Many early place names in this region are corruptions of Indian names or words. These include Potomac River, Chappawamsic Creek, Aquia Creek, Accokeek Creek, Rappahannock River, Occoquan River, Quantico Creek, and many others.

English explorers and settlers struggled to find spellings for sounds in the Indian language that didn’t match the English alphabet.

“A New Map of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Part of New York and Carolina” was published in England in 1727. Marked on the map are Achguayo (Aquia) Creek and, in what became Prince William County, Achaquin (Occoquan).

The seventeenth and early eighteenth-century land patent books contain various spellings for Aquia, including Ocquia and Acquia. Other place names seen in these same records include Aquokeeke, Quantiqunt, Chapawansick, Doegs, Whipsawasson, and Oquaquon.