List of Wisconsin county name etymologies This is a list of Wisconsin county name etymologies : Adams County : Adams is named for U.S. President John Quincy Adams . Ashland County : Ashland is named for Henry Clay 's home in Kentucky . Barron County : Barron is named for Wisconsin state legislator and judge Henry D. Barron . Bayfield County : Bayfield is named for Henry Bayfield , a British naval officer who performed the first survey of the Great Lakes region . Brown County : Brown County is named after Major General Jacob Brown , who was the commanding general of the U.S. Army from 1815 until 1828 . Buffalo County : Buffalo is named for the Buffalo River . Burnett County : Burnett is named for Wisconsin state legislator Thomas P. Burnett . Calumet County : Calumet is named for the French language word for a Menominee peace pipe . Chippewa County : Chippewa is named for the Ojibwe ( or Chippewa ) people . Clark County : Clark is named for either American Revolutionary War leader George Rogers Clark or A.W. Clark , who founded Clark 's Mill . Columbia County : Columbia is named for Christopher Columbus . Crawford County : Crawford is named for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Harris Crawford . Dane County : Dane is named for Continental Congressman Nathan Dane . Dodge County : Dodge is named for governor of Wisconsin Territory Henry Dodge . Door County : Door is named for a dangerous strait near the peninsula which was known to the French as porte des mortes , or , in English , as the door of the dead . Douglas County : Douglas is named for U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas . Dunn County : Dunn is named for Wisconsin state legislator and judge Henry Dodge . Eau Claire County : Eau Claire is named for Eau Claire , Wisconsin , which takes its name from the Eau Claire River , which , in turn , takes its name from the French for clear water . Florence County : Florence is named for the first woman pioneer in the region Florence Julst . Fond du Lac County : Fond du Lac is named from the French bottom of the lake for its location at the south end of Lake Winnebago . Forest County : Forest is named for the dense forest which once covered the county . Grant County : Grant is named for an early pioneer who opened a trade with local Native Americans . Green County : Green is named for American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene . Green Lake County : Green Lake is named for Green Lake , Wisconsin 's deepest . Iowa County : Iowa is named for the Iowa Native American people . Iron County : Iron is named for the iron distributed throughout the county . Jackson County : Jackson is named for U.S. President Andrew Jackson . Jefferson County : Jefferson is named for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson . Juneau County : Juneau is named for Solomon Juneau , the first mayor of Milwaukee . Kenosha County : Kenosha ( ginoozhe ) is named for an Ojibwe word meaning pike ( fish ) . Kewaunee County : Kewaunee is named either for a Potawatomi word meaning river of the lost or an Ojibwe word meaning prairie hen , wild duck or to go around . La Crosse County : La Crosse is named for the city of La Crosse , which takes its name from Prairie La Crosse or Prairie de la Crosse ( although folk etymology associates its name with the game of lacrosse ) . Lafayette County : Lafayette is named for the Marquis de la Fayette . Langlade County : Langlade is named for adventurer and soldier Charles Michel de Langlade . Lincoln County : Lincoln is named for U.S. President Abraham Lincoln . Manitowoc County : Manitowoc ( manidoowag ) is an Ojibwe word meaning spirits . Marathon County : Marathon is named for Marathon , Greece . Marinette County : Marinette is named for Marinette , a 19th century trader who was the daughter of a French-Canadian trapper and a Menominee woman . Marquette County : Marquette is named for French missionary Father Pere Jacques Marquette . Menominee County : Menominee is named for the Menominee people and the Menominee Indian Reservation . Milwaukee County : Milwaukee is named for an Ojibwe word mino-aki meaning good land . Monroe County : Monroe is named for U.S. President James Monroe . Oconto County : Oconto is named for the Oconto River . Oneida County : Oneida is named for the Oneida Native American people . Outagamie County : Outagamie is named for the Outagamie ( Meskwaki , Fox ) Native American people . Ozaukee County : Ozaukee ( Ozaagii ) is named for the Ojibwe word for the Sauk people . Pepin County : Pepin is named for the explorers Pierre and Jean Pepin of Chardonnets . Pierce County : Pierce is named for U.S. President Franklin Pierce . Polk County : Polk is named for James K. Polk . Portage County : Portage is named for the overland carry between the Fox River and the Wisconsin River . Price County : Price is named for Wisconsin state legislator W.T. Price . Racine County : Racine is named for the Root River , racine being the French word for root . Richland County : Richland is named for the rich farmland found within the county . Rock County : Rock is named for the Rock River . Rusk County : Rusk is named for Governor of Wisconsin Jeremiah Rusk . Sauk County : Sauk is named for the Sauk Native American people . Sawyer County : Sawyer is named for U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Philetus Sawyer . Shawano County : Shawano ( zhaawanong ) is named for an Ojibwe word meaning southern . Sheboygan County : Sheboygan is named for a Native American word meaning great noise underground St . Croix County : St . Croix is named for French explorer Monsieur St . Croix who drowned in the St . Croix River in the 17th century . Taylor County : Taylor is named for Governor of Wisconsin William Robert Taylor . Trempealeau County : Trempealeau is named for Trempealeau Mountain . Vernon County : Vernon is named for George Washington 's home Mount Vernon in Virginia . Vilas County : Vilas is named for U.S. Postmaster General , U.S. Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Senator from Wisconsin William Vilas . Walworth County : Walworth is named for New York judge Reuben Hyde Walworth . Washburn County : Washburn is named for Governor of Wisconsin Cadwallader Washburn . Washington County : Washington is named for U.S. President George Washington . Waukesha County : Waukesha is named for a Potawatomi meaining little foxes . Waupaca County : Waupaca is named for a Menominee word meaning white sand bottom or brave young hero . Waushara County : Waushara is named for a Native American word meaning good earth . Winnebago County : Winnebago is named for the Winnebago Native American people . Wood County : Wood is named for Wisconsin state legislator Joseph Wood . See also Wisconsin List of Wisconsin counties County ( United States ) Sources Wisconsin Counties Association : County Directory Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary Categories : Wisconsin counties | U.S. county name etymologies 