How Weeping Water, Nebraska Got Its Name (The Legend Came Later)

Weeping Water, Nebraska, is named for its creek, which French traders called L’Eau qui Pleure, the water that weeps. A 1925 study says the famous legend of weeping women came later, made up to explain a mistranslation.

Named for the creek

A 1925 study of Nebraska place names says the town “is situated on the creek called by the French ‘L’Eau qui Pleure’, or ‘The Water that Weeps’, and is named for the creek.” The French name was already in use when Lewis and Clark came up the Missouri. In his journal for July 20, 1804, William Clark wrote that the French called the creek “l’Eue-que pleure,” or “the Water Which Cry’s.”

The legend

There’s a well-known story about how the creek got its name. The 1925 study tells it: a chief from the west carried off the daughter of a peaceful tribe’s chief. The warriors chased him and were all killed. When the women found them dead on the battlefield, they wept so long “that their tears formed the river ‘Weeping Water.’”

The study’s explanation

Right after telling the legend, the study says it isn’t true. It says the Omaha and Otoe name for the creek is Nigahoe, which it translates as “rustling water,” for the sound of water running over low falls. According to the study, “white men” confused that with a similar word meaning “weeping water.” Its conclusion is blunt: the legend “is a white man’s tradition or invention to account for the word ‘weeping water’, a mistranslation.”

That’s the study’s explanation, and we’re not linguists, so take the translation as theirs. What we can say for sure is that the French name was already written down in 1804.

Sources & further reading

• Lilian Linder Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names (University of Nebraska, 1925). A public-domain study of the state’s place names, county by county. The creek’s French name, the legend, and the explanation of the mistranslation.
• William Clark, journal entry for July 20, 1804 (Lewis and Clark Trust transcription). The French name, already in use in 1804.
• GNIS feature 834529 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Weeping Water.