 Fifteen state names are either French words / origin (Delaware, New Jersey, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Vermont) or Native American words rendered by French speakers (Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Wisconsin), versus eight state names that are Spanish or Spanish rendered (California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah).The suffix "-ville," from the French word for "city" is common for town and city names throughout the United States.Many originally French place names, possibly hundreds, in the Midwest and Upper West were replaced with directly translated English names once American settlers became locally dominant (e.g.