1718: idaho Aug 28, 2019

A lot of US states are named for Native American tribes or other native words, others come Europe, but at least one comes from nowhere. There are certainly some intriguing states-etymologies like 'California', but 'Idaho' doesn't really have one at all. A lobbyist George Willing said it was from Shoshone when he proposed the name, but later admitted he made it up, and the Shoshone etymology is likely fabricated. No one knows how he came up with 'Idaho', but many that suggest other native origins neglect the fact that we might not have really have had significant contact with tribes of the area.

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