Iowa became a state on December 28, 1846, when it was admitted into the Union.

Before that date, it had been incorporated into the "Louisiana Territory," which was purchased from France in 1804. And, of course, France, had even earlier ceded the Territory to Spain, only to have Spain cede it back to France in 1800.

Once in the hands of the United States, Iowa took on a succession of names. In 1812, it was made part of the Territory of Missouri. In 1834, it became part of the Territory of Michigan along with what we currently call Minnesota. But in 1836, the territories of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin reconstituted with a Territorial Government of its own, and was called the "Wisconsin Territory." Iowa didn't become a Territory in its own right until 1838 - when the first Legislative assembly convened in Burlington. One of the early Governors of Ohio, Robert Lucas, was appointed the first Territorial Governor of Iowa, which also embraced the greater portion of what is now Minnesota.

With such a commingling of historical and political identity, is it any wonder that confusion might arise about Iowa's name?

The 13th General Assembly of Iowa commissioned a historical sketch of Iowa in 1870, and here is what that document holds with regard to Iowa's name:

"The word Iowa is said to mean in the language of the Indian tribes, 'The Beautiful Land.' A band of Indians journeying towards the setting sun, reached the bank of the Great River that washes our eastern border, and looking across the broad water, beheld for the first time the green slopes of our beautiful prairies stretching away in the distance. Their exclamation was "IOWA - the Beautiful Land!"

The document goes on to hold: "It is a well attested fact that these sons of the prairie and the forest, rude and uncultivated as they are, have a vivid appreciation of the grand and beautiful in nature, and it is not unreasonable to presume that such was the origin of the name, although it comes down to us as a tradition."

Not so fast. Ask a member of the loway Nation, now removed to Kansas-Nebraska region and to Oklahoma what the word "Iowa" means, and you likely will be told it means the "Sleepy Ones" - a name given to loways in jest by their linguistic kin - the Dakota Sioux.

Actually, the loways called themselves (bah -KHO -jay). In their original language, the name comes from an incident long ago when, while camping in the Iowa River valley, a gust of wind blew a cloud of sand and campfire ashes onto their heads - thus bah-KHO- jay - the Grey or Ashy Heads.