Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "The Song of Hiawatha" which is where many of the nomenclatures of the East Nokomis Neighborhood come from. I learned about this while snooping around on the Nokomis Neighborhood website. It referenced the poem, but didn't tell me much about it.
You can see the original post at www.minneapolisnokomis.com.
The following table references the meaning of some of the names we find in the Nokomis and Longfellow neighborhoods in South Minneapolis.
| Longfellow's Word | Meaning according to Longfellow | Source Language | Original Word | Meaning |
| Hiawa'tha | the prophet, the teacher, son of Mudjekeewis, the West-Wind and Wenonah, daughter of Nokomis | Onondaga | Hayowent'ha(name) | He who combs |
| Keeway'din | the Northwest wind, the Home-wind | Ojibway | giiwedin | north, north wind |
| Minneha'ha | Laughing Water; wife of Hiawatha, a water-fall in a stream running into the Mississippi between Fort Snelling and the Falls of St. Anthony, Minneapolis | Dakota | mni-haha | waterfall |
| Minne-wa'wa | a pleasant sound, as of the wind in the trees | Ojibway | minowewe | make a good sound |
| Monda'min | Indian corn | Ojibway | mandaamin | Maize,corn |
| Noko'mis | a grandmother, mother of Wenonah | Ojibway | nookomis | my Grandmother |
| Weno'nah | the eldest daughter; Hiawatha's mother, daughter of Nokomis | Dakota | winona | first-born daughter |
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