State Name Generator

Real US states, lost proposals and fictional states

Places & Geography500 names

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Pick a random US state or generate a fictional one. The list mixes all 50 states and territories with historical proposals like Franklin and Deseret, river and tribal names that sound like they belong on a map, Spanish and English coinages, and plausible states for fictional countries.

About state names

Real American state names come from a handful of sources, and a believable fictional state should borrow from the same ones. About half the states carry Indigenous words, usually filtered through French or Spanish spelling: Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi, Dakota, Connecticut. A second group honors people (Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, Louisiana) and a third describes land or direction (Vermont, Montana, Nevada, the Carolinas and Dakotas split north and south). Spanish gave the Southwest Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Montana, which is why Spanish coinages like Sierra or Rio Verde fit so naturally.

The names that almost made it are just as useful. Franklin, Deseret, Sequoyah, Absaroka, Jefferson, Lincoln and Superior were all seriously proposed states, and Thomas Jefferson once suggested carving the Midwest into Metropotamia, Assenisipia and Polypotamia. River and mountain names such as Shenandoah, Allegheny, Cumberland, Klamath and Wabash already work like state names in everyday speech, which is why so much fiction uses them.

Use this page three ways: draw a random real state for a quiz, trip or writing prompt; grab a proposed or regional name for alternate history; or pick an invented state for a novel, game or fictional country. A short list at the end covers non-US patterns, including proposed Indian, Australian and Brazilian-style states.

How to choose state names

  • For an alternate-history map, reuse a real proposal (Franklin, Deseret, Superior, Jefferson) rather than a pure invention; readers who recognize it will feel the history.
  • A fictional state sounds more real if it is named like its neighbors: a river or tribal name next to Ohio and Indiana, a Spanish name next to New Mexico, a 'New' plus Old World place in the Northeast.
  • Pair the name with a nickname and abbreviation (Cascadia, 'the Evergreen State', CS); that small detail sells it in dialogue and on signs.
  • Keep invented names to two or three syllables unless they are compound (North Colorado, Baja Arizona); most real states are short.
  • For random-pick games, decide in advance whether DC and the territories count as states so the draw is fair.

Frequently asked questions

Does this generator include all 50 US states?

Yes. All 50 states are in the list, plus the District of Columbia and the five inhabited territories, so you can use it as a random US state picker for quizzes, road-trip draws or classroom games.

What are the fictional state names based on?

They follow the same patterns as real state names: Indigenous river and tribe names, Spanish landscape terms, 'New' plus an Old World region, Latin -ia coinages and names honoring historical figures. Many were actual proposals that were never adopted, such as Deseret, Sequoyah and Absaroka.

Can I use these names for a state in a fictional country?

Yes. Names like Cascadia, Verdania, Costa Verde or Capricornia work for provinces and states in invented nations, and the list ends with proposed Indian, Australian and South American-style names for non-US settings.

Were Franklin and Deseret real states?

They were real attempts. Franklin operated as an unrecognized state in what is now eastern Tennessee from 1784 to 1788, and Deseret was proposed by Mormon settlers in 1849 before Congress created Utah Territory instead. Neither was admitted, which makes them ideal for alternate history.

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All 500 state names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 39 names

  • Abenaki
  • Absaroka
  • Acadia
  • Acadiana
  • Adirondack
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Albemarle
  • Aleut
  • Aleutia
  • Allegania
  • Allegheny
  • Alta California
  • Alta Mesa
  • Altamaha
  • Altavia
  • Amberland
  • American Samoa
  • Androscoggin
  • Anioma
  • Apache
  • Apalachee
  • Appalachia
  • Arapaho
  • Arboria
  • Arcadia
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • Arkansaw
  • Aroostook
  • Assenisipia
  • Assiniboia
  • Atchafalaya
  • Athabasca
  • Auralia
  • Aurelia
  • Aurora
  • Austral
  • Avalon

B: 18 names

  • Badlands
  • Baja Arizona
  • Baja Verde
  • Bayshore
  • Bering
  • Berkshire
  • Big Sky
  • Bighorn
  • Biscayne
  • Bitterroot
  • Blue Ridge
  • Bluegrass
  • Bodoland
  • Boone
  • Borealia
  • Brazos
  • Buenaventura
  • Bundelkhand

