Saginaw City Map Poster

About Saginaw

The name Saginaw is widely believed to mean "where the Sauk were" in the Ojibwe language, suggesting that it was named by Native Americans. However, an alternative explanation is that it originated from Sace-nong or Sak-e-nong because the Sauk people once lived there, or Sag meaning 'to be wild' and ong meaning 'man'. The city was referred to as "Saukenuk" in 1821 when founded. However, another possible origin for the name comes from a much earlier contact: French explorers reported native peoples (probably Odawa) speaking of a village called "Ouasagama", which evolved into their word for fire [o·sá·gàːma] and then by natural progression into our modern day word "Saginaw". This theory has been disputed; most linguists believe that -waa(ng) simply means place where there are rushes (or reeds).