Welcome to Wyoming Places   

The musical name, "Wyoming," was used by J.M. Ashley of Ohio, who, as early as 1865, introduced a bill to Congress to provide a "temporary government for the territory of Wyoming." It was to be formed from portions of the Dakota, Utah and Idaho territories. The bill was referred to a committee where it rested until 1868. During debate on the bill in the U.S. Senate in 1868, other possible names were suggested, such as Cheyenne, Shoshoni, Arapaho, Sioux, Platte, Big Horn, Yellowstone, Sweetwater and Lincoln. "Wyoming" was already commonly used and remained the popular choice. The name Wyoming may be adopted from two Delaware Indian words, MECHEWEAMI-ING (or MAUGHWAUWAMA), which means "at the big plains," or "on the great plain."

Source: Globe, June 3, 1868, pp. 2792-2802.

 

Click Here for maps showing the formation of Wyoming and its counties  

 
  

 

 

 

 

Attention Place Name Wiki Users:

PBWiki has changed its search capabilities and it is no longer possible to limit your

results effectively.  We are reviewing possible solutions but in the interim,

you might want to search for the place Alphabetically.

 

What is Wyoming Places?

 

Wyoming Places is a wiki composed of information on Wyoming place names. It is a project of the Wyoming State Library and the University of Wyoming Libraries using sources available from the Wyoming State Archives and other research collections.

 

Official Geographic names are designated by the US Board on Geographic Names in partnership with the Wyoming Geographic Names Board. This project uses the official names but tells the stories about the names. Often there is more than one story about how a place got its name or a place has more than one name.

 

You can search the wiki using the box in the top right corner of every page or the Search our Wiki link. You can also browse the Wiki by County, Feature, or Alphabetically.

 

Wyoming Places is a work in progress, and we will make it better over time through the work of a community who shares an

interest in Wyoming's place names.

 


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