What's in a name?
Maybe not too much, but on the other hand, perhaps quite a bit.

Take Northport, for example. The name is essentially a “geographic” one. It gives the community’s general location and a reason for its establishment too; it served as a commercial port and wooding station.

Coincidentally, there is a Northport on the opposite side of Lake Michigan, at the tip of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, which separates Green Bay from the lake proper. Larger “Northports” are found both in Alabama and Florida.

Unlike the other Northports, the one in Florida is spelled North Port. That’s because it was originally North Port Charlotte, but the name, probably for convenience, was shortened.
Leland is said to be so named because the lakeshore village is “in the lee of the land.”

Leland is actually found in Webster’s New Geographical Dictionary, but probably was only listed because it is the county seat (though not for long). Leelanau’s Northport, which is actually larger, didn’t make it.

Good Harbor is another name that was descriptive of a community’s establishment, but unlike Northport, when the boats stopped calling, this once-thriving village went into a permanent decline.

Suttons Bay is a geographic name that honors an early settler – Henry Sutton.

Empire and Port Oneida took their names from Great Lakes ships.

Cedar, originally called Cedar City, takes its name from a tree, as does Maple City, which never lost its “city” status, although it could be argued it never really attained it anyway. Today, like always, it remains an unincorporated village.

Solon was so named because early settlers hailed from Solon, Ohio, and Greilickville was named for pioneer lumberman, Godfrey Greilick. Greilickville was also once known as Norrisville.

The village of Lake Leelanau is now on its third name. Originally known as LeNaro (French for “the narrows”), this village was renamed Provemont because “improvements” were said to have been made in the community. The second name stuck until the mid 1920s, when the present name was adopted. “Provemont,” however, didn’t gracefully abdicate. After the name change, some advertisers in the Enterprise stuck with Provemont, and the Manistee and North Eastern Railway never did concede there was a village of Lake Leelanau. Right up until the branch line to the village was abandoned during World War II, tickets and timetables invariably referred to “Provemont.”

Similarily, Cedar was never anything other than “Cedar City” as far as the railroad was concerned.

It might be argued that Provemont was a “Chamber of Commerce” name. The same may be said of the lake it flanked.

The body of water we now know as Lake Leelanau was once called Carp Lake. Since most Americans don’t regard carp as a desirable fish, the name slipped away – probably for the very same reason that Mosquito County, Fla., is now Volusia County.

An Emmet County lakeside village is still known as Carp Lake. The lake itself, however, is now known as Paradise Lake. Probably another example of a local Chamber of Commerce at work.

If one looks at a map of the State of Michigan, a pattern of settlement may be discerned from the nature of the names of some of the communities. In southern Michigan, for example, Kalamazoo County has two small settlements dating back to the 1830s – Alamo and Texas Corners. The settlement names were reflective of rather recent events at the time.

In southeastern Michigan, Ypsilanti was named in honor of a contemporary Greek war of independence hero.

As one moves further north in Michigan, one finds place names reflecting the 1860s and Civil War. Examples are Grant, Sheridan, Sherman and Stanton.

Following the map even further northward, you’ll find the name Garfield, usually used in reference to the president killed in office in 1881, and thus indicating a more recent settlement.

A number of Michigan communities around the state have names identical with community names in New York State. This is not coincidental, but rather reflects how many 19th century Michigan settlers hailed from the Empire State.

Finally, Leelanau has north and south Manitou Islands. Manitou, a native American word, generally is interpreted to mean “Great Spirit” and one can find the name throughout the Great Lakes region.

There is at least one more Manitou Island, located near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior.

What’s in a name? Not much, perhaps – or possibly, quite a bit.