Etymology According to Minnesota Geographic Names, its name derives from the Ojibwe Buh-mid-ji-ga-maug (Double-Vowel orthography: bemijigamaag), meaning "a lake with crossing waters". This name stems from the way that the Mississippi River flows directly through the Lake. Shay-now-ish-kung, an Ojibwe leader, moved to the area in 1882 and became the first permanent settler of Bemidji. He informed early white settlers of the name of the lake, but they misunderstood him to mean that bemidji was his own name. Consequently, he was known to them as Chief Bemidji.
Etymology According to Minnesota Geographic Names, its name derives from the Ojibwe Buh-mid-ji-ga-maug (Double-Vowel orthography: bemijigamaag) meaning "a lake with crossing waters". This name stems from the way that the Mississippi River flows directly through the Lake Shay-now-ish-kung, an Ojibwe leader, moved to the area in 1882 and became the first permanent settler of Bemidji. He informed early white settlers of the name of the lake, but they misunderstood him to mean that bemidji was his own name Consequently, he was known to them as Chief Bemidji.