Why are cranberries called cranberries?

Cranberries got their name nearly 400 years ago from a bird called the sandhill crane, which, like the cranberry, is native to North America.

OK, the bird itself didn’t name the cranberry. The Pilgrims did. They thought that the pink, pointy cranberry flower resembled the head and the beak of the crane. (The sandhill crane has a red-colored head and a long, narrow, dagger-like beak.) So they called the fruit the crane-berry, which later was shortened to the name we know. In colonial times, 'cranberry' used to be written or spelled as 'craneberry'

Cranberry Blossom

Also fun to know is this: Cranberries float. Bloop! And cranberries bounce. Boing! The floating helps farmers to harvest them; the fields are flooded with water to do it. And the bouncing helps farmers to sort them out — the good ones go boing — and leads to the nickname of bounceberry.

From Ohio State University Extension - Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Crane-berries? (for the Week of Jan. 9, 2005) Writer: Kurt Knebusch