List of U.S. place names of French origin

Many places in the United States have names of French origin, some a legacy of past French exploration and rule over much of the land and some in honor of French help during the founding of the country ("see also: New France and French in the United States"):

Alabama

*Bay Minette ("Kitty Bay")
*Bayou la Batre ("Bayou of the Battery")
*Belle Fontaine ("Beautiful Fountain")
*Bon Secour ("Good Rescue")
*Citronelle (named after the citrus trees.)
*Dauphin Island (named after the Dauphin, French crown prince)
*Marion (named after Francis Marion, patriot of the American Revolution and of Huguenot ancestry)
*Mobile (French name for the indigenous Mauvilla tribe)

Alaska

*Juneau named after Joseph Juneau, French-Canadian prospector and gold miner
*La Chaussee Spit at the entrance of Lituya Bay. Named originally in charts prepared by French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse in 1786. "La Chaussée" means "causeway".

Arizona

*Picket Wire (Corruption of the French "Purgatoire", "Purgatory")

Arkansas

*Arkansas (named by French explorers from Indian word meaning "south wind")
*Belleville ("Beautiful City")
*Bois D'arc ("wood of ark "local wood traded by the Native Americans)
*Fayetteville (named for French general, Marquis de La Fayette)
*Petit Jean ("Little John" named after a French sailor on the Arkansas River)
*Little Rock (A translation of "La Petite Roche")
*Maumelle
*Ozark (phonetic rendering of either "aux Arks," "of the Ark(ansas)" or "aux Arcs", "of the arches", or possibly "aux arcs-en-ciel", "of the rainbows")
*Ozark Mountains as per immediately above
*Paris
*Smackover (Anglicization of "Sumac Couvert", "covered in sumac")
*Terre Rouge (redland or red earth)

California

*Artois (named after Artois, France)
*Bel Air ("Good Air")
*Fremont (named for John C. Frémont, American soldier, explorer and politician of French ancestry)
*Lafayette (named for the French general Marquis de La Fayette)
*Montclair ("Clear Mountain")

Colorado

*Cache La Poudre River ("hide the powder")
*Laporte (from "la porte", "the door")
*Louisville

Delaware

*Delaware named after Lord de la Warre (originally "de la Guerre" meaning; "of the war"),

Florida

*Belandville (failed "colony" in northern Santa Rosa County, approximately one mile south of its border with Escambia County, Alabama)
*Duval County (named for William Pope DuVal)
*La Belle ("The Beauty")

Georgia

*LaGrange ("The Barn", named for the French Estate of Marquis de Lafayette)

Hawaii

*Fort DeRussy (named for Lewis and René Edward De Russy, soldiers of Huguenot ancestry)

Idaho

*Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
*Boise (from "boisé," "Wooded")
* [Butte County, Idaho|Butte] ("Hill")
*Coeur d'Alene ("Heart of the Awl")
*Culdesac ("Dead End")
*Dubois ("of the wood")
*Grangeville ("barn city")
*Malad City (from "malade", French for "sick")
*Nez Perce County (from the Nez Perce Tribe's name "nez percé" meaning "pierced nose")
*Payette (named after Francois Payette)
*St. Maries
*Teton ("Teat")

Illinois

*Illinois French version of "Illini", a local Native American tribe
*Illinois River
*Beaucoup Creek (plenty good)
*Belleville ("Beautiful City")
*Belle River ("Beautiful Bank") (French military commander)
*Bonpas Creek ("Good Step")
*Bourbonnais (named for a region in Central France)
*Bureau County ("Office"; person's name)
*Cache River (hidden river)
*Creve Coeur ("Heartbreak"; early French fort)
*DuBois (from the woods)
*Des Plaines ("of the Plains")
*Des Plaines River
*DuPage River
*Embarras ("Predicament")
*Fayette County (after LaFayette)
*DuQuoin (Name of an Illiniwek chief.
*Joliet (named after explorer Louis Jolliet)
*La Grange ("The Barn")
*LaMoine River ("The Monk," after an early monastery)
*La Salle (named after explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. "La Salle" literally means "the Hall.")
*Marseilles (after Marseille)
*Massac (French Minister)
*Menard County (after Pierre Menard)
*St. Georges (Note: retains the silent "s" from the French)
*Prairie du Rocher ("Prairie of the Rock")
*Versailles (for the French city and palace)
*Champaign

