia.
*Evans County, Georgia: Evans is named for Clement Anselm Evans, a judge, minister, state senator, and U. S. Army officer wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg.

F

*Fannin County, Georgia: Fannin is named for James Walker Fannin, Jr., the commander of the group of Texans killed in the Goliad Massacre during the Texas Revolution.
*Fayette County, Georgia: Fayette is named for the Marquis de la Fayette, the French nobleman and general in the American Revolutionary War.
*Floyd County, Georgia: Floyd is named for John Floyd, a Georgia soldier and U. S. representative.
*Forsyth County, Georgia: Forsyth is named for John Forsyth, the thirty-fifth governor of Georgia and the thirteenth United States Secretary of State.
*Franklin County, Georgia: Franklin is named for Benjamin Franklin, the famous Founding Father, printer, scientist, philosopher, and diplomat.
*Fulton County, Georgia: Fulton is named for Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat.

G

*Gilmer County, Georgia: Gilmer is named for George Rockingham Gilmer, the thirty-sixth and thirty-ninth governor of Georgia.
*Glascock County, Georgia: Glascock is named for Thomas Glascock, a soldier in the War of 1812 and U. S. representative.
*Glynn County, Georgia: Glynn is named for John Glynn, a member of the British Parliament.
*Gordon County, Georgia: Gordon is named for William Washington Gordon, a president of the Central of Georgia Railroad.
*Grady County, Georgia: Grady is named for Henry Woodfin Grady, a Georgia newspaperman and representative of the New York Herald.
*Greene County, Georgia: Greene is named for Nathanael Greene, the American Revolutionary War general.
*Gwinnett County, Georgia: Gwinnett is named for Button Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and the third governor of Georgia who died in a duel.

H

*Habersham County, Georgia: Habersham is named for Joseph Habersham, a Continental Congress member, soldier in the Continental Army, and Postmaster General of the United States.
*Hall County, Georgia: Hall is named for Lyman Hall, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and the thirteenth governor of Georgia.
*Hancock County, Georgia: Hancock is named for John Hancock, the signer of the Declaration of Independence and president of the Continental Congress.
*Haralson County, Georgia: Haralson is named for Hugh Anderson Haralson, a Georgia militia officer and state congressman.
*Harris County, Georgia: Harris is named for Charles Harris, a lawyer and mayor of Savannah, Georgia.
*Hart County, Georgia: Hart is named for Nancy Morgan Hart, a woman sharpshooter and patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
*Heard County, Georgia: Heard is named for Stephen Heard, the ninth governor of Georgia.
*Henry County, Georgia: Henry is named for Patrick Henry, the famous patriot and governor of Virginia.
*Houston County, Georgia: Houston is named for John Houstoun, the fifth and fourteenth governor of Georgia. (The variance in spelling is typical of early 18th-century orthography.)

I

*Irwin County, Georgia: Irwin is named for Jared Irwin, the twenty-second and twenty-seventh governor of Georgia.

J

*Jackson County, Georgia: Jackson is named for James Jackson, the twenty-third governor of Georgia.
*Jasper County, Georgia: Jasper is named for William Jasper, an American Revolutionary War hero who was killed at Savannah, Georgia in 1779. Originally named Randolph County, it was renamed Jasper County in 1810.
*Jeff Davis County, Georgia: Jeff Davis is named for Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States of America.
*Jefferson County, Georgia: Jefferson is named for Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
*Jenkins County, Georgia: Jenkins is named for Charles Jones Jenkins, the forty-seventh governor of Georgia.
*Johnson County, Georgia: Johnson is named for Herschel Vespasian Johnson, the forty-fourth governor of Georgia and a vice-presidential candidate under Stephen Arnold Douglas.
*Jones County, Georgia: Jones is named for James Jones [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=J000227] , an U. S. representative from Georgia in the late 1790s.

K

*Kinchafoonee County, Georgia: Kinchafoonee is named for Kinchafoonee Creek, a creek that flows through the county. Kinchafoonee is a Creek word that refers to a mortar or bone device for cracking nuts. Many residents of the county thought the name was awkward, undignified, and would invite ridicule from outsiders. Kinchafoonee County was renamed Webster County in 1856.

L

*Lamar County, Georgia: Lamar is named for Georgia native Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, the associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
*Lanier County, Georgia: Lanier is named for Sidney Lanier, a poet and musician who served as a soldier in the Civil War.
*Laurens County, Georgia: Laurens is named for John Laurens, a soldier in the American Revolutionary War.
*Lee County, Georgia: Lee is named for Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and a political leader during the American Revolutionary War.
*Liberty County, Georgia: Liberty is named for the right and freedom of liberty.
*Lincoln County, Georgia: Lincoln is named for Benjamin Lincoln, a leading general in the American Revolutionary War.
*Long County, Georgia: Long is named for Georgia native Crawford Williamson Long, the first physician known to have performed a surgical operation in general anesthesia induced by ether.
*Lowndes County, Georgia: Lowndes is named for William Jones Lowndes, an U.S. senator from Georgia.
*Lumpkin County, Georgia: Lumpkin is named for Wilson Lumpkin, the thirty-seventh governor of Georgia.

