So I have been Wondering....

[Captain Zissou]

No big mystery here.  Just my last name and occupation.

[finehoe]

Correct - it's a Seminole term! It's a corruption of the Muskogee (Creek) terms wakv ("cow") and pilotaikita ("crossing" or "boat crossing") - ie, "Cow Ford".

This article gives a slightly different etymology: 

It may be a Seminole word. Wacca (from the Spanish vaca) is the word the Seminoles used for cow. Wacca Pilatka is Seminole for cow crossing (there is a Wacahoota near Gainesville: Seminole for cow pens)."

https://jaxpsychogeo.com/the-center-of-the-city/wacca-pilatka-and-ossachite-imaginary-indian-metropolis/

[Tacachale]

Correct - it's a Seminole term! It's a corruption of the Muskogee (Creek) terms wakv ("cow") and pilotaikita ("crossing" or "boat crossing") - ie, "Cow Ford".

This article gives a slightly different etymology: 

It may be a Seminole word. Wacca (from the Spanish vaca) is the word the Seminoles used for cow. Wacca Pilatka is Seminole for cow crossing (there is a Wacahoota near Gainesville: Seminole for cow pens)."

https://jaxpsychogeo.com/the-center-of-the-city/wacca-pilatka-and-ossachite-imaginary-indian-metropolis/

That's mostly right, just simplifying. There's not a Seminole language; as an offshoot of the Muskogee (Creek), the Seminole speak two related languages, Muskogee and Mikasuki. The consensus among researchers seems to be that this name comes from Muskogee, still spoken today by some Seminole on the Brighton Reservation.

Wakv or Waka (depending on the writing system) is the Muskogee word for "cow" (adapted from the Spanish vaca). According to William A. Read and J. Clarence Simpson, Pilatka, also the source of the name Palatka, is a corruption of pilotaikita, the Muskogee word for "boat crossing" (from pilo, "boat", and taikita, crossing). "Cow Ford" seems like a (somewhat off) translation of the Muskogee name. However, I don't personally know of any early sources where "Wacca Pilatka" appears that predate uses of "Cow Ford".

[tufsu1]

simple - I have degrees from both Temple University & Florida State University - and of course (somehow) they are both #1