List of place names of French origin in the United States


Several thousand place names 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 American Revolution and the founding of the country. Others were named after early Americans of French, especially Huguenot, ancestry. Some places received their names as a consequence of French colonial settlement. Nine state capitals are French words or of French origin - not even counting Little Rock or Cheyenne. Fifteen state names are either French words / origin or Native American words rendered by French speakers.
The suffix "-ville," from the French word for "city" is common for town and city names throughout the United States. Many originally French place names, possibly hundreds, in the Midwest and Upper West were replaced with directly translated English names once American settlers became locally dominant.

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