Here is all 50 state names meaning and how the name originated: Alabama: From the Choctaw word albah amo meaning "thicket-clearers" or "plant-cutters." Alaska: From the Aleut word alaxsxaq, from Russian ÐлÑÑка, meaning "the object toward which the action of the sea is directed." Arizona: From the O'odham (a Uto-Aztecan language) word ali sona-g via Spanish Arizonac meaning "good oaks." Arkansas: From a French pronunciation of an Algonquin name for the Quapaw people: akansa. This word, meaning either "downriver people" or “people of the south wind," comes from the Algonquin prefix -a plus the Siouan word kká:ze for a group...