M

*Macon County, Georgia: Macon is named for Nathaniel Macon, an U.S. senator and speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina.
*Madison County, Georgia: Madison is named for James Madison, the fourth president of the United States.
*Marion County, Georgia: Marion is named for Francis Marion, the American Revolutionary War general whose nickname was the "Swamp Fox".
*McDuffie County, Georgia: McDuffie is named for George McDuffie, the thirtieth governor of South Carolina and an U.S. senator.
*McIntosh County, Georgia: McIntosh is named for William McIntosh, a Coweta Native American chief and general in the U. S. Army.
*Meriwether County, Georgia: Meriwether is named for David Meriwether [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000649] , a U.S. representative, state representative of Georgia, and a commissioner to the Creek Indians.
*Miller County, Georgia: Miller is named for Andrew Jackson Miller, lawyer, politician, and Medical College of Georgia president.
*Milton County, Georgia: Milton is name for John Milton, American Revolutionary War soldier and Georgia's first Secretary of State. Milton County was merged with Fulton County in 1932.
*Mitchell County, Georgia: Mitchell is named for Gen. Henry Mitchell, a hero of the American Revolutionary War, state militia officer, and former president of the Georgia Senate.
*Monroe County, Georgia: Monroe is named for James Monroe, fifth President of the United States.
*Montgomery County, Georgia: Montgomery is named for Richard Montgomery, who served as Brigadier General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
*Morgan County, Georgia: Morgan is named for Daniel Morgan, American Revolutionary War general and Virginia Congressman.
*Murray County, Georgia: Murray is named for Thomas W. Murray, lawyer and legislator who served as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
*Muscogee County, Georgia: Muscogee is named for the Muscogee Indians, otherwise known as the Creek Indians.

N

*Newton County, Georgia: Newton is named for John Newton, American Revolutionary War hero.

O

*Oconee County, Georgia: Oconee is named for the Oconee River, which forms part of the county's eastern boundary with Clarke County. Oconee is a Cherokee word for "the place of springs" or "the water eyes of the hills."
*Oglethorpe County, Georgia: Oglethorpe is named for James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the Colony (now State) of Georgia.

P

*Paulding County, Georgia: Paulding is named for John Paulding, American Revolutionary War hero. Paulding assisted in the capture of Major John André, a British spy planning the seizure of West Point.
*Peach County, Georgia: Peach is named for the peaches that are widely grown in the area.
*Pickens County, Georgia: Pickens is named for Andrew Pickens, American Revolutionary War general.
*Pierce County, Georgia: Pierce is named for Franklin Pierce, fourteenth President of the United States.
*Pike County, Georgia:Pike is named for Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Western explorer killed during the War of 1812. Pikes Peak bears his name.
*Polk County, Georgia: Polk is named for James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States.
*Pulaski County, Georgia: Pulaski is named for Count Kazimierz Pułaski, Polish nobleman who came to America in 1777 to fight on behalf of the American cause in the American Revolutionary War. He was mortally wounded in 1779 during an attack on British forces that had seized Savannah.
*Putnam County, Georgia: Putnam is named for Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general.

Q

*Quitman County, Georgia: Quitman is named for John Anthony Quitman, a brigadier general of volunteers during the Mexican-American War and tenth governor of Mississippi; 1850-1851. His outspoken defense of states' rights made him popular in Georgia, thus five months after Quitman died, the General Assembly named a new county in his honor.

R

*Rabun County, Georgia: Rabun is named for William Rabun, thirty-first governor of Georgia; 1817-19.
*Randolph County, Georgia: Randolph is named for John Randolph, U.S. Representative from Virginia. This is the second county named after Randolph. The original Randolph County was renamed Jasper County in 1810.
*Richmond County, Georgia: Richmond is named for the third Duke of Richmond, Charles Lenox, who was British Secretary of State and sympathetic to the cause of the American colonies.
*Rockdale County, Georgia: Rockdale is named for Rockdale Church, which in turn was named for the large amount of exposed and sub-surface granite and related rock found in the area.

