Spocania & Spokane

Is the similarity between the names of the Kingdom of Spocania and the American city of Spokane a coincidence?
It is impossible to give an unequivocal answer to this seemingly simple question, though perhaps one day scholars will finally see eye to eye on this.

The Americans themselves, and certainly the indigenous population around the city of Spokane, assume that the name originates in the Amerindian language spoken there. Long ago, before this city arose, there was a waterfall in this spot called Spokane Falls, which gave its name to the city. A few years ago, a survey was held whether the city should revert to its former name Spokane Falls. Advocates and opponents of this change were to be found at the site Renaming Spokane (accessed via www.cda.net/interact/pulse), but are no longer there.

However, in Spocania an entirely different reading is preferred, or rather: there are two versions of it. Some Spocanians assume that at a very early date, in any case in the 16th or 17th century, people from Spocania migrated to America and settled in the forests around Spokane. They brought along the name, and this was adopted into the local Indian language, thus assuming that the names Spokane River and Spokane Falls are loan words here. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the archives about a possible emigration to America in the 16th or 17th century. Still, that is not felt to be a reason to reject this theory, as countless archive fires in Spocania have left us with very little material about the past anyway.

The second version is the following. The Ergynnic Ÿrtôlle sect, founded by Uteer Chafe (1758-1806), tended to indulge in such extreme rituals and sacrificial celebrations, that the sect's leader received death threats. It is clear that Roman-Catholic government officials on West Berref were behind this, for the sect mainly "operated" in this part of the country, having its headquarters in the town of Lammafin.
Anyhow, things got too hot for Uteer Chafe, and so he crossed to America. There the sect settled in an isolated spot where they might hold their rituals and sacrificial festivities, to wit in the forests around Spokane Falls. So, it was allegedly this sect that brought the name to the United States, and this is what they called their settlement, the river and the waterfall. This version totally ignores the fact that the indigenous people probably had already been using the name Spokane long before 1790, when Uteer Chafe settled there.

That is why it is more obvious to assume that Uteer Chafe in fact chose this spot because the name coincidentally reminded him of his home country. But to this very day there is still no satisfactory explanation for this peculiar similarity in names.