Editorial Quick Take
If you’re a fan of American college sports, something like this has happened to you at some point in your fanship.
You are sitting on the couch watching football some Saturday afternoon. Maybe it’s halftime of your home state’s annual Civil War game. Maybe two top ten teams are warming up for kickoff. Or you are just flipping channels looking for a close contest. But as score updates scroll along the bottom of the screen, one stands out: Miami University. “Wait, Miami University of … Ohio? Why is there a Miami University in the State of Ohio? Isn’t Miami in Florida?”
You would think that such a specific name must somehow be connected historically — one named after the other or both named after the same thing, for instance. But the tale of how these two universities came to share a name is a surprising one.
The more famous of the two schools is the University of Miami, a private research institution in Coral Gables, Florida. The City of Miami was incorporated in 1896 and named after the Miami River, which flows through downtown. In 1925 the school itself was founded, taking its name from the city. But going further back, the story becomes a bit complicated. We know that the nearby Lake Okeechobee was once called Lake Mayaimi. And we know that one of the Native American mound-building tribes that lived on the lake was also called the Mayaimi. It’s unclear, however, whether people gave its name to the lake, or the lake gave its name to the people. Any survivors of the Mayaimi tribe fled to Cuba after Spain lost control of Florida in the 1765 Treaty of Paris. Whether the name was originally associated with the lake or the people, both now share their name with a famous beach, a county that is often a national political hotbed, and a popular 80’s crime drama that broke the pastel barrier.
Over a thousand miles away is a similarly sized public university in Oxford, Ohio. Miami University may be less well known, but it is the older of the two. Its founding was made possible by a 1792 congressional act signed by George Washington, stipulating that a university should be developed in the Miami Valley north of the Ohio River. Eventually founded in 1809, Miami University is still one of the ten oldest public universities in the United States. Interestingly, the valley from which the school took its name was associated with another Native American people group — the Myaamiaki. This tribe was part of the larger collection of Algonquian-speaking peoples known as the Great Lakes Tribes and completely unrelated to the Mayaimi of Florida. Today both the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana trace their lineage to the Myaamiaki people who once lived in what we would call north-central Indiana, southern Michigan, and western Ohio. They have certainly left their mark on the place names of Ohio, as well. Ohio boasts not only Miami University and the Miami Valley but also the Great Miami River and the Little Miami River; the communities of Miamitown, Miamisburg, Miamiville, Miami Villa, and New Miami; Miami County; and no less than six Miami Townships.
As for football … well … The University of Miami is a national powerhouse currently ranked in the top ten. Miami University sits at 0-3 and plays in the lowly MAC conference. Any gridiron competition between the two Miamis would probably be less interesting than the story of their names.
Then again, upsets happen. Go RedHawks!
Header Image: Logos of the University of Miami and Miami University, remixed, in keeping with fair use.