Iowa

*Des Moines (from "Rivière des Moines", "River of the Monks", the river flowing through the city)
*Dubuque (named after explorer Julien Dubuque)

Indiana

*Lafayette (named for the French general, Marquis de Lafayette)
*La Porte (named by French explorers travelling up from the south, this area was the first clearing or "door" out of the heavy woods to the south.)
*Terre Haute ("High Ground")
*Vincennes (named for François Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes)
*Versailles
*Delaware County
*Fayette County
*Dubois County
*Lagrange County

Kansas

*La Cygne ("The Swan"; after the Marais des Cygnes River, which was named by French explorers)
*Marais des Cygnes River

Kentucky

Cities
*Louisville (named in honor of King Louis XVI in 1778)
*Paris
*Versailles
*La Grange
*Bellefonte
*Bellemeade
*Bellevue ("Beautiful Sight")
*Frenchburg
*La Center
*LaFayette

Counties

*Bourbon County (name for House of Bourbon, European Royal House)
*Fayette County (named for Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette)
*Gallatin County (named for Albert Gallatin,Swiss American & Secretary of State)
*Larue County (named for John LaRue early Kentucky settler)
*Marion County (named for Francis Marion, a hero of the American Revolution of French Huguenot ancestry)

Louisiana

*Louisiana (Louisiane in French - named in honor of King Louis XIV of France in 1682)
*Abbeville (after Abbeville, France) ("One of several communities in the United States named "Abbeville".")
*Baton Rouge ("Red Stick")
*Bayou Gauche ("Left Bayou")
*Belle Chasse ("Good Hunting")
*Bossier City (after Pierre Bossier)
*Chalmette ("Pasture land, fallow land")
*Chataignier ("Chestnut tree")
*Des Allemands ("of the Germans")
*Destrehan (named in honor of Jean N. Destréhan, Creole politician)
*Dulac ("of the lake")
*Grosse Tête ("big head")
*Jean Lafitte (named for Jean Lafitte, a famous pirate)
*Lafayette (named for the Marquis de La Fayette.)
*Lafourche Parish (from "la fourche", referring to a forked path)
*La Place (named for early settler Basile LaPlace.)
*Mandeville (named for developer Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville)
*Metairie (from a French word for sharecropping)
*New Orleans (named for the duke of Orléans, France)
*Paradis ("Paradise")
*Pointe à la Hache ("Axe Spike")
*Pointe Coupee Parish (from "pointe coupée", "cut spike")
*Terrebonne Parish ("Good Ground")

Maine

*Maine (one theory suggests the state was named after the historic French province of Maine)
*Calais (after Calais, France)
*Frenchville
*Isle au Haut
*Paris
*Presque Isle (from the French word "presqu'île"meaning "peninsula"--- from "presque" meaning "almost", and "isle" meaning "island". The town is surrounded on three sides by water, and therefore is "almost an island")

Maryland

*Havre de Grace (named after Le Havre (originally "Le Havre de Grâce", lit. haven of grace), France)
*Bel Air ("Good Air")

Massachusetts

*Orleans (named for Louis Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans)
*Revere (after Paul Revere, of Huguenot ancestry; his family name originally was "Rivoire")

Michigan

*Au Sable River
*Belleville ("Beautiful City;" named for a Paris district)
*Berrien County
*Cadillac (named after explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac)
*Charlevoix (named for Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix (1682-1761), a French Jesuit in New France)
*Detroit ("Strait")
*Ecorse (from "Rivière aux Écorces", "Bark River")
*Grand Blanc ("Large White")
*Grand Marais ("Large Marsh")
*Gratiot County
*Grosse Ile ("Big Island")
*Grosse Pointe ("Big Point")
*Isle Royale National Park ("Royal Island")
*L'Anse ("The Cove")
*Marquette (named after explorer Jacques Marquette)
*Montcalm County (named for Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander in the French and Indian War).
*Montmorency County (named for the Montmorency family, a noble family influential in the administration of New France)
*Napoleon (for Napoleon Bonaparte
*Pere Marquette River
*Presque Isle (from "presqu'île", "peninsula")
*Sault Ste. Marie ("St. Mary's Rapids")
*St. Clair County
*St. Ignace (French rendition of St. Ignatius)
*St. Joseph

