Outagamie bears a Wisconsin Indian tribal name. It is the Chippewa appellation for the Foxes, who were first visited by the French in the Wolf  River valley. The term is variously interpreted as "dwellers of either shore" and "dwellers on the side of a stream." The name given by the Chippewas to their ancient enemies, the Foxes. Baraga's orthography is, odagamig, an adverb, "people living on the other shore - of a river, or a lake.

Description from John W. Hunt's 1853 Wisconsin Gazetteer: "OUTAGAMIE, County, is bounded on the north by Oconto and a portion of Waupacca, east by Brown, south by Calumet and Winnebago, and west by Waupacca, and is 24 miles north and south by 27 miles east and west. It was established Feb. 17, 1851, from Brown¿ The seat of justice is about half way between the villages of Appleton and Grand Chute, and about a mile fiom each. The general surface of the county is level and covered with a heavy growth of timber, such as maple, elm, ash and hickory, with but little or no waste lands. The soil is good, but the agricultural existence of the county is so recent, little can be said of its capabilities. All the crops that have been tested here have succeeded beyond the expectations of the farmer. The population, now numbering about 4,000, is composed of good, rural, and industrious settlers, mostly from New England and New York. It is watered by the Lower Fox on the southeast, and by Wolf river on the west, and Duck Creek on the northeast. ..."

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Outagamie County, Wisconsin

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[Source: Wis. His. Colls, xii p. 396 Legler, Wisconsin Place Names, p. 32Card file at the WHS library reference desk]