S

*Schley County, Georgia: Schley is named for William Schley [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000130] , U.S. representative and thirty-eighth governor of Georgia.
*Screven County, Georgia: Screven is named for James Screven, brigadier general in the American Revolutionary War.
*Seminole County, Georgia: Seminole is named for the Seminole Indians, who once lived in the area.
*Spalding County, Georgia: Spalding is named for Thomas Spalding [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000698] , U.S. representative and senator.
*Stephens County, Georgia: Stephens is named for Alexander Stephens, U.S. representative, vice president of the Confederate States of America, and fifty-third governor of Georgia.
*Stewart County, Georgia: Stewart is named for Daniel Stewart, an officer in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 and great-grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt.
*Sumter County, Georgia: Sumter is named for Thomas Sumter, general in the American Revolutionary War and South Carolina U.S. senator.

T

*Talbot County, Georgia: Talbot is named for Matthew Talbot, thirty-second governor of Georgia.
*Taliaferro County, Georgia: Taliaferro, pronounced "Tolliver", is named for Benjamin Taliaferro [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000025] , officer in the American Revolutionary War and U.S. representative from Georgia.
*Tattnall County, Georgia: Tattnall is named for Josiah Tattnall, played a prominent role in repealing the Yazoo Act, U.S. senator, and twenty-fifth governor of Georgia.
*Taylor County, Georgia: Taylor is named for Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States.
*Telfair County, Georgia: Telfair is named for Edward Telfair, sixteenth governor of Georgia and member of the Continental Congress.
*Terrell County, Georgia: Terrell is named for William Terrell [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000132] , physician and U.S. representative from Georgia.
*Thomas County, Georgia: Thomas is named for Jett Thomas, officer in the War of 1812 and oversaw construction of the first building at the University of Georgia as well as the state capitol at Milledgeville.
*Tift County, Georgia: Tift is named for Nelson Tift [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000269] , founder of the Georgia city of Albany and U.S. representative from Georgia.
*Toombs County, Georgia: Toombs is named for Robert Toombs, famous politician and unreconstructed secessionist, he was an U.S. representative and senator.
*Towns County, Georgia: Towns is named for George Washington Towns [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000327] , forty-second governor of Georgia and U.S. representative.
*Treutlen County, Georgia: Treutlen is named for John A. Treutlen, Georgia's first state governor following adoption of the Constitution of 1777.
*Troup County, Georgia: Troup is named for George M. Troup [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000382] , thirty-fourth governor of Georgia, U.S. representative, and senator.
*Turner County, Georgia: Turner is named for Henry Gray Turner, U.S. representative and Georgia State Supreme Court justice.
*Twiggs County, Georgia: Twiggs is named for John Twiggs, American Revolutionary War general.

U

*Union County, Georgia: Union is named for the Federal Union.
*Upson County, Georgia: Upson is named for Stephen Upson, a noted Georgia lawyer and a respected friend of William H. Crawford.

W

*Walker County, Georgia: Walker is named for Freeman Walker [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000052] , an Augusta attorney, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator.
*Walton County, Georgia: Walton is named for George Walton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. senator, and first and nineteenth governor of Georgia.
*Ware County, Georgia: Ware is named for Nicholas Ware [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000148] , U.S. senator.
*Warren County, Georgia: Warren is named for Joseph Warren, a general in the American Revolutionary War who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
*Washington County, Georgia: Washington is named for George Washington, hero of the American Revolutionary War and first President of the United States.
*Wayne County, Georgia: Wayne is named for "Mad" Anthony Wayne, hero of the American Revolutionary War and U.S. representative.
*Webster County, Georgia: Webster is named for Daniel Webster, U.S. representative of New Hampshire and U.S. representative and U.S. senator of Massachusetts. Webster County was originally named Kinchafoonee County.
*Wheeler County, Georgia: Wheeler is named for Joseph E. Wheeler [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000338] , general in the Confederate Army and U.S. representative of Alabama.
*White County, Georgia: White is named for David T. White, Georgia State representative.
*Whitfield County, Georgia: Whitfield is named for George Whitefield, Anglican evangelist who established the Bethesda Orphanage near Savannah in 1740.
*Wilcox County, Georgia: Wilcox is named for Mark Wilcox, officer in the Indian Wars and Georgia State representative.
*Wilkes County, Georgia: Wilkes is named for John Wilkes, British politician who supported the cause of the American colonies' in the British House of Commons.
*Wilkinson County, Georgia: Wilkinson is named for James Wilkinson, officer in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He was the first governor of the Louisiana Territory.
*Worth County, Georgia: Worth is named for William James Worth, served as commandant at U.S. Military Academy and an officer in the Mexican-American War.

Source

* [http://members.tripod.com/John_North/CO_html.html Georgia county name origins]
* [http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/histcountymaps/ Historical Atlas of Georgia Counties]
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]

ee also

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