Editing County (United States) (section)

==Names and etymologies==
{{see also|Lists of U.S. county name etymologies}}
Common sources of county names are names of people, geographic features, places in other states or countries, and animals. Quite a few counties bear names of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]], French, or Spanish origin.<ref name="Kane 2004 vii-xii">{{cite book |title = The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, and Population Data, 1950-2000 |last1 = Kane |first1 = Joseph Nathan |first2 = Charles Curry |last2 = Aiken |year = 2004 |publisher = Scarecrow Press |isbn = 978-0-8108-5036-1 |page = vii-xii |url =https://archive.org/details/americancounties0000kane|url-access = registration }}<!--|access-date=September 23, 2009--></ref>

Counties are most often named for people, often political figures or early settlers, with over 2,100 of the 3,144 total so named. The most common county name, with 31, is [[Washington County (disambiguation)|Washington County]], for America's first president, [[George Washington]]. Up until 1871, there was a [[Washington County, District of Columbia|Washington County]] within the [[District of Columbia]], but it was dissolved by the [[District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871|District of Columbia Organic Act]]. [[Jefferson County (disambiguation)|Jefferson County]], for [[Thomas Jefferson]], is next with 26. The most recent president to have [[Harding County, New Mexico|a county]] named for him was [[Warren G. Harding]], reflecting the slowing rate of county creation since [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]] became states in 1912. The most common names for counties not named after a president are [[Franklin County (disambiguation)|Franklin]] (25), [[Clay County (disambiguation)|Clay]] (18), and [[Montgomery County (disambiguation)|Montgomery]] (18).

After people, the next most common source of county names are geographic features and locations, with some counties even being named after counties in other states, or for places in other countries, such as the United Kingdom (the latter is most common in the area of the original [[Thirteen Colonies]] in the case of the United Kingdom, or in places which had a large number of immigrants from a particular area for other countries). The most common geographic county name is [[Lake County (disambiguation)|Lake]]. Words from Native American languages, as well as the names of Native American leaders and tribes, lend their names to many counties.<ref>[[William Bright|Bright, William]] (2004). ''Native American Placenames of the United States''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|080613576X}}</ref> Quite a few counties bear names of French or Spanish origin, such as [[Marquette County (disambiguation)|Marquette County]] being named after French missionary [[Jacques Marquette|Father Jacques Marquette]].<ref name="Kane 2004 vii-xii" />

The county's equivalent in the state of Louisiana, the [[Parish (administrative division)|parish]] (Fr. ''paroisse civile'' and Sp. ''parroquia'') took its name during the state's French and Spanish colonial periods. Before the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and granting of statehood, government was often administered in towns where major church [[parish]]es were located. Of the original 19 civil parishes of Louisiana that date from statehood in 1807, nine were named after the Roman Catholic parishes from which they were governed.