A Wisconsin atlas is full of place names like Wausau and Portage derived from those languages. At least hundreds more native place names still exist but have fallen out of common use.

Many native place names also have value to scientists and conservationists who want to document or restore lost habitats, said Jim St. Arnold, a specialist in Ojibwe language names.

For instance, Rice Lake in Barron County no longer has wild rice, he said. But the aquatic grass once grew there in abundance, as indicated by the lake's Ojibwe name, "Manoonimikaani Zaaga'igan," or "Plenty of Wild Rice Lake."

"Our people named places for a reason," said St. Arnold, who works for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission and recently finished an Ojibwe atlas of the region. "Something was there that they used or something was there that they did."

The same holds true for the Ho-Chunk name for Madison, "Tejop," which refers to the region's defining feature, "Four Lakes."

Click here for some current place names with tribal origins.