C: 43 names

  • Cabrillo
  • Caddo
  • Calaveras
  • Caldera
  • California
  • Calusa
  • Camas
  • Cambria
  • Cape Breton
  • Cape Fear
  • Capricornia
  • Cascade
  • Cascadia
  • Catalina
  • Catawba
  • Catskill
  • Cayuga
  • Champlain
  • Charlotina
  • Chattahoochee
  • Chautauqua
  • Chersonesus
  • Chesapeake
  • Cheyenne
  • Chihuahuan
  • Chinook
  • Chugach
  • Cimarron
  • Clearfield
  • Clearwater
  • Colorado
  • Columbia
  • Columbiana
  • Columbine
  • Comanche
  • Conejo
  • Connecticut
  • Coronado
  • Costa Azul
  • Costa Verde
  • Cowlitz
  • Crockett
  • Cumberland

D: 8 names

  • Dakota
  • De Soto
  • Delaware
  • Delmarva
  • Denali
  • Deschutes
  • Deseret
  • District of Columbia

E: 7 names

  • East Tennessee
  • East Texas
  • Eastbrook
  • Edisto
  • El Dorado
  • Erie
  • Everglades

F: 9 names

  • Fairhaven
  • Flathead
  • Florida
  • Floridiana
  • Forgottonia
  • Frankland
  • Franklin
  • Franklinia
  • Fremont

G: 12 names

  • Gasconade
  • Genesee
  • Georgia
  • Gila
  • Glacier
  • Gorkhaland
  • Greater Idaho
  • Greenbrier
  • Greenhollow
  • Greenmont
  • Guam
  • Gurara

H: 11 names

  • Hamiltonia
  • Harit Pradesh
  • Harland
  • Hawaii
  • Hiawatha
  • Highland
  • Holston
  • Hopi
  • Housatonic
  • Humboldt
  • Huron

I: 9 names

  • Idaho
  • Ijebu
  • Illini
  • Illinoia
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Inupiat
  • Iowa
  • Itasca

J: 5 names

  • Jacinto
  • Jackson
  • Jefferson
  • Jeffersonia
  • Joliet

K: 23 names

  • Kaibab
  • Kainji
  • Kanawha
  • Kankakee
  • Kansas
  • Kaskaskia
  • Keewatin
  • Kenai
  • Kennebec
  • Kentucky
  • Kern
  • Keweenaw
  • Kiamichi
  • Kickapoo
  • Kiowa
  • Klamath
  • Klickitat
  • Kodiak
  • Kona
  • Kongu Nadu
  • Kootenai
  • Kosal
  • Kosciusko

L: 19 names

  • La Cumbre
  • La Salle
  • Labrador
  • Lacustria
  • Lafayette
  • Lakeland
  • Lakota
  • Laramie
  • Las Cruces
  • Las Mesas
  • Leeward
  • Lincoln
  • Lindenia
  • Llano Estacado
  • Long Island
  • Los Arcos
  • Los Pinos
  • Louisiana
  • Lower Missouri

M: 44 names

  • Mackinac
  • Madison
  • Madisonia
  • Maine
  • Mariana
  • Mariposa
  • Marquette
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Massasoit
  • Mato Verde
  • Maumee
  • Mendocino
  • Menominee
  • Meramec
  • Meridia
  • Merrimack
  • Mesabi
  • Mesilla
  • Metropotamia
  • Miami
  • Michigan
  • Michigania
  • Minnesota
  • Minnetonka
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Mithila
  • Modoc
  • Mogollon
  • Mohave
  • Mohegan
  • Mojave
  • Monongahela
  • Monroe
  • Montana
  • Montclair
  • Monte Verde
  • Monterey
  • Montrosia
  • Muir
  • Muskingum
  • Muskogee
  • Musselshell

N: 55 names

  • Nakota
  • Narragansett
  • Nataqua
  • Navajo
  • Nebraska
  • Neosho
  • Nevada
  • New Albion
  • New Anglia
  • New Aragon
  • New Avalon
  • New Bavaria
  • New Brabant
  • New Bristol
  • New Caledon
  • New Caledonia
  • New Castile
  • New Cornwall
  • New Cumbria
  • New Devon
  • New Essex
  • New Friesland
  • New Galloway
  • New Hampshire
  • New Holland
  • New Jersey
  • New Kent
  • New Lothian
  • New Lusitania
  • New Mexico
  • New Munster
  • New Norfolk
  • New Picardy
  • New Savoy
  • New Somerset
  • New Sussex
  • New Sweden
  • New Ulster
  • New Wessex
  • New York
  • Nez Perce
  • Nickajack
  • Niobrara
  • North California
  • North Carolina
  • North Colorado
  • North Dakota
  • North Maine
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • Northmarch
  • Northumbria
  • Nova Terra
  • Nueva Esperanza
  • Nueva Galicia
  • Nuevo Santander

