state received its name from the river. The name Alabama first occurs in
chronicles of DeSoto's 1540 expedition, spelled variously Alibamu, Li-
mamu, and Alibamo. Numerous other variant spellings were set down by
English, French, and Spanish explorers. ¹

The origin of the name Alabama is probably in two Choctaw words.
"Alba" in Choctaw means vegetation, herbs, plants, or weeds. "Amo"
means a gatherer, picker, or shearer. It was not unusual that a tribe would
accept a descriptive name from a contiguous tribe. The description "vege-
tation gatherers" was appropriate for the Alabama Indians, who cleared
land for agricultural purposes. ²

While the state of Alabama has no officially adopted nickname, Alaba-
mians proudly display the nickname "The Heart of Dixie" on their license
plates. Alabama is also known as the Yellowhammer State. The state bird
is the yellowhammer, chosen because of the color of the uniforms of a
company of Alabama confederate soldiers. The NASA-Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville has provided Alabama with another nick-
name--The Pioneer Space Capital of the World.

Alaska is taken directly from the Aleut "aláxsxaq," meaning "the object
toward which the action of the sea is directed," or the mainland. ³ Alaska
was known as Russian America until its purchase by the United States in
1867. The Russians had used the term Alaska to refer only to the Alaskan
peninsula. The name was appropriated by the United States to refer first
to the Territory of Alaska and then to the state. ⁴

The American purchase of Alaska, negotiated by Secretary of State Wil-
liam Seward, gave Alaska two of its first American nicknames--Seward's
Folly and Seward's Ice Box. While obviously meant to be derisive, Seward's
purchase of Alaska for $7,200,000 has proved a fine investment. Alaska
has also been spoken of more fondly as the Land of Midnight Sun and
America's Last Frontier.

The name Arizona is derived from two words in the Papago Indian di-
alect of the Pima language--"Aleh-zon," which means "little spring."
Spaniards used the term as early as 1736. The springs, now located in
Mexican territory, are near a large silver find made in 1735 in the Arizona
Creek. Arizona was chosen as the territorial name, in part owing to Charles
D. Poston. Poston was a mining speculator who claimed to have first sug-
gested the name Arizona in a petition to Congress to make Arizona a ter-
ritory. ⁵

Arizona is known as the Copper State because of its large copper pro-

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