Interesting read about this..

The native cultural influence is pretty strongly interwoven in the fabric of Minnesota. It’s very possible the thought process was just that the locals associated that image with their state, just like the brand name.

The Anishinaabe and Dakota have had major influence on the state and that’s been rectified in recent history with the renaming of certain places back to their native name, like Bde Maks Ska.

Most of the naming in the metro(and the state name) comes from the Dakota peoples. The Anishinaabe were located more in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin so you’ll see the influence there. For example the town of Biwabik in the iron range which is the Anishinaabe word for iron.