There is a sign beside Interstate 40 as it passe over Lake Eufaula in Eastern Oklahoma saying “LOTTAWATTA ROAD”.

People like to claim it is an old Native American name that fits the area so well.

Lake Eufaula is big.

However, according to the state’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman, it actually got its name around 1938 when Don Garret, who, while on a  highway drafting squad that was planning signs to go along the then-new I-40, saw a road that didn’t really go anywhere but to the shore of the lake, and  wrote “LOTTAWATTA ROAD” on the map assuming  someone would find a more-proper name.

Before anyone did, or perhaps because no one questioned the name, it was included on a highway sign.

The Native American bit of lore is more romantic than the actual story, so that is the story told.

Mr. Garret may have been playing off the name Nowata, which is a town in Northeast Oklahoma that has no significant body of water.

However, and this might cause Trump some degree of confusion, although Puerto Rico “is an island surrounded by water, big water”, it is NOT in Lottawatta, Oklahoma.