How were Minnesota counties named?
County County Seat Population
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Aitkin County Aitkin 15,301
Anoka County Anoka 298,084
Becker County Detroit Lakes 30,000
Beltrami County Bemidji 39,650
Benton County Foley 34,226
Big Stone County Ortonville 5,820
Blue Earth County Mankato 55,941
Brown County New Ulm 26,911
Carlton County Carlton 31,671
Carver County Chaska 70,205
Cass County Walker 27,150
Chippewa County Montevideo 13,088
Chisago County Center City 41,101
Clay County Moorhead 51,229
Clearwater County Bagley 8,423
Cook County Grand Marais 5,168
Cottonwood County Windom 12,167
Crow Wing County Brainerd 55,099
Dakota County Hastings 355,904
Dodge County Mantorville 17,731
Douglas County Alexandria 32,821
Faribault County Blue Earth 16,181
Fillmore County Preston 21,122
Freeborn County Albert Lea 32,584
Goodhue County Red Wing 44,127
Grant County Elbow Lake 6,289
Hennepin County Minneapolis 1,116,200
Houston County Caledonia 19,718
Hubbard County Park Rapids 18,376
Isanti County Cambridge 31,287
Itasca County Grand Rapids 43,992
Jackson County Jackson 11,268
Kanabec County Mora 14,996
Kandiyohi County Willmar 41,203
Kittson County Hallock 5,285
Koochiching County International Falls 14,355
Lac Qui Parle County Madison 8,067
Lake County Two Harbors 11,058
Lake Of The Wood County Baudette 4,522
Le Sueur County Le Center 25,426
Lincoln County Ivanhoe 6,429
Lyon County Marshall 25,425
Mahnomen County Mahnomen 5,190
Marshall County Warren 10,155
Martin County Fairmont 21,802
McLeod County Glencoe 34,898
Meeker County Litchfield 22,644
Mille Lacs County Milaca 22,330
Morrison County Little Falls 31,712
Mower County Austin 38,603
Murray County Slayton 9,165
Nicollet County St. Peter 29,771
Nobles County Worthington 20,832
Norman County Ada 7,442
Olmsted County Rochester 124,277
Otter Tail County Fergus Falls 57,159
Pennington County Thief River Falls 13,584
Pine County Pine City 26,530
Pipestone County Pipestone 9,895
Polk County Crookston 31,369
Pope County Glenwood 11,236
Ramsey County St. Paul 511,035
Red Lake County Red Lake Falls 4,299
Redwood County Redwood Falls 16,815
Renville County Olivia 17,154
Rice County Faribault 56,665
Rock County Luverne 9,721
Roseau County Roseau 16,338
Scott County Shakopee 89,498
Sherburne County Elk River 64,417
Sibley County Gaylord 15,356
St. Louis County Duluth 200,528
Stearns County St. Cloud 133,166
Steele County Owatonna 33,680
Stevens County Morris 10,053
Swift County Benson 11,956
Todd County Long Prairie 24,426
Traverse County Wheaton 4,134
Wabasha County Wabasha 21,610
Wadena County Wadena 13,713
Waseca County Waseca 19,526
Washington County Stillwater 201,130
Watonwan County St. James 11,876
Wilkin County Breckenridge 7,138
Winona County Winona 49,985
Wright County Buffalo 89,986
Yellow Medicine County Granite Falls 11,080
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HOW WERE MINNESOTA'S COUNTIES NAMED?
(from the Assn. of Minnesota Counties)
Aitkin: Scottish-born fur trader William Alexander Aitkin
Anoka: Sioux or Dakota word meaning “on both sides”
Becker: George Loomis Becker, former St. Paul mayor, state senator, brigadier
general and St. Paul and Pacific Railroad land commissioner
Beltrami: Giamcomo Beltrami; discoverer of the Bloody (Red Lake) River and the
Mississippi River
Benton: Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton; enactor of homestead land laws
Big Stone: Big Stone Lake
Blue Earth: Named for the bluish-green earth in the region
Brown: Joseph Renshaw Brown; drummer boy, soldier, Indian trader, lumberman,
pioneer, speculator, sounder, legislator, politician, editor and inventor
Carlton: Rueben B. Carlton; early settler and member of the first senate (1858)
Carver: Jonathan Carver; explorer and writer of the northland, traveled with the
Sioux on the Minnesota River
Cass: Statesman Lewis Cass
Chippewa: Chippewa River
Chisago: Named after the largest lake in the county
Clay: Statesman Henry Clay
Clearwater: Clearwater River and Lake
Cook: Major Michael Cook; brave Civil War soldier
Cottonwood: Cottonwood River
Crow Wing: Named for an island shaped like a raven’s wing at the junction of the
Crow Wing and Mississippi Rivers
Dakota: Named after the Dakota Tribe of Indians
Dodge: Henry and August Caesar Dodge; father and son politicians of the time
Douglas: Stephen Arnold Douglas; know as “little giant,” adversary of Abe Lincoln
Faribault: Jean Baptiste Faribault; trader among the Sioux
Fillmore: Millard Fillmore; US President (1850-1853)
Freeborn: William Freeborn; second mayor of Red Wing
Goodhue: James Madison Goodhue; Minnesota’s first printer and editor
Grant: Ulysses Simpson Grant; Civil War general and US President (1869-1877)
Hennepin: Father Louis Hennepin; missionary, explorer and author
Houston: Sam Houston; general and political leader
Hubbard: Lucius Frederick Hubbard; editor, soldier, businessman, and first
governor 1882-1887
Isanti: Tribal name of the area
Itasca: Lake Itasca
Jackson: Henry Jackson; first merchant, postmaster, and justice-of-the-peace in
St. Paul
Kanabec: Named after the Snake River, Kanabec is Ojibway for “snake”
Kandiyohi: Dakota Indian name meaning “where the buffalo fish come”
Kittson: Norman Wolfred Kittson; leading pioneer, fur trader, and mayor of St.
