The middle states like Illinois, WI, MN and even IA have many French names from the early exploration days but were never settled in any numbers before the Purchase in 1803.
Goat gets on 45/56 clues revealed, pretty strong. LT: Van Buren (Red Fox of Kinderhook); Chris Evert (America's Tennis Sweetheart); Nigeria (DD; Pres: Goodluck Jonathan) & Armenia (Pres Sargsyan; Yerevan = alphabetically 2nd last before Zagreb; Abu Dhabi & Abuja 1st & 2nd); fiberglass, honorary citizen; Metatarsals (5/5 in medicine cat from anatomy 101!) and Hyoid Bone (painful to watch them guessing mandible, etc, the hyoid is a 'floating bone' unattached to the skeletal frame, it's a medical school training level clue.) Nailed postal abbs, lol silly fun!
French language in the United States. Counties and parishes marked in yellow are those where 6–12% of the population speak French at home; brown, 12–18%; red, over 18%. The census response "Cajun" and French-based creole languages are not included