What do you call that stream?

A map exploring the regional differences in how Americans name streams.

For most Americans, they’re known as Creeks. What you call them depends on where you live. For the most part, they’re all technically the same thing, although there are some distinct characteristics of bayous, arroyos, washes, and sloughs. Here’s how I like to think of them:

Stream: A small river.

River: A big stream.

Creek: What most Americans outside of the Northeast call a stream. Also what a tidal stream is called in the Northeast.

Brook: An inland stream in New England.

Run: A stream in the Central Appalachians.

Kill: A stream in the Hudson or Delaware Valleys, where many geographic names are influenced by the region’s historic Dutch settlement.

Gut: Some tidal creeks in South Jersey and the DelMarVa region.

Rio: A stream or river in the Southwestern US.

Wash: A streambed that carries water seasonally or temporarily in the desert Southwest.

Arroyo: A wash with a Spanish name.

Slough: Pronounced “Slew”. Technically, a stagnant or slow-moving wetland or backwater – not really a stream. Many streams, however, get the name “Slough” attached to them.

Bayou: Can be a number of things – slow moving streams, tidal creeks, marshes – that are not always streams by the technical definition. The most common theme is that they are slow-moving, marshy or swampy, and found along the Gulf Coast and Mississippi River.

A few notes:

This map only shows geographic features that the USGS considers streams, so Bayous and Sloughs that are technically swamps or marshes are not displayed on this map.

Why are there no streams in Hawaii? There are, but their names mostly end in “Stream” or “River”, or they have a Hawaiian name with no descriptor. There are also fewer streams in Hawaii than you might think. According to Hawaii’s Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaiian streams are mostly found on the islands that are large enough (and have tall enough mountains) to capture a lot of orographic rainfall. There, the streams are often short and steep, and are found on the windward sides of the islands.

Streams and rivers that are generically named “Streams” and “Rivers” are not displayed on this map because their naming is not regional. Displaying them would add clutter without adding interesting information.

The difference between a stream and a river is arbitrary, but mostly based on streamflow or stream order.

Also excluded from this map: streams with names like branch, fork, lick, runnel, mill race, crick, gill, burn, etc. Some of these are too generic and evenly distributed nationwide, while others are very regional, but not common and would be difficult to find on the map.

This map’s data comes from the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN), a division of the US Geological Survey (USGS). They are the folks that standardize geographic names. They were recently in the news for officially recognizing Denali as “Denali”, rather than “Mount McKinley”. The data can be downloaded at the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database.

This is part of a series of maps that explores regional toponymy in the US – how different areas name geographic features. Check out the previous maps in this series:

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What do you call that swamp?

What do you call that stream?

What do you call that narrow valley?

Is that a hill or a mountain?

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