Helena, Montana

 By fall, the population had risen to more than 200 and many thought the name "Last Chance" too outrageous. Seven men, at most, self-appointed, met on October 30, 1864 to identify the town and approve the street layout. They also appointed commissioners. The initial suggestion was "Tomah," a word the committee thought had connections to the local Indian people. Squashtown[21] and Pumpkinville[20were also suggested, as the meeting took place the day before Halloween. Other suggestions were to name the community after different Minnesota towns, including Winona and Rochester because a large number of the settlers were from Minnesota. Finally, a Scotsman, John Summerville, suggested Helena that he called /h@'li:n@/ h@-LEE-n@,[21] to honor Helena Township, Scott County, Minnesota. This immediately caused an uproar from the former Confederates present in the room who demanded the pronunciation of 'helIn@' HEL-i-n@in honor of Helena, Arkansas, a town on the Mississippi River. Even though Helena won the contest, pronunciations varied until 1882, when the dominant pronunciation was /'helIn@/HEL-i-n@. The later stories on Helena's name suggested that it was either due to Napoleon's exile to St. Helena or was due to a sibling mining relationship.