Arizona

Where Arizona comes from

Uncertain. Possibly from O'odham alĭ ṣonak (literally “small spring”) (traditionally through the Spanish intermediary form Arizonac; compare modern Arizona), a name initially applied to an area around a silver-mining camp in Sonora. Alternatively, perhaps from Basque haritz ona (literally “good oak”), as the area had many Basque herders, and a descendant of them established the ranchería of Arizona (circa 1735) in Sonora. Suggestions of derivation from *arizuma, supposedly a Nahuatl word meaning “silver-bearing”, are considered implausible, and derivation from árida zona (literally “dry zone”) is considered a folk etymology.
— Wiktionary's entry for Arizona
  • 4 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #628 among girls — 8 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1882
    Peak, #507
    13 babies named Arizona — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1884
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  4. 1986
    Arizona Reid born
    American basketball player
  5. 1988
    Arizona Muse born
    American model
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name.
Namesakes
  • Arizona Muse · American model, born 1988
  • Arizona Reid · American basketball player, born 1986
  • Arizona Charlie · American showman, 1859–1932

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.