Q. Where was the name Tallulah first used in the U.S.

We've researched this one before and this is what we found. The short answer is that its is derived from a Native American word which leaves no real way to date its usage. I might add that Choctaw includes a large set of Native Americans whose territory used to extend from Louisiana through Mississippi and Alabama into Florida.

You can read a quick synopsis about the Choctaw on the Choctaw Nation Website.

According to various sources on the internet, Tallulah means "Leaping Water." It's taken from the Choctaw (Native American) language. However, we could find no primary sources backing that up.

We did, however, find a Choctaw language dictionary published in 1909/1915, A Dictionary of the Choctaw Language By Cyrus Byington. There is no entry for "Tallulah."  However, there is an entry for Talula defined as "n. A bell (A word in use among the sixtowns people)"

According to the same work, Sixtowns is a dialect of Choctaw that was prevalent among Southern speakers of Choctaw (and not present in the major, or "Longtown" dialect).

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