Paul
Koochiching: Cree Indian name of uncertain meaning given by Ojibways to Rainy
River and the falls and rapids
Lac qui Parle: French, meaning “lake who speaks”
Lake: Named after Lake Superior
Lake of the Woods: Named after the lake that forms the county’s northern border
Le Sueur: French-Canadian Pierre Charles Le Sueur; trader and explorer
Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln
Lyon: General Nathaniel Lyon; killed in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri
Mahnomen: Ojibway word for wild rice
Marshall: William Rainey Marshall; pioneer merchant, banker, soldier, and
governor (1866-1870)
Martin: Henry Martin, who came from Connecticut in 1856 and purchased
thousands of acres in this and other counties
McLeod: Martin McLeod; a pioneer fur trader who became president of the
Territorial Legislature Council in 1853
Meeker: Bradley B. Meeker; territorial legislator, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice
and charter member of the Minnesota Historical Society
Mille Lacs: Named after the lake the French called “Thousand Lakes”
Morrison: William and Allen Morrison; pioneer fur traders who explored the
Mississippi headwaters
Mower: John El. Mower; pioneer lumberman who served both the Territorial
(1854-55) and State Legislatures (1874-75)
Murray: William Pitt Murray; Territorial Legislator and president of its council, also
a state representative and senator
Nicollet: Joseph Nicolas Nicollet; a French-born geographer and explorer who
mapped the Itasca Lake basin in 1836
Nobles: William H. Nobles; a wagon maker and road builder who served in the
Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1854 and 1856
Norman: Named after the early Norwegian (Norsemen or Norman) settlers
Olmsted: David Olmsted; first mayor of St. Paul who was also an editor and a
publisher
Otter Tail: Ottertail Lake and River, named by the Ojibway for its long, ancient
sandbar shaped like an otter’s tail
Pennington: Edmund Pennington; a railroad man who become president of the
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway
Pine: Named for the great forests of white and Norway pine which once flourished
in the county
Pipestone: Named for the red pipestone, or catlinite, which was venerated and
quarried by Indians
Polk: James Knox Polic; US President (1845-1849)
Pope: General John Pope; explorer and soldier who assisted Generals Sibley and
Sully in the 1863-64 campaign against the Sioux Indians
Ramsey: Alexander Ramsey; Minnesota’s first Territorial Governor (1849-1853)
and the second mayor of St. Paul (1855)
Red Lake: Red Lake River, named by the Ojibway for the river’s red sand and
reddish water
Redwood: Named after a river believed to be named for a slender bush whose
red bark the Dakota mixed with tobacco for smoking
Renville: Joseph Renville who led the Sioux warriors for the British against the US
in the War of 1812
Rice: Henry Mower Rice who aided in negotiating Indian treaties and became one
of the first two Minnesota Senators
Rock: Named for a large rocky outcrop or plateau, know as “The Mound”
Roseau: Roseau Lake and Roseau River
St. Louis: St. Louis River which was given its name by French explorer Verendrye
Scott: General Winfield Scott who served in the War of 1812 and was American
troop commander in the Mexican War (1846-1848)
Sherburne: Moses Sherburne; a Territorial Supreme Court Justice from 1853-
1857, he helped to compile Minnesota’s statutes
Sibley: Henry Hastings Sibley; fur trader, pioneer, and first governor of Minnesota
(1858-1860)
Stearns: Charles Thomas Stearns; distinguished pioneer resident of St. Cloud
Steele: Franklin Steele; a prominent Minneapolis pioneer and charter member of
the Minnesota Historical Society and member of the University of Minnesota Board
of Regents
Stevens: Isaac Ingalls Stevens; a statesman who requested this county be named
for him seven years after a clerical error denied him that honor in 1855 for
Stearns County
Swift: Henry Adoniram Swift, Minnesota’s governor in 1863
Todd: John Blair Smith Todd; commander of Fort Ripley from 1849-1856
Traverse: Lake Traverse
Wabasha: Named for a three-generation line of great Sioux chiefs named
Wabasha
Wadena: Wadena Trading Post, built on the old Crow Wing-to-Pembina Trail
Waseca: Dakota or Sioux word translated as “rich,” “fertile” and “plentiful”
Washington: George Washington
Watonwan: Watonwan River, a Dakota name believed to signify “where fish-bait
abounds”
Wilkin: Colonel Alexander Wilkin, an attorney, state marshall and soldier who was
killed in 1864 during the Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi
Winona: Named after a Dakota woman of distinction, Winona, who was a cousin
of the last of the three chiefs named Wabasha
Wright: Silas Wright, New York lawyer and politician
Yellow Medicine: Yellow Medicine River, the Dakota or Sioux Pajutzaee (“yellowplant
root diggings”)
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From GenealogyArchives.com:
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Cemetery Records
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SEARCH FOR YOUR SURNAMES IN OUR GENEALOGY DATA LIBRARY:
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