List of Iowa county name etymologies
This is a list of Iowa county name etymologies. Many counties in Iowa were named after political figures in the United States, while others were named after Native American subjects. Counties were also named after rivers or battles in the Mexican-American War, which occurred around the time Iowa joined the union and was organizing its counties.
Counties, by first letter
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.
- 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.
- Audubon County, Iowa: Audubon is named for John James Audubon, the famous naturalist and painter.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Declaration of Independence.
- Cass County, Iowa: Cass is named for Lewis Cass, a senator and presidental 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.
- 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. He also was the son of Henry Clay, the famous Kentucky statesman.
- Clayton County, Iowa: Clayton is named for John Middleton Clayton, a Delaware senator and the eighteenth United States Secretary of State.
- Clinton County, Iowa: Clinton is named for DeWitt Clinton, the 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 Garret 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.
- Dickinson County, Iowa: Dickinson is named for Daniel Stevens Dickinson, an United States senator from New York.
- Dubuque County, Iowa: Dubuque is named for Julien Dubuque, the first European settler of Iowa.
E
- Emmet County, Iowa: Emmet is named for Robert Emmet, an Irish patriot.
F
- Fayette County, Iowa: Fayette is named for the 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 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 Nathaniel 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
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
- Howard County, Iowa: Howard is named for Tilghman Ashurst Howard, a general in Tennessee and Indiana.
- Humboldt County, Iowa: Humboldt is named for
I
- Ida County, Iowa: Ida is named for possibly Ida Smith, the first European-American child born in the county.
- Iowa County, Iowa: Iowa is named for the Iowa River and 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.
- Kossuth County, Iowa: Kossuth is named for Lajos Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot.
L
- Lee County, Iowa: Lee is named for
- Linn County, Iowa: Linn is named for Lewis Fields Linn, an U.S. senator from Missouri.
- Louisa County, Iowa: Louisa is named for
- Lucas County, Iowa: Lucas is named for
- 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
- Mahaska County, Iowa: Mahaska is named for
- Marion County, Iowa: Marion is named for
- Marshall County, Iowa: Marshall is named for John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
- 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.
- Monroe County, Iowa: Monroe is named for
- 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.
O
- O'Brien County, Iowa: O'Brien is named for William Smith O'Brien, an Irish patriot.
- 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.
- 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.
- Poweshiek County, Iowa: Poweshiek is named for Poweshiek, a Fox chief that supported peace in the Black Hawk War.
R
- Ringgold County, Iowa: Ringgold is named for
S
- Sac County, Iowa: Sac is named for the Sac Native American tribe.
- 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.
- Taylor County, Iowa: Taylor is named for
U
- Union County, Iowa: Union is named for
V
- Van Buren County, Iowa: Van Buren is named for
W
- Wapello County, Iowa: Wapello is named for
- Warren County, Iowa: Warren is named for
- Washington County, Iowa: Washington is named for
- Wayne County, Iowa: Wayne is named for
- 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.
- 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 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
- 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