O: 19 names

  • Oceana
  • Ogeechee
  • Ohio
  • Okanogan
  • Oke-Ogun
  • Okeechobee
  • Okefenokee
  • Oklahoma
  • Omaha
  • Oneida
  • Oregon
  • Orovalle
  • Osage
  • Osceola
  • Otsego
  • Ottawa
  • Ouachita
  • Ozark
  • Ozarkia

P: 28 names

  • Paiute
  • Palouse
  • Pamlico
  • Pawnee
  • Pecos
  • Pee Dee
  • Pelisipia
  • Pembina
  • Penn
  • Pennsylvania
  • Penobscot
  • Piedmont
  • Piedmontia
  • Platte
  • Pocahontas
  • Pocono
  • Polypotamia
  • Ponca
  • Pontiac
  • Potawatomi
  • Potomac
  • Powhatan
  • Prairieland
  • Princeland
  • Puerto Rico
  • Puget
  • Pulaski
  • Purvanchal

R: 14 names

  • Raleigh
  • Rappahannock
  • Ravinia
  • Redwood
  • Rhode Island
  • Ridgemont
  • Rio Bravo
  • Rio Claro
  • Rio Grande
  • Rio Verde
  • Riverina
  • Roanoke
  • Roosevelt
  • Rupertsland

S: 51 names

  • Sabine
  • Sacagawea
  • Saginaw
  • Salish
  • San Gabriel
  • San Joaquin
  • San Lorenzo
  • Sangamon
  • Sangre de Cristo
  • Santa Lucia
  • Santa Rosa
  • Santee
  • Saratoga
  • Sauk
  • Saurashtra
  • Sawtooth
  • Scioto
  • Seneca
  • Sequoia
  • Sequoyah
  • Serra Dourada
  • Seward
  • Shasta
  • Shenandoah
  • Sheyenne
  • Shoshone
  • Sierra
  • Sierra Blanca
  • Sierra Madre
  • Sierra Nevada
  • Silvania
  • Siskiyou
  • Skagit
  • Solaria
  • Sonoran
  • South California
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • South Florida
  • South Jersey
  • Southern Illinois
  • Southfork
  • Spokane
  • Steuben
  • Stonehaven
  • Sunderland
  • Superior
  • Susquehanna
  • Suwannee
  • Sweetwater
  • Sylvania

T: 30 names

  • Tallania
  • Tallapoosa
  • Tecumseh
  • Tehachapi
  • Tehama
  • Tejas
  • Tennessee
  • Terra Nova
  • Teton
  • Texas
  • Texlahoma
  • Tidewater
  • Tierra Alta
  • Tierra Nueva
  • Tierra Roja
  • Tillamook
  • Timberland
  • Timucua
  • Tioga
  • Tippecanoe
  • Tlingit
  • Tombigbee
  • Tongass
  • Transylvania
  • Trinity
  • Tuckahoe
  • Tulare
  • Tulu Nadu
  • Tuolumne
  • Tuscarora

U: 8 names

  • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Uinta
  • Umatilla
  • Umpqua
  • Ungava
  • Upper Michigan
  • Utah
  • Ute

V: 13 names

  • Valle Alto
  • Valle Azul
  • Valle Grande
  • Vancouver Island
  • Vandalia
  • Ventura
  • Verdania
  • Verdigris
  • Vermilion
  • Vermont
  • Vesperia
  • Vidarbha
  • Virginia

W: 28 names

  • Wabash
  • Wabasha
  • Wachovia
  • Wampanoag
  • Wasatch
  • Washington
  • Washingtonia
  • Washita
  • Washoe
  • Watauga
  • Wenatchee
  • West Florida
  • West Kansas
  • West Texas
  • West Virginia
  • Western Maryland
  • Western Washington
  • Westfall
  • Westmoreland
  • Westralia
  • Westsylvania
  • Wichita
  • Willamette
  • Windward
  • Winona
  • Winooski
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Y: 5 names

  • Yakima
  • Yazoo
  • Yellowstone
  • Yuma
  • Yupik

Z: 2 names

  • Zion
  • Zuni