List of Alaska borough and census area name etymologies

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This is a list of Alaska borough and census area name etymologies.

Map of Alaska boroughs and census areas

Aleutians East Borough: named for its location in the eastern part of the Aleutian Islands. Aleutian may be from the Chukchi word aliat, meaning "island".
Aleutians West Census Area: named for its location in the western part of the Aleutian Islands.
Municipality of Anchorage: derived from the fact that ships supplying the Knik gold mining district had to anchor at Ship Creek (hence its name) and transfer their goods to smaller ships for the trip up Knik Arm; hence the site was called alternately "Ship Creek Anchorage", "Knik Anchorage", and eventually just Anchorage.
Bethel Census Area: named for the city of Bethel.
Bristol Bay Borough: named for Bristol Bay, also called Iilgayaq Bay.
Denali Borough: named for Denali, which is the tallest mountain in North America and is better known outside of Alaska as Mount McKinley. Denaliis Dena'ina for "the great one".
Dillingham Census Area: named for the city of Dillingham, which is in turn named for William P. Dillingham, a U.S. Senator from Vermont.
Fairbanks North Star Borough: named for the city of Fairbanks (which is named in turn for Charles W. Fairbanks, the 26th Vice President of the United States) and Polaris, the North Star. The entire name of the borough was the result of a 1963 contest to name the new borough. Eleven schoolchildren chose the name North Star Borough, and the Alaska Legislature later amended the name to include Fairbanks so that the area's name would be more easily recognizable to purchasers of municipal bonds.
Haines Borough: named after Haines, which is named in turn for Mrs. F. E. Haines, the community leader who raised funds for a religious mission to the local Chilkat Alaska Native people.
City and Borough of Juneau: named for Joseph "Joe" Juneau, a miner and prospector who was a cofounder of the city.
Kenai Peninsula Borough: named for the Kenai Peninsula. Kenai is probably derived from Kenayskaya, the Russian name for Cook Inlet.
Ketchikan Gateway Borough: named for Ketchikan (itself named for Ketchikan Creek) and for its gateway location at the Alaska-Canadian border.
Kodiak Island Borough: named for Kodiak Island, which in turn is possibly named for the Koniagmiut (or Koniag) Alaska Natives who inhabited it.
Lake and Peninsula Borough: named for the borough's many large lakes and the Alaska Peninsula.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough: named for the valley formed by the Matanuska and Susitna rivers that makes up much of the borough.
Nome Census Area: named for the city of Nome and Cape Nome, both of which are named as the result of a transcription error, in which a map notation of ? Name was miscopied as C. Nome for Cape Nome.
North Slope Borough: named for the North Slope, the dominant geographic region in the borough.
Northwest Arctic Borough: named for its location in the northwestern part of the state, near the Arctic Circle.
Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Census Area: named for Prince of Wales Island and the census area's location surrounding Ketchikan.
City and Borough of Sitka: derived from the Tlingit word Shee Atika, meaning people on the outside of Shee. Shee in turn is the Tlingit name for Baranof Island.
Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area: named for the cities of Skagway, Hoonah and Angoon. (Skagway is from the Tlingit Skagua, meaning "the place where the north wind blows"; Hoonah means "village by the cliff.")
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area: named for its location southeast of Fairbanks.
Valdez-Cordova Census Area: named for the cities of Valdez (named after Antonio Valdés y Basán, a Spanish naval officer) and Cordova (named after the city of Córdoba, Spain), both of which were named by Spanish explorer Don Salvador Fidalgo in 1790.
Wade Hampton Census Area: named for United States Senator and Governor of South Carolina Wade Hampton III.
Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area: named for the cities of Wrangell and Petersburg. Wrangell is named after Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, president of the Russian-American Company, while Petersburg is named after early settler Peter Buschmann.
City and Borough of Yakutat: named for Yakutat Bay and the Yakutat Alaska Native people.
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: named for the Yukon River (Yukon means big river in Athabaskan) and Koyukuk River (named after the Koyukon Alaska Native people).

Sources

A History of the First Five Years of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Society of Professional Journalists, 1979.

List of Alaska borough and census area name etymologies

Sources

See also