The wor Niagara (Iroquois Nation pronunciation "Nee-ah-GAh-rah") comes from the Iroquois word onghiar, meaning "Across the Neck" or "The Strait" but is popularly translated as "Thundering of Waters". It was their name for a waterfall at the point where the other American Great Lakes empty into Ontario that was later adapted by European settlers as Niagara Falls.