Where did the name cranberry come from?

Image Source: cranberry.ca

Image Source: cranberry.ca

Cranberries are named after their flowers as early settlers described these flowers as resembling the head of a crane. Hence, crane-berry, and over time the language changed slightly and they’ve since become known as cranberry. 

The first known use of the word “cranberries” in English is found in a letter written by a missionary John Eliot in 1647.