Minnesota

*Albertville, Minnesota named after a city in France
*Baudette ("Jenny" - female donkey)
*Belle Prairie, Minnesota
*Bois de Sioux River ("woods of the Sioux")
*Bois Fort, Minnesota ("hard wood")
*Cloquet, Minnesota
*Coteau des Prairies ("slope of the prairies")
*Detroit Lakes, Minnesota ("narrows lake")
*Duluth (named after Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut)
*Faribault County, Minnesota
*Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, Minnesota ("bottom of the lake")
*Grand Marais ("Big Marsh"; some speculate "Big Harbor" in founders' accent)
*Hennepin County (named in honor of the 17th-century French explorer Father Louis Hennepin)
*Huot, Minnesota named after French-Canadian settler Louis Huot
*La Prairie, Minnesota
*Lac qui Parle ("lake that speaks")
*Lac qui Parle County
*Lac qui Parle State Park
*Lac qui Parle River
*Lac Vieux Desert ("lake of the old clearing")
*Lake Traverse
*Le Sueur County, Minnesota
*Mille Lacs ("one thousand lakes")
*Mille Lacs County, Minnesota
*Nicollet County, Minnesota
*Pelland, Minnesota
*Pomme de Terre ("potato")
*Roseau ("reed")
*Renville County, Minnesota
*Roseville, Minnesota suburb of Minneapolis
*St. Cloud (named after a Paris suburb; St.Cloud is actually Clodoald, grandson of the King Clovis of the Franks)
*St. Hillaire, Minnesota
*St. Louis Park suburb of Minneapolis
*Terrebonne, Minnesota ("good land")
*Traverse County, Minnesota
*Vadnais Heights, Minnesota suburb of Minneapolis
*Voyageurs National Park, (named after the French-Canadian explorers - "travellers")

Mississippi

*Amite County (from "amitié", "friendship")
*Bay St. Louis (from "Baie Saint-Louis")
*Beaumont
*Bellefontaine
*Biloxi
*Bourbon
*Carriere
*Centreville
*Clermont Harbor
*De Lisle
*D'Iberville (named after Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur d'Iberville, governor of New France)
*Fayette
*Gautier (Named for the Gautier family, who established a homestead on the site in 1867.)
*Pass Christian (Named after Nicholas Christian L'Adnier)
*Petit Bois Island ("Little Woods")
*Point aux Chenes ("Oak Point")
*Saucier

Missouri

*Bourbeuse River
*Castor River
*Creve Coeur ("Heartbreak")
*River Des Peres
*Marais des Cygnes River
*Pomme de Terre Lake ("Potato")
*Pomme de Terre River ("Potato")
*Portage des Sioux
*St. Francois Mountains
*St. Louis (named in honor of King Louis IX, later canonized as Saint Louis)
*Ste. Genevieve (after the patron saint of Paris)
*Versailles
*Audrain County

Montana

*Belle Creek
*Choteau
*Dupuyer
*Froid "Cold"
*Havre (from Le Havre, France)
*Joliet
*Laurin
*Lozeau
*Portage
*Prairie County
*St. Marie
*St. Xavier
*Sonnette
*Teton County ("Teat")
*Virgelle
*Wibaux County

Nebraska

*Bellevue ("Beautiful Sight")
*Du Bois ("of the Woods")
*Fremont
*Papillion (from "papillon", "butterfly")

Nevada

*Lamoille
*Pioche (named for François Louis Alfred Pioche, financier who purchased the town in 1869)

New Hampshire

*Fremont (named for John C. Frémont, French-American pioneer and politician)

New Jersey

*Bayonne (according to tradition, from Bayonne, France)
*Montclair ("Clear Mountain")

