The name Wabash is a relic of the Miami language, which has undergone various transformations. IN a map given the Indian names of our streams, prepared by Daniel Hough, and published in the Indiana Geological Report for 1882, the name is given as Wah-bah-shik-ka. On the later French maps it is usually given as Ouabache, with some earlier variants. This was the French attempt to spell the Indian pronunciation, the ou being equivalent to our w. When this, in turn, became Anglicized, it still was an attempt at the Indian form. At one time, the French named the river St. Jerome, and it so appears on a few maps, but the change was short-lived. Wabi or Wapi, according to Dunn, is an Algonquin stem signifying white, and Gabriel Godfory, a recent Miami, who retained the lore of his race, affirmed that the Wah-bah-shik-ka derived its name from the formation of white stone over which it ran in one part of its course.

White River also retains in part the Indian nomenclature, the original name being, as a French map gives it, Ouapikaminou, Ouapi signifying white.