A source book by Walter Romig composed of information on the origin of the names of almost every known Michigan settlement, both thriving and defunct. When the second (and only widely available) edition is used as a source for ArborWiki, it is abbreviated and enclosed in parentheses as (MPN1986).
The book serves as a compendium of other, less easily accessed sources, including federal and Post Office records of the 19th century. A version is searchable on Google Books, and though you can't get at all of the full text this way, it does provide enough to answer many questions.
Title: Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities Author: Walter Romig (1903-1977) Foreward: Larry B Massie Published: First edition, Great Lakes Books, Grosse Pointe 1973 (no ISBN) Second edition, Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1986 ISBN: 081431838X, 9780814318386 Length: Second edition, 673 pages