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The orca is probably named after the small town in Washington State which is a ferry terminus. The place was named in a contest in the 1920s and was proposed by a woman who thought it meant "water view" or "pleasant water" in the Cherokee language. That is incorrect. According to information about the origin of the name of the larger town of Tahlequah in Oklahoma, which was established as the capital of the Cherokee nation of Oklahoma, The meaning of the Oklahoma place name is unclear, but most likely it is a form of "di li gwa", the Cherokee word for grain or rice.