The word Nebraska comes from an Indian word for flat water, refering to the Platte river. When the french came into the state they adopted the name for the land.
Étienne de Veniard, sieur de Bourgmont in 1714, named the major river flowing through the land the Nebraskier, which is an Oto word meaning "flat water". (The French word for "flat" is "Platte".)...