ORIGIN OF THE STATE NAME OF MAINE
Sprague's Journal of Maine History 
Volume 9, April, May, June, 1921 No. 2
Page 92

The National Geographic Magazine in an article on "The
Origin of American State Names" (Aug. 1920, p.111) says:

The generally accepted version of the origin of the name of 
Maine is that it was so called by some early French explorers
after the French province of that name, wherein was located the 
private estate of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England.

There is another meaning ascribed to the name, fairly well
supported by authorities.  According to this version, the fisher-
men on the islands along the coast of Maine always referred to 
that region as the "Mayn land," and in support of this theory
we find that the colony referred to in a grant of Charles I. to
Sir Fernando Gorges in 1639 as "the province or county of Mayne."

(c) 1998

Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society
<http://www.rootsweb.com/~meandrhs>  
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