Maine: the only state with a one-syllable name
Photo: Boston Public Library
Among the 50 states, Maine is the only one with a one-syllable name, yet no one knows for certain where the name came from. There are, however, many theories. Among them are that Maine is named after a French province, an English village, or a queen, or that it derives from a nautical term for “mainland.”
Some of these theories have been debunked (the state is not named after Queen Henrietta Maria) and others are still debated. What is known is that Maine (sometimes spelled “Mayne”) was officially recorded as the name in 1622. In 2001, a Franco-American Day resolution adopted by the state legislature identified the French province of Maine as the state’s namesake, but historians haven’t reached a consensus.
Solving the mystery is not confined to academia. Mainers have lively online debates about the name’s origin. A theory with some legs? That Maine was originally “Mariner,” but they kept dropping the r’s.
Author: Stephanie Bouchard