New Mexico

*Bayard (named for George D. Bayard, Union general in the Civil War of French ancestry)
*Clovis (named for Clovis, first Christian King of the Franks)

New York

*Ausable River
*Chateaugay (named after Chateauguay, Quebec.)
*Dunkirk (named after the city of Dunkirk, France, because of the similar harbor.)
*Massena (named after Andre Massena, one of Napoleon's field marshals.)
*New Rochelle (founded by French Huguenots and named after La Rochelle, France.)
*Rouses Point (named after early settler Jacques Rouse.)
*New Paltz (named by French Hugenots)

North Carolina

*Beaufort ("Beautiful Fort")
*Camp Lejeune US Marine Corps base
*Fayetteville
*Lenoir

North Dakota

*Belcourt
*Bois de Sioux River
*Bordulac ("Edge of the Lake")
*Bottineau (named for Pierre Bottineau, Métis pioneer, hunter, and trapper)
*Butte
*Cavalier
*Coteau du Missouri
*Coulee
*De Lamere
*Des Lacs ("of the Lakes")
*Des Lacs River
*Gascoyne
*Grand Forks (from the French "les Grandes Fourches" or the big forks)
*Grandin (named after French-Canadian Bishop Grandin)
*Granville
*Joliette
*LaMoure
*Merricourt
*Minot (French word for "bushel" of grain or from minotier for "flour-miller" )
*Montpelier (named after Montpellier, France)
*Napoleon (named after French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte)
*Renville County
*Rolette
*Souris River ("Mouse")
*Verendrye (named for Pierre de La Vérendrye, French-Canadian officer and explorer)
*Voltaire (named for Voltaire, French Enlightenment philosopher)

Ohio

*Auglaize River (corruption of the French "eau glaise", meaning "muddy water")
*Bellefontaine ("Beautiful Fountain")
*Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
*Belmont County
*Champaign County
*Clermont County
*Fayette County (for the Marquis de Lafayette)
*Gallia County (Latin for Gaul, Roman name for France)
*Huron County (French name for the Wyandot tribe)
*LaRue ("The Street")
*Lorain County (for the French province of Lorraine)
*Marietta (to honor Marie Antoinette)
*Marseilles
*Vermilion River

Oklahoma

*Achille ("Achilles")
*Avant ("Before" or "ahead")
*Ballard (A common French surname)
*Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
*Boise City (from "Boisé", "Wooded")
*Le Flore ("The Flora")
*Lucien (A common French given name)
*Poteau ("Stake")

Oregon

*Oregon (possibly from "ouragon", French for "hurricane", referring to the windiness of the Columbia River)
*Bonneville ("Good city")
*Charbonneau Named after Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau son of Sacajawea and a French Canadian member of the Lewis & Clark expedition.
*Coquille ("Shell")
*Deschutes County ("of the waterfalls")
*Deschutes River (from "rivere des chutes" meaning river of the waterfalls)
*Deschutes National Forest
*Detroit ("Strait")
*Grand Ronde ("Big ring")
*Lafayette
*La Grande, Oregon ("The Big One")
*Langlois
*La Pine ("The Pine")
*Malheur County ("Misfortune")
*Maupin
*Nonpareil ("Unparalleled")
*Rainier
*Ruch ("Hive")
*Terrebonne ("Good ground")
*The Dalles (from "les dalles" meaning "slabs" or possibly a type of rapids)

Pennsylvania

*Bellefonte ("Beautiful Fountain")
*Charleroi ("Charles King" -- in reference to King Charles II of Spain)
*Du Bois ("Of the Woods")
*Versaille (named after the Palace of Versailles)
*Fayette County (named to honor the Marquis de LaFayette)
*Ft. Duquesne, original name of what is now Pittsburgh

