hiawatha is named after a poem by henry wadsworth longfellow called "the song of hiawatha". the onondaga and mohawk indian leader hiawatha is in the poem. next the former ioway-sac reservation and the present-day ioway tribe of kansas and nebraska, hiawatha is called "hári wáta" in ioway. it means "i am looking far away". this name may be the result of choosing ioway words that sound like the english name. it has nothing to do with the onondaga-mohawk leader.