Various historical recordings of the spelling of Shawano include Sawanoh, Shawanaw, Sharuno, Shabin, Savannah, and Savanah.

This shows the influence of French, German, and English translation (v's, w's, and b's sounding very similar and thus being recorded incorrectly at times).

The federally recognized Stockbridge-Munsee Community (made up of Algonquian-speaking Mahican and Lenape), whose ancestors traditionally lived in the East along the Hudson River Valley, is located in Shawano County.

[8] From the mid-nineteenth century on, the county was settled by European Americans, including many German, and later, Polish immigrants.

Before that, French-Canadian and British fur traders traveled widely through the area, trading with the Chippewa and other Native American peoples of the region.

A small Menominee village was located along the Shawano lake Channel when their party arrived, and the Indians were friendly and cooperative.

Charles Wescott and the Farnsworth group then set up a sawmill where the Channel meets the Wolf River.

Captain William Powell, an officer of the Black Hawk War, established a trading post on the Wolf River about two miles from the village in 1844.

Forty-seven votes were cast and Elias Murray, Charles D Wescott and Elisha Alexander were elected supervisors.

When the county was first organized the name was spelled Shawanaw, taken from the Indian Sha-wa-Nah-Pay-Sa which meant “lake to the south” in Menominee and Chippewa.

The earliest settlers who came to Shawano County consisted mostly of people from the New England States, Canada, and a few from British Columbia.

[22] In presidential elections, Shawano County is strongly Republican, and has voted Democratic on three occasions since 1940, each time by margins of less than four percent.