Obviously, we Americans played fast and loose with French names. Or else maybe it was those voyageurs, crashing around in the woods and paddling the streams, starting back in the 17th century--when French wasn't what it is today. Then you throw in the fact that some of them weren't all that well-educated. So we end up with Terre Haute, IN (might have been upland hunting near there . . . once upon a time); Des Moines, IA (with no apparent connection to monks); and my all-time favorite: Prairie du Chien, WI. No prairie dogs there, for sure, although some connect the name to an Indian chief in the area whose name was dog. My guess would shift the focus to a misspelling, and that it was perhaps meant to be Prairie du Chene--the oak tree prairie, which does make sense.
So much for wandering around in foreign language.
