Oregon Geographic Names - Definition and Overview

Oregon Geographic Names is an authoritative compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the state of Oregon. As of 2003, the book is in its seventh edition (ISBN 087595278X) and is compiled and edited by Lewis L. McArthur, who took over from his father as of the fourth edition, published in 1974. It is published by the Oregon Historical Society Press.

The seventh edition contains 6252 entries, with references to another 2679 names scattered throughout the text.

In its introduction, it identifies six periods in the history of the state which have contributed to the establishment of names there:

• the thousands of years of Native American life;
• the period of Spanish, British, French and early American exploration, with arrivals by sea and overland, exemplified by the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Lewis and Clark Expedition;
• the pioneer period, up to and particularly including the days of the Oregon Trail;
• the period of Indian Wars and mining claims inspired by the California gold rush and later facilitated by the Mining Act of 1872;
• the period of homesteading between 1875 and 1925, which affected nine million acres (36,000 km²); and
• the modern period of neologisms