Redrawing the US: 38 States

I found the following map on one of my favorite blogs; Strange Maps, and did a bit of tweaking so that it no longer shows the current state borders. There is also some information about it here. It's cool to view the nation in a completely new way. Apparently this redrawing of the map is an attempt to center states around major population centers and thus coordinate state services better. Obviously a proposal like this has no chance to happen without some seismic movements in the governmental structure of the U.S., but it's an interesting exercise and a cool result. However, my main problem with the map is not it's impracticality (because I love that part), but the names of the new states.

While I do like some of the state names, most of them are just awful. Dakota and Carolina are nice because they hearken back to former states. Cumberland, Hudson and Appalachia have a nice ring to them and also. Piedmont reminds me of the old Italian kingdom, which seems a bit of an odd image to connect to the Deep South, but it was named for a present day region, so isn't too bad. But, by and large the names just seem far too random and I would I have guessed that Pearcy's only criteria was that they have some relation to the area, but had to be different from a current state. This leaves a lot to be desired. Apparently the names were actually chosen during some sort of survey in each state. This also creates problems. Things as important as naming fictional places on maps cannot be left up to the tyranny of the majority. While I do like some of these names, I think a lot of them could simply have old state names and the rest should be improved upon.

Alamo: If you're going to name it after a battle in the Texas Revolution, why not just call it Texas?
Bighorn: Naming a state after a sheep, no matter how big their horns are, is a mistake.
Bitterroot: Is this named after the flower, the river or the mountain range? I don't know, probably all three, but it sounds awful. Bitteroot would be a fine name for some be some backwater town, but not a whole state.
Bonneville: This may be ex post facto, but no states should be named after cars.
Dearborn: While I appreciate that Chicago was once called Fort Dearborn and I appreciate a state with the same name as BSD's hometown, this is just nonsensical. No states named after the founding fathers, but you give one to Henry Dearborn?
Kilauea: Cool name, but why can't this just be Hawaii? The borders are exactly the same!
Plymouth: This is just lazy... name the place after an American Indian tribe or something, but don't revert back to Plymouth. Plymouth Colony was absorbed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, hence the name of the modern state.
Prairie: A tad bit generic.