Recently a co-worker asked my the reason why we have on the one hand Lake Michigan and on the other Muskegon Lake. He wanted to know why one is lake first and the other is lake 2nd.

Like most things these days, the government is involved. In particular the US Board on Geographic names.

Both lakes have typical binomial geographic names. Typically one part is generic and describes the type of feature, place or area. The specific part uniquely identifies the generic feature.

The generic part is typically a topographic feature like lake, mountain, brook etc. The specific part refers to local identifiers such as Muskegon, Three Mile, etc.

So whey then is Lake Michigan in generic/specific while Muskegon Lake is specific/generic? And is one right, or one wrong?

Current policy for place names states a preference for the specific before the generic, as in Bob Hill rather than Hill Bob.

Going by this then Muskegon Lake is correct and Lake Michigan is not.

As with most things there is an exception and a wee bit more to the story. Prior to the specific before generic business the board states, ” That local usage be followed whenever possible.” That is to say if locals say Lake Michigan then so be it, we need not switch to Michigan Lake.

Seeing as how the names under discussion preceded the federal government’s involvement one might figure that ‘local usage’ put the words in the order they are.

Both Lake names have native origins. Muskegon comes from the Ojibwa/Chippewa word “mashkig” meaning “swamp” or “marsh, while Michigan is from an Algonquian Chippewa Indian word “meicigama” that means “big sea waste” (referring to the Great Lakes).

Next time you’re on Muskegon Marsh or Lake Big Sea Waste just keep the names the same, but if you discover a lake please do keep federal policies in mind.

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