The story
- Algonquin · derived fromchesepiooc
- English todayChesapeake
From Chesepiook, from Algonquin chesepiooc. The demonym came from the toponym, signifying "people from the Chesapeake" or "Chesapeake people". It was widely believed for a long time that "Chesapeake" means something like "Great Shellfish Bay." However, according to Blair Rudes, linguist at the University of North Carolina, the name might actually mean something like "Great Water," or it might have been simply the name of a village at the bay's mouth.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.