Snake was a hard call ngl, but when you look at its length, centrality, and the fact most of its competitors also don't sound great as place names (State of Bear), it was the best choice. Having an off-the-wall name also seemed appropriate for Idaho, the etymology of which we still don't know.

Re: Idaho

a man is standing in front of a table with a candle and the words we made it up on the bottom

Alt: Frakes saying "we made it up"