Rhode Island

*Louisquisset, Rhode Island
*Marieville, Rhode Island

outh Carolina

*Abbeville (from Abbeville, France)
*Beaufort
*Bonneau (from "bonne eau", "good water")
*Bordeaux (from Bordeaux, France)
*Eau Claire ("Clear Water")
*Fort Motte
*Gourdin
*La France
*Pacolet
*Sans Souci ("No Worries", the French name of chateau of Frederick the Great, famously Francophile)
*Vaucluse (from the Vaucluse, France)

outh Dakota

*Belle Fourche ("Beautiful Fork")
*Belvidere
*Bois de Sioux River
*Bon Homme County
*Burdette
*Butte County
*Conde
*Coteau des Prairies
*Coteau du Missouri
*Dupree
*Flandreau (named for Charles Eugene Flandrau, judge of Huguenot ancestry)
*Fort Pierre
*Jerauld County
*Joubert
*Mellette County
*Lake Traverse
*Pierre

Tennessee

*Lafayette
*La Follette
*La Vergne
*Lenoir City (named for William Lenoir, Revolutionary War general of Huguenot ancestry, and his son)
*Sevierville (named for John Sevier, Tennessee governor of Huguenot ancestry)

Texas

*Beaumont ("beautiful mountain")
*Fayette County (named after the Marquis de Lafayette)
*La Grange (named after the Marquis de Lafayette's chateau)
*La Porte ("The Door")
*La Salle County (named after explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle)
*Mont Belvieu
*Orange
*Paris

Utah

*Provo (named after Étienne Provost)

Vermont

*Vermont (Originally Vert Mont, or "Green Mountain")
*Lamoille (Either for a misspelling of Champlain's intended name of Lake Champlain, or for the Old French "la Moelle", "the marrow".)
*Montpelier (named after Montpellier, France)
*Orleans County
*Orleans (named after Orléans, France)

Virginia

*La Crosse
*Chantilly, named after Chantilly, France
*Crozet

Washington

*Beaux Arts Village (from "fine arts")
*Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
*Des Moines ("of the Monks")
*Grand Coulee (from "coulée" or "couler", meaning "to flow")
*La Crosse
*Loup Loup (from "loup", "wolf")
*Normandy (named after Normandy)
*Palouse (from "pelouse", meaning "lawn")
*Pend Oreille County (named after the Pend d'Oreilles tribe. French for "earring")
*Puget Sound named after Peter Puget, Royal Navy officer of Huguenot descent
*La Push (Clallam County, along the Quileute River on the Olympic Peninsula. Home to the Quileute Indian Tribe. From "la bouche," meaning "mouth", as infused into Chinook trading jargon)

West Virginia

*Despard
*Guyandotte (a river in southern West Virginia, running from Wyoming County near Beckley, to the Ohio River near Huntington. Guyandotte is the French spelling of the name of an Indian tribe also known as the Wyandot.)
*Montcalm (named for Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander in the French and Indian War).
*Ronceverte (Name is derived from two words meaning "Greenbrier.")

Wisconsin

*Wisconsin (anglicized from the French "Ouisconsin", which in turn is a corruption of the Ojibwe "Meskonsing")
*Allouez (Named after Claude-Jean Allouez)
*Beloit
*Bellevue ("Beautiful View")
*Calument County (French word for a Menominee peace pipe)
*Couderay (From "Lac Courte Oreilles", "Short Ears")
*De Pere (from "Les Rapides des Pères," The Rapids of the Fathers)
*Eau Claire ("Clear Water")
*Fond du Lac ("Bottom of the Lake")
*Green Bay (anglicized from the French words "Baie Verte"; previously "Baie des Puers", "Bay of the Stinks")
*La Crosse ("the crozier")
*Lac du Flambeau ("lake of the torch")
*Lac La Belle
*Lake Butte des Morts ("Hill of the Dead")
*Lac Courte Oreilles ("Lake Short Ears")
*Marquette
*Nicolet National Forest
*Prairie du Chien ("Dog Prairie")
*Racine ("Root", named after the Root River)
*Radisson ("Radish")
*Trempealeau River (from "Trempe à l'eau", "Plunge into the water")

Wyoming

*Cheyenne
*Laramie
*Grand Teton National Park (from French "grands tétons", "large teats" - presumably referring to the mountains' shape)

ee also

* List of U.S. state name etymologies
* Lists of U.S. county name etymologies
* List of U.S. place names of Spanish origin
*List of Chinook Jargon placenames