Arkansas
1819年，阿肯色州作为美国领土组织，1836年成为州份； 它的名字来自于 Arkansas 河，该河以一个苏族部落命名。
The spelling of the term represents a French plural, Arcansas, of a name applied to the Quapaw people who lived on the Arkansas River; their name was also written in early times as Akancea, Acansea, Acansa (Dickinson, 1995). This was not the name used by the Quapaws themselves, however. The term /akansa/ was applied to them by Algonquian speakers; this consists of /a-/, an Algonquian prefix found in the names of ethnic groups, plus /kká:ze, a Siouan term referring to members of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan family. This stem is also the origin for the name of the Kansa tribe and of the state of Kansas; thus the placenames Arkansas and Kansas indirectly have the same origin. [William Bright, "Native American Placenames of the United States," 2004]
这个词的拼写代表了一个法语复数， Arcansas，用来称呼居住在阿肯色河上的夸帕人； 他们的名字在早期也被写作 Akancea, Acansea, Acansa（Dickinson, 1995）。然而，这并不是夸帕人自己使用的名字。/akansa/ 这个词是阿尔冈昆语族的人们给他们起的名字； 它由 /a-/，一个在民族名称中出现的阿尔冈昆语族前缀，以及 /kká:ze，一个指代 Dhegiha 支系成员的苏族词汇组成。这个词根也是 Kansa 部落和 Kansas 州名字的起源； 因此，地名 Arkansas 和 Kansas 间接地有着相同的起源。[William Bright, "Native American Placenames of the United States," 2004]
最后的无声字母 -s，可能最初来自法语发音，于1881年由州议会法案正式确定。