Agreed, but then you could say that for all the “In honor of” towns. Point being, “Knoxville should be one of the “In honor ofs,” but isn’t described as such.

You clearly have not been to Alaska because they are both in the right prices. Good try though. Maybe look at the map before you try and correct something.

Des Moines does not mean “The Road.” It is a disputed name, but that’s not even one of the main contending theories:

1. A French corruption of the Algonquian name for the river, moingona;
2. From Miami-Illinois mooyiinkweena, literally “shitface,” an insulting name given by the Peoria tribe to their neighbors to the west.
3. French de moyen, “of the middle,” midway between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers;
4. French de Moines, “of the monks,” referring to a Trappist monastery that used to stand at the mouth of the Des Moines river.