Arkansas Made Its Own Name's Pronunciation Officially Illegal to Mispronounce

In the late 19th century, Arkansas was a state divided — not by politics in the usual sense, but by something far more personal: how to say its own name. Two state senators led opposing camps. Senator Cassius M. Johnson championed the anglicized 'Ar-KAN-zas,' treating the state like a phonetic cousin of neighboring Kansas. Senator James K. Jones insisted on 'AR-kan-saw,' honoring the French rendering of the original Native American word. The feud grew heated enough to stall legislative business. In 1881, the General Assembly commissioned a formal study via the Historical Society of Arkansas and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, whose findings supported the French-influenced pronunciation. A concurrent resolution was passed, cementing 'AR-kan-saw' into the official record and making Arkansas the only U.S. state with a law specifically dictating the phonetic pronunciation of its own name. The resolution was folded into the Arkansas Code under Title 1, General Provisions, where it sits today — dusty but technically alive. The catch? It was always a declaratory resolution, not a criminal statute. There is no fine, no jail time, no enforcement mechanism, and no penalty clause of any kind. No Arkansan has ever been charged, cited, or so much as given a parking ticket for saying 'Ar-KAN-zas.' The 'illegal' framing is a beloved piece of legislative mythology, but the real story — a political feud settled by a linguistics committee in 1881 — is arguably even better.