Did You Know no one knows for sure how Tennessee got its name or what the name means?

What is in a name? A name may tell the world a great deal about who you are, but for Tennessee, the meaning and origin of its name may have been lost to history.

Tennessee is not like other states that can trace their names to a person, place, thing or even to an Indian tribe. Virginia, for example, was named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, the “Virgin Queen.” Florida got its name from a Spanish word meaning “flowers.” Utah was named after a tribe of Indians, the Ute. Even Pennsylvania can trace its name to a man, William Penn.

But how did the state that stretches for 432 miles from the mountains of Appalachia to the floodplains of the Mississippi get the name “Tennessee.”

One theory is it all started in 1567 when a Spanish explorer named Captain Juan Pardo traveled from the South Carolina coast and ventured into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. He and his men encountered several Indian villages, and by reading some of their journal accounts, it appears these were the Cherokee Indians.

Pardo and his men ventured into an Indian encampment that was called “Tanasqui.” He soon came across two more villages. These had the name Tanasqui-Tennessee. One of these Cherokee villages sat in present day Monroe County on the Little Tennessee River, and the other was in Polk County on the Hiwassee River.

Other spellings for this area was Tennassee, Tunasse, Tanese, Tannasy, Tanasee, Tenasi, Tanasee and Tanisee to name just a few.

James Glen, a former governor of South Carolina, was the first man to popularize today’s spelling of Tennessee. During the 1750’s he referred to this area by the name “Tennessee” in most of his official documents and letters he wrote during his time as governor. The spelling stuck, and it was called Tennessee from then to now.

We can only guess at the true meaning of the word, Tennessee. One suggestion is it is a Yuchi word meaning “meeting place.” Another explanation is it means “the bend,” as in the bend in a river. Others say that these two meanings are really the same. If you look at a river bend until it curves or bends back to almost meet itself, then this could be the true meaning of the word “Tennessee.”   

Tennessee was part of the Southwest Territory that had been formed by an act of Congress in 1790. During the mid-1790s, the Southwest Territories were thoroughly explored and the Secretary of the Southwest Territory, Daniel Smith, had a map created showing the “Map of the Tennessee State.” When Tennessee became a state, it used the name “Tennessee” because that is what Secretary Smith had been calling it in his publication “Short Description of the Tennessee Government.”

So, this territory became part of the United States on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state and took the name Tennessee. Some call it the Volunteer State, the Hog State, Big Bend State, Hominy State and even the Butternut State. As for me, I just call it home.