Kentucky

The first state across the mountains

Kentucky was once the western frontier of Virginia. Settlers followed Daniel Boone and others through the Cumberland Gap in the 1770s and 1780s, and the population grew so quickly that Kentuckians soon wanted their own government. After a series of conventions, Virginia agreed to let Kentucky go, and on June 1, 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state, the first west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Like Virginia, Kentucky calls itself a commonwealth. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Kentucky, though legally it is a state like any other.

The name

The name Kentucky comes from a Native American language, but no single origin has been proven. Proposed sources include Iroquoian words for meadow, prairie or level land, a Wyandot phrase often rendered “land of tomorrow,” and a Shawnee term said to mean “at the head of the river.” The famous phrase “dark and bloody ground” traces back to John Filson’s 1784 history of Kentucky; it is not a documented translation of any Native word.

Frankfort, the small capital

When Kentucky needed a capital in 1792, several towns competed, including Lexington and Louisville. Frankfort won mainly because of a generous pledge from a landowner, Andrew Holmes, who offered his log house as a temporary capitol, town lots, building materials, including 1,500 pounds of nails, and $3,000 in gold. Frankfort has held on to the title ever since, even after two of its capitols burned. With about 28,700 residents in 2025, it is one of the smallest state capitals in the country. The capital page tells the story.

The Bluegrass State

Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, for the bluegrass that grows in the rich limestone pastures around Lexington, the heart of the state’s horse country. The Thoroughbred is the official state horse, and bluegrass music, named for the Blue Grass Boys, the band of Kentuckian Bill Monroe, is the official state music.

The state motto is “United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” on the seal since 1792. It comes from John Dickinson’s 1768 “Liberty Song,” a favorite of Isaac Shelby, Kentucky’s first governor. In 2002 Kentucky added a Latin motto too, Deo gratiam habeamus, usually translated “Let us be grateful to God.”

Symbols

Kentucky has about 50 official symbols. The cardinal became the state bird in 1926, making Kentucky the first of seven states to choose it, and goldenrod the state flower the same year. The tulip poplar is the state tree. The state song is Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home,” adopted in 1928; in 1986 the legislature replaced a racial slur in its lyrics with the word “people.” Kentucky also has an official soft drink, Ale-8-One, an official gun, the Kentucky long rifle, and an official sports car, the Corvette, built in Bowling Green. In 2026 the legislature added a state dog, the Treeing Walker Coonhound, and made shelter cats and dogs the official pets. See every symbol on the Kentucky symbols page.

The flag shows the state seal, two friends embracing, on navy blue, framed by goldenrod.

Land and people

Kentucky covers 40,408 square miles, 37th among the states, and had about 4.61 million residents in 2025, 26th in the country. It borders seven states: Ohio, Indiana and Illinois across the Ohio River to the north, and Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The Mississippi River forms its short western edge. Louisville, with about 642,000 people, is the largest city, followed by Lexington, Bowling Green and Owensboro.