Person
Wilmington
Delaware (DE)est. 1638pop. 71,106/WIL-ming-tuhn/
The meaning
“Wilma's people's settlement”
How it got the name
The site began as Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America, named for Sweden's child queen. The English renamed it Willingtown after a landowner, then Wilmington in 1739 for the Earl of Wilmington, who had approved the town's charter.
Former names
- Fort Christina
- Willingtown
- Wilmington