The spelling "Ouachita" and pronunciation "Wah-sha-taw" came about as a result of French settlers and their influence.
Many landscape features and places have been named for them since colonization of the region by Europeans and Americans.
This was later the site of a French trading post, and ultimately the present-day city of Monroe, Louisiana developed around it.
[5] Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, a French-Canadian colonizer, encountered the Ouachita people in 1700.
According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, the name comes from the French transliteration of the Caddo word washita, meaning "good hunting grounds".