From Meskousing to Ouisconsin to Wisconsin: How the Badger State got its name

Wisconsinites are known for putting our own unique spin on words like "bubbler" and "ope," but how did the state itself get its unique name?

A Wisconsin State Historical Society essay says the name originated from the English spelling of a French version of a Miami tribe name for what's now the Wisconsin River. Scholars have concluded that the original Miami word meant "this stream meanders through something red," "it lies red" or "river running through a red place."

In his 2003 book "On Wisconsin: The Derivation and Referent of an Old Puzzle in American Placenames," historical linguist Michael McCafferty argued that this word, "meeskohsinki," was a reference to the red sandstone rock formations of the Wisconsin Dells.

A name for Wisconsin was first written down in 1673

The first time a word similar to Wisconsin's current name was written down was in June 1673 in a journal entry by explorer and missionary Fr. Jacques Marquette, the Historical Society says. Marquette referred to the river as "Meskousing."

"The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing," Marquette wrote while on a canoe voyage with fur trader Louis Joliet.

Marquette wrote this journal entry around the time he and Joliet stayed for "several days with Menominee Indians on Green Bay and then in a town of 3,000 Miami, Kickapoo and Mascouten Indians in Green Lake County," the Historical Society writes.

After the explorers returned, Joliet used the name "Miskonsing" on a map that he drew in 1674. Then, when author Melchisedec Thevenot published news in French of Marquette and Joliet's voyage for the first time in 1681, he referred to the river as the "Mescousin."

A transcription error changed the way the state's name is pronounced

The modern pronunciation of Wisconsin's name actually evolved by mistake in 1674 when explorer Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, misread Marquette's elaborate cursive letter "M" as two letters, "Ou." In French, "oui" is pronounced like the English "W."

La Salle printed "Ouisconsin" onto maps. He later realized his mistake and tried to correct it in 1682, writing that some called the river "Ouisconsing, or Misconsing," but it was too late.

"Over the next two decades the letter 'M' completely disappeared as writers and mapmakers always called the river by some version that began with a vowel," the Historical Society writes. "For the next 150 years the river, and by extension our part of the world, was known as 'Ouisconsin.'"

English speakers standardized Wisconsin's name and spelling

For more than 150 years, the Wisconsin River and the land surrounding it were known by some variation of "Ouisconsin," Wisconsin Public Radio wrote in 2019.

But as more English speakers traveled through and settled in the territory, it began being referred to by the anglicized spelling, "Wisconsin."

After the War of 1812, American soldiers and officials began traveling through the area, and some still used the French spelling, the Historical Society says. But in the 1820s, "large numbers of lead miners streamed into the area," and the U.S. government began using the "W" spelling in legal documents more and more.

According to the Historical Society, Wisconsin's modern name was first seen in print on Feb. 1, 1830, in the U.S. House of Representatives Journal. When Congress created Wisconsin Territory on July 4, 1836, the name became official.

Other possible origins of Wisconsin's name

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, multiple attempts were made to determine the meaning of Marquette's "Meskousing." However, the hypothesized meanings were derived incorrectly from the Ojibwe language, not Miami, because the latter had not yet been mastered by modern scholars.

Another possible origin for Wisconsin's name was mentioned to WPR in 2019 by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay elder in residence and member of the Menominee tribe, Napos. He said he "was always told the name came from the Menominee word 'Wēskōhsaeh.'"

The first part of that word come from the word "Wis-cu," which Napos told WPR means "something good." The ending of "Wēskōhsaeh" is locative, meaning "'a good place to camp,' or 'to make a clearing' or 'to basically live.'"