I’m currently writing a book set in historical Utah.
Interestingly, today I found out that the state’s name does not have a clear origin. And I’m weird, so I love mysterious stuff like that.
On the Quick Facts page of the Utah government site, two theories are presented:
Theory 1: The name “Utah” originates from the Native American “Ute” tribe which means people of the mountains.
Theory 2: From the Apache word “yuttahih” meaning “one/those that is/are higher up”.
Pretty cool, either way! I’d never heard the Apache possibility, and am